The Texas State Board of Education approved applications from five charter chains, including the Gulen chain (Royal Public Schools) operated by Soner Tarim, who was compelled to leave Alabama because of community protests. It rejected three charter chains, including Rocketship, whose “pedagogy” puts children on computers for half the day, overseen by inexperienced and low-wage teachers.
Among those approved were the Florida-based Doral chain, operated by the for-profit Academica corporate giant. Learn4Life is a California-based chain of drop-in centers with high attrition rates and low graduation rates.
Heritage Classical Academy, CLEAR Public Charter School and Rocketship Public Schools will not be able to open schools in Texas, after traditional public school usleaders and advocates argued the state could not afford to fund new charters during a destabilizing pandemic. The board’s actions are just the latest in a longstanding political debate in Texas over the growth of charter schools, funded by the state but managed privately by nonprofits.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath recommended the eight charter operators at the end of an in-depth process, including mandatory public meetings in target communities and interviews with state officials. The other five —Brillante Academy, Doral Academy of Texas, Learn4Life-Austin, Prelude Preparatory Charter School and Royal Public Schools — will be allowed to open schools next academic year, unless Morath or the board takes further action within the next 90 days…
Texas is one of the largest charter authorizers in the country, with 171 charter districts in operation as of June. Texas caps the number of charter operators, but doesn’t cap the number of schools each operator can open.
Charter opponents warned that the expansion of charter chains would drain badly needed funding from the state’s underfunded public schools, but the state commissioner of education Mike Morath (a software executive, not an educator) supported all the applications and promised that the charters would introduce much-needed innovation.
Never mind that charters in Texas and elsewhere are not noted for any innovations, other than “no-excuses” discipline. Never mind that the critics are right: the funding for the charters will decrease the money available to the state’s real public schools.
Texas seems to have a special affinity for Gulen charters, which are typically managed and staffed by Turkish men who are connected to the Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen, who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Do these schools incorporate Islamic principles? I never heard of Islamic schools with cops. I’m curious. 🤔
Charter expansion seems to depend more on the lobbying powers of the companies seeking contracts than any demonstrated need. Appointing a software company executive as gatekeeper is a total conflict of interests, but red states act as though this is business as usual. It is a sad state of affairs when companies can bribe their way into communities and attack the common good which has little representation in all the behind the scene dealings.
horrifically well said: bribe their way into communities, attack the common good and suck them dry
I would like to know about Gulen and how this happened. Does anyone know?
See Mark Hall’s film “Killing Ed.”
He has written about Gulen.
Here’s an interview:
It’s weird. State officials are terrified of them in Ohio- they don’t dare attempt to regulate them or there’s ferocious pushback from the charter management, including bizarre anti-union rants.
They must be hugely politically connected. They get everything they demand in Ohio and the regulation is an absolute joke.They can’t even being to untangle the layers and layers of contractors, let alone have any idea where the money is going. The charters set up a series of subcontractors and “purchase” from the subs except the entities are all related- it’s all going to the same people.
There were huge scandals in Illinois which the federal government was supposedly investigating but nothing ever got done.
I don’t know why they’re so politically connected, but they are. They must have very powerful friends. Ask a politician about the schools and they basically run and hide. They’re afraid to even question them at all.
In 2012, CBS 60 Minutes did a piece on Gulen charter schools. Dan Mihalopoulos, when he was at the Chicago Sun Times, did a number of stories of the FBI raids on the Gulen Concept charter schools. There was also a piece in the New York Times on June 7, 2011. Sharon Higgins, who is featured in “Killing Ed” has a piece in the Washington Post on March 27, 2012. There is a lot published about Gulen charters hidden in plain sight. There is also a January 21, 2011 piece in the former PBS program “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly”.
Despite all the scandal and controversy, Gulen always seems to emerge with business as usual. I think Gulen has friends in high places.
Also, if you just type “Gulen” into Search All Posts in this blog, many very informative posts come up.
Soner Tarim was NOT permitted to establish an EMO and a charter in Nevada. His application was BAD. He was rejected three times even though he had a lot of cash in hand.
Mainly because he could not answer what the job description or work of the EMO would be.
Nevada Strong backed by both Republicans and Democrats, three Henderson Mayors and a District Court Judge was rejected. Soner Tarim, the shady Gulenist from Texas was the main problem.
Thank you, Angie.