Laurie Roberts is a columnist for the Arizona Republic who has written frequently about frauds in the charter and voucher sectors. When I was writing Slaying Goliath, I found her reporting and her sharp to be invaluable. She read Carol Burris’s article about the Network for Public Education study of charters that double dipped in two different pots of federal funding, and she thought that their greed was ridiculous.
As Congress considers the next economic stimulus package, it’s worth mentioning that America’s charter schools snagged at least $925 million in emergency funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to an analysis by Network for Public Education.
In Arizona, 100 charter school operations bagged anywhere from $40 million to nearly $100 million in emergency funding, the analysis of U.S. Small Business Administration records shows.
That’s a lot of stimulation, economically speaking. Especially when you consider that the losses at publicly funded charter schools are largely a figment of the federal government’s imagination.
Unlike small businesses that saw their operations fall off a cliff when COVID-19 hit, Arizona taxpayers fund Arizona’s charter schools.
Charters already getting state, federal aid
Not only have charter operators received their regular per-student allotments of state money, they are eligible for a share of the hundreds of millions of dollars in CARES Act funding that is being pumped into public schools to cover added costs due to COVID-19 and budget shortfalls.
So, what losses?
The Arizona Charter Schools Association sent me a statement saying charter schools were concerned this spring that the coronavirus would lead to state budget cuts, requiring them to lay off teachers.
“Charter schools have not only faced questions about the uncertainty of the state budget, but also seen steep declines in charitable fundraising and programs such as before-and after-care – which are important revenue sources for our schools and students,” the statement said. “These federal funds have provided financial assistance to eligible recipients, as Congress intended.”
No word on how many of those schools returned the money when those state budget cuts didn’t happen.
Roberts notes that more than 400 charter schools had the decency not to apply for money they didn’t need.
But:
Among the 100 charters that went for the windfall was – surprise! – American Virtual Academy. The management company, which runs Primavera Online School, snagged somewhere between $2 million and $5 million in PPP money.
This is the same company whose CEO, Damian Creamer, managed to pay himself a combined $10.1 million in 2017 and 2018 out of taxpayer money set aside to educate students. Never mind that fewer than a third of his students couldn’t read or do math at grade level or that nearly half were dropping out.
Creamer’s education technology company, StrongMind, also scored a $2 million to $5 million forgivable loan from the PPP program, according to The Arizona Republic’s Lily Altavena. Meanwhile, Verano Learning Partners, which was founded by Creamer and lists the same address as American Virtual and StrongMind, snagged a PPP payout of $150,000 to $350,000.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They still haven’t gotten anything done for public schools, but they somehow found the extra money for charter and private schools immediately, months ago.
Public school students are the last on the priority list. Only after every other possible sector is taken care of does anyone lift a finger on behalf of the schools 90% of students attend. The wealthiest private schools in this country were put ahead of the most-needy public schools. This, from people who claim to base their work on “equity”.
This was not an accident:
“Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was not mad; he was disappointed. Several of the nation’s wealthy private schools—including St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Maryland, where President Donald Trump sends his youngest son, and Brentwood School in Los Angeles, which at least two of Mnuchin’s children attend—had received loans earmarked for small businesses to keep paying their employees during the coronavirus crisis. On Twitter, Mnuchin softly chided the schools; they did not have to return the funds, he suggested, but they should.”
They simply value some schools and students more than others and everything they do reflects that policy choice. If you don’t like it you have a choice- you can transfer your child to one of the schools policymakers prefer. It won’t be a public school, that’s for sure. They’ve made that clear.
Not to worry though! If congress and the Trump Administration ever get around to doing anything for public schools, charter schools will then put on their “public school hat” and they’ll directly benefit from those funds, too.
They don’t do any advocacy for public schools because that’s politically unfashionable and would anger their billionaire donors, but they’ll be happy to share in any additional funding public school advocates manage to eke out of congress, because we’re all “in this together” except when we aren’t.
describing the entire game they play: “we are all in this together….except when we are not which is all the time”
Damian Creamer, managed to pay himself a combined $10.1 million in 2017 and 2018 out of taxpayer money set aside to educate students.”
Creamer of the crop
Skimming off the top
You are right.
Given that Arizona is the Wild West of Charters, it is ridiculous that they were only given $100 million.
“The Charter Rush”
The charter is a gold mine
A hedge-fund schemer’s trick
Like golden rush of forty-nine
It’s offer: “Get rich quick!”
But Gold of fools is our return
For buying into plot
And picks and spades and “lessons learned”
Are all we ever got
Turns out that there are eccentric Wilder Wests than AZ. Such as California.