Charter school executives in Philadelphia are very well compensated indeed, write the leaders of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, and Lynda Rubin.
They write:
Three of the six most highly paid administrators identified in String Theory’s most recent tax information are members of the Corosanite family: Chief Executive Officer Angela Corosanite, Chief Information Officer Jason Corosanite, and Director of Facilities Thomas Corosanite. Their total salary and compensation, as listed in the charter management organization’s 2021 IRS 990, comes to almost $900,000. String Theory manages only two schools in the city, but the company has six administrators making over $100,000 in salary and compensation. In addition, each school has its own CEO. Why does a network of only two schools need so many highly-paid administrators?
There are no guidelines for charter compensation, that is, no schedule of salary steps as there is for district principals and administrators. Ad Prima charter, a small charter school with 600 students, has a CEO, a principal and a “site director” on staff, all paid over $100,000.00 in salary and compensation. Community Academy charter has a CEO, deputy CEO, a Chief Academic Officer and deputy CAO. Pan American, an elementary school with 750 students, lists eight administrators. Folk Arts Cultural Treasures (FACTS), on the other hand, has one administrator making over $100,000. Global Leadership Academy is a two-school network. Each school has its own CEO–one making more than the district’s superintendent, the other making slightly less. GLA’s principal made over $11,000 more than a district principal with seven years or more of principal experience.
The question is: What does a charter CEO do? In charter schools with a principal, school leader, several assistant principals and a cultural director, what duties are left for a CEO? One superintendent oversees the 217 public schools in the School District of Philadelphia, at a salary of $335,000. Based on most recent federal tax information, the total salary and compensation paid to the city’s charter CEOs is over $10 million. The individual boards of each charter school, or the board of a charter chain, decides on the salary of the CEO and other administrators. There is no uniform system that takes into account years of experience. Charter schools are publicly funded; all charter administrators are paid with tax dollars.
How can charter schools afford so many highly-paid administrators? A 2016 report by City Controller Alan Butkovitz showed that the district spends more of its per-pupil funding on classroom instruction than charters, who spend a higher percentage on administration.
Please open the link and read the rest of the report, which lists the compensation at every charter school in Philadelphia.
In what way is it efficient to pay so many executives?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for posting, Diane
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A top heavy, overly compensated administration is a feature of charter schools and most forms of privatization. Upon further scrutiny, some of these highly compensated individuals are often relatives or friends of the founding party. This practice further demonstrates that charter schools are fleecing the local taxpayers for their own benefit while public school students in Philly attend classes in crumbing buildings. How is this a good use of public dollars?
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The number of highly paid administrators is neither a “thorough nor an efficient” use of public funds. My question is who owns the buildings that house these charter schools?
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So true. And so poignant in the face of the fair funding lawsuit and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court’s decision that our system of funding “public education” is unconstitutional because of its inequities. The charter operators are licking at their chops to get their hands on our children’s money that should be going directly to services that they desperately need. Like reading specialists and certified school librarians with well funded school libraries. It is time for us to stand up for true public education and the practices of Democracy that is its cornerstone..
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According to glassdoor.com, a teacher’s base pay in these two tiny schools is $42k.
NCES estimates the average annual sala5ry for elementary and secondary school teachers in the U.S. was about $66,397 during the 2021-2022 school year.
“California’s average teacher salary is $88,508 and the average starting salary is $51,600, that’s below Californias minimum l9iving wage of $54,070.” — California School Boards Assocation.
Public school teachers thanks to their unions have medical and retirement benefits.
Here’s a String Theory AD I found on Salary.com for an Emotional Support Teacher.
https://www.salary.com/job/string-theory-schools/emotional-support-teacher/a34c7c47-2781-423f-bed4-7bcc83da78b9
The only way the owners and managers of String Theory BS Charter Schools can pay themselves as much as they do is if they are cutting corners in the classrooms and not providing adequate medicate and retirement benefits to the staff (teachers and support). I wonder if they require parents to do all the custodial work free of charge.
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How to make the big bucks in the charter biz: a guide for aspiring con artists
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Grifters gotta grift.
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And now for something completely different. Sharing because, why not?
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