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Sue M. Legg: Will Erik Fresen Go to Jail? Is Charter Corruption in Florida Out of Control?

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2017 //
10

Sue M. Legg, education director of the Florida League of Women Voters, wrote the following post about the current situation in Florida, which is reaching a critical point. The legislature just passed a bill that showers favors and funding on the state’s charter industry, which has a poor academic and financial record. Scandal and profiteering are commonplace in the charter sector of Florida, yet there is never any accountability demanded by the legislature or the governor.

Legg writes:

Not a surprise that Erik Fresen removed the charter reform measures that Senator Gaetz included in SB 7029. Instead there is a hodge podge of new proposals attacking public schools. It all should finish today. Hopefully, the Senate will stand firm. Perhaps the best outcome is that nothing will pass.

Information is not difficult to find. The Center for Public Integrity ranked states on a corruption index in 2012. Florida received a total grade of ‘C-‘ which was better than that of many states. Internal auditing rules received an ‘A’, but ethics enforcement agencies rated an ‘F’. It sounds like we have rules but we bend and break them.

The legislature must address the problems and dispel the perception expressed in the media that its members are “too cozy with charter schools.” We know where that concern originates:

• Senator Legg, Chair of the Education Committee operates a charter school with his wife.

• Representative Marlene O’Toole is a representative from The Villages whose charter school just dismissed 140 students. While she does not appear to be a board member, she is employed by a private educational foundation Take Stock in Children, and is cited for conflict of interest in voting for millions of dollars in funding for it.

• Rep. Erik Fresen’s sister and brother-in-law operate Academica, a for-profit charter management firm. He is Chair of the House subcommittee for Education Appropriations.

• Representative Manny Diaz and Senator Anitere Flores run Doral College, an online dual enrollment school that is operated by Academica and funded by its charter high schools student enrollments and a transfer of $400,000 from Doral Academy, a charter school.

One of the worst stories involves a $400,000 ‘loan’ from Doral Academy to Doral College, a non accredited college started on the grounds of Doral Academy charter high school. The idea is to enroll high school students in dual enrollment courses at the college, taught by the charter high school teachers. Evidently, only students from these Academica run charters can enroll. Academica is under federal investigation. The students earn credit that cannot be transferred to any accredited school. The college earns money. Who is involved?

• Manny Diaz, Chair Florida House Sub Committee on Choice and Innovation. Representative Diaz is the dean of Doral College in Miami. Bob Sykes alleges there are other conflicts of interest.

• Senator Anitere Flores, Chair Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, member Senate Appropriations Committee, CEO of Academica affiliated Doral College

• Representative Erik Fresen. Chair of the House Education sub committee on Appropriations. Employee of Civica, a real estate company associated with Academica.
Rep. Fresen was named in the federal investigation due to a potential conflict of interest. He served on the board of an Academica charter school and approved a contract to his real estate firm. He currently has added an amendment to the House version of the charter school bill that would allocate part of local taxes for public school capital outlay funds to charter school facilities. No charges have been filed on that measure.

Fresen earns $150,000 from Civica that specializes in charter school construction. Sponsored a bill to share capital outlay with charters

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article60512891.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article1963142.html US DOE found that 3 Mater charter schools signed lease payments with Academica while Zulueta was on the Mater Board.

USDOE audit found at least 4 related party transactions while Fresen was employed at Civica between 2007-2012.

Ethics complaint filed against Fresen in 2011 because of a voting conflict on HB 7195 that prohibited cities and counties from imposing stricter building and zoning rules on charters than on public schools

Affect all charter schools not just him. Change in ethics laws ‘class’

2013 refused to pay a fine for failingto file financial disclosure in 2003
http://wlrn.org/post/ethics-commission-refuses-close-complaints-against-miami-lawmaker

2014 Neighborhood Strategies put out of business in 2009, but Fresen reported on his financial disclosure form that he collected $10,000 per year since 2010

In 2012, Ethics Commission found that From 2008 to 2011 Fresen failed to properly disclose his net worth assets and liabilities

2017 Plead guilty to failure to file income tax return for eight years. Was in office 2008-2016. Faces up to a year in prison. Owes $100,000 in back taxes. Financial disclosure forms and income tax owed do not match

Paid a $10,000 fine for failure to report campaign reports in 2008-9

Ethel Fresen was an ESE teacher at Somerset until 2008.

Magdalena Fresen is Academica vice president

George Levesque House General Counsel cleared Fresen of conflict of interest even though he filed the notification form nine days after he voted. HP 7195 http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/10/ethics-commission-clears-miami-rep-erik-fresen-of-alleged-voting-conflict.html

Academica lease costs were 16.9% compared to 12.2% of total expenses for other charters. Nine schools’ leases exceeded 20% of revenue of schools in 2010.

Mater Academy Inc. tutoring company received $380,000 from Miami Dade and Broward Counties. Fresen amended a bill in 2012 to protect private tutoring companies and then in 2013 was embarrassed by the fraud exposed and opposed the continuation of funding.
****
The buzz about Florida is that there is more self-interest than public interest than in any other state.

Are such allegations warranted? Information is not difficult to find. The Center for Public Integrity ranked states on a corruption index in 2012. Ethics enforcement agencies rated Florida an ‘F’. It sounds like there are rules, but we bend and break them.

Take the case of former Florida House Representative Erik Fresen who served in the House for eight years. It looks like he will serve in a Florida prison next year. He was Chair of the House Education sub committee on Appropriations, and a property consultant for Civica, a real estate company with ties to Academica. Fresen’s sister and brother-in-law operate Academica, the largest for-profit charter management firm in Florida. Their charter school real estate holdings generate over $20 million per year.
Fresen pled guilty this week for failure to file federal income taxes for eight years. During the same period his financial record disclosures required by the House do not match the IRS income reports.

This is simply a culmination of years of questions about Fresen’s ethical behavior.

For example:

• In 2003, he failed to file a financial disclosure form and was cited in 2013 for non payment of the fee.

• In 2009, he paid a $10,000 fine for failure to report campaign reports.

• In 2011, an ethics complaint was filed in 2011 because of a voting conflict on a bill benefitting charter school building and zoning requirements. The complaint was dismissed by the House attorney, George Levesque. He is married to Patricia Levesque who is the C.E.O. of Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education that promotes school choice nationwide.

• In 2012, the Ethics Commission found that from 2008 to 2011 Fresen failed to properly disclose his net worth assets and liabilities.

• In 2012, Fresen was criticized for a last minute amendment to protect private tutoring companies that included one owned by Academica, and then in 2013 was embarrassed by the fraud exposed and told by House leadership to oppose the continuation of funding.

• In 2014, Fresen reported large income amounts annually from Neighborhood Strategies, Fresen’s business. The State had closed the company in 2009.

• In 2014, he was named as part of a federal investigation of Academica. A USDOE audit found at least 4 related party transactions while Fresen was employed at Civica between 2007-2012. Academica made a $400,000 ‘loan’ from Doral Academy to Doral College, a non accredited college started on the grounds of Doral Academy charter high school. High school students were dual enrolled in the college and taught by their charter high school teachers.

This year, House Speaker Corcoran made a promise to improve ethics. Curbing profiteering in charters is not among his priorities. Bills from the Senate do not make it out of House committees.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization

Wendy Lecker: The War on Public Schools and the Public Good

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2017 //
5

Like Jan Resseger, Wendy Lecker paid tribute to the political philosopher Benjamin Barber. She acknowledged his work on behalf of democracy and the public good, which is currently under attack by a bipartisan coalition of corporate reformers.

She writes:

Political theorist Benjamin Barber, who died April 24, wrote about the importance of education as a public good. “Education not only speaks to the public, it is the means by which a public is forged.”

As he noted, education transforms individuals into responsible community members, first in their classrooms and ultimately in our democracy. Local school districts are also the basic units of democratic government.　

Michigan professor Marina Whitman recently noted that the essence of a public good is that it is non-excludable; i.e. all can partake, and non-rivalrous; i.e. giving one person the good does not diminish its availability to another.　

Some school reforms strengthen education as a public good; such as school finance reform, which seeks to ensure that all children have adequate educational resources.　
Unfortunately, the reforms pushed in the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations attack education as a public good. For example, choice — charters and vouchers — is a favorite policy of all three administrations. Choice operates on the excludable premise of “saving a few.”

In operation, choice makes education rivalrous. As a New York appellate court observed, diverting funds from public schools to charters ‘benefit a select few at the expense of the ‘common schools, wherein all the children of this State may be educated….’”　

Across this country, public money is diverted from public schools to charters with no consideration of need, quality or the impact on the majority of public school students. The result is invariably the creation of exclusive schools, out of the reach of voter oversight, at the expense of public schools that serve everyone.　

Charter advocates claimed charters would be superior without the constraints faced by local districts. However, after more than 20 years, charters are no better than public schools.

Moreover, they leave public schools without resources to serve the most vulnerable and communities disenfranchised by unelected school boards. 　
As Barber predicted, “What begins as an assault on bureaucratic rigidity becomes an assault on government and all things public … (destroying) a people’s right to govern themselves publicly … (and) to establish the conditions for the development of public citizens.” Reforms that gut public education attack democracy.

You will enjoy reading the full article, which appeared in the Stamford Advocate. Lecker goes into detail about the ways that charter schools are draining resources from public schools and causing fiscal distress to schools that accept all students.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democracy, Education Industry, Funding, Inequity, Injustice

EXPOSE: Hedge Clippers Expose Billionaires’ Attempt to Buy Control of Los Angeles Public Schools

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2017 //
7

Hedge Clippers, a group of political activists who work to reveal the unprincipled use of hedge fund money to influence politics and education, have posted the names of the billionaires (and millionaires) who have sunk large sums into the Los Angeles school board race in hopes of electing their favorites, Nick Melvoin and Kelly Fitzpatrick-Gonez.

Many of their financial backers are major Republican donors and allies of Trump and DeVos.

The California Charter School Association (CCSA), directly and through its network of entities, has been the biggest spender in the 2017 election for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) school board members to represent Districts 4 and 6, having spent over $4 million to-date. Nearly all of CCSA’s political campaign funding comes from millionaires and billionaires. Out-of-town billionaires make up the bulk of this funding.

Between July 2016 – December 2016, out-of-town billionaires like Doris Fisher, Co-Founder of The Gap, Alice Walton, heiress to the WalMart fortune, and Michael Bloomberg, New York financier and former Mayor, all made big political contributions to the California Charter School Association Advocates (CCSAA) Independent Expenditure Committee.

The combined net worth of these three out-of-town billionaires is $125.5 BILLION. Doris Fisher lives in San Francisco, Alice Walton lives in Bentonville, Arkansas and Michael Bloomberg lives in New York City.

Additionally, numerous contributors to the CCSAA political fund are Trump supporters, a position that puts them out-of-sync with the majority of Los Angeles voters.

Alice Walton and the WalMart family, for example, donated to the Super PAC that worked to elect Trump, donated to Mike Pence, Jeff Sessions, and to the Alliance for School Choice, an organization that Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos helped to lead. Richard Riordan, who gave $1 milion to CCSAA to then launch an independent expenditure committee working to elect Melvoin and Gonez, is a Trump supporter and donor. [i] Many other CCSAA donors are as well.

CCSA has poured money into these school board races directly through its Independent Expenditure Committee, [ii] and has also acting as a pass through for three other independent expenditure committees that are involved in the race.

CCSAA sponsors and funds[iii] the deceptively named Parent Teacher Alliance (PTA), also a big electoral spender.

The PTA, CCSAA helps fund[iv] the Students for Education Reform (SFER) Action Network, which also spent money on this election.

LA Students for Change Opposing Steve Zimmer for School Board 2017 is funded by a $1,000,000 donation[v] from former LA Mayor Richard Riordan that was received through CCSAA

According to available filings,[vi] CCSAA and the groups it funds have provided almost all the independent electoral spending on behalf of Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez in the hotly contested District 4 and 6 races.

To see the footnotes and the specific contributions attributed to donors, as well as their political affiliations, read the link.

It is shocking to see the combination of rightwing Republicans and Democrats-in-name-only who have gathered behind Melvoin solely to advance the cause of privatizing public school students and funding.

The only way to stop them is to be informed, inform your friends and neighbors, and if you live in the contested districts in Los Angeles, get out and vote for Steve Zimmer and Imelda Padilla. Bring your friends and neighbors out to vote. Stop the hijacking of the LAUSD.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Paul Ryan Will Visit Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools Tomorrow

By dianeravitch
May 8, 2017 //
48

Eva Moskowitz has become a favorite of the Trump White House and the Republican Party.

Speaker Paul Ryan will visit her schools tomorrow.

“House Speaker Paul Ryan is planning to visit a Success Academy charter school in New York City on Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the visit told POLITICO New York.

Ryan’s visit will be the latest in a series of high-profile visits by Republicans to the city’s largest and most controversial charter network. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has visited Success Academy 1 in Harlem, and Ivanka Trump visited the same school shortly after the presidential election in November.

“Success CEO Eva Moskowitz was briefly on a short list to serve as education secretary under President Donald Trump, and Trump has praised the the city’s charters, likely referring to Success, since taking office. One of Success’ top donors, John Paulson, was an adviser to Trump during the campaign.

“The network’s boldface-named visitors and supporters also happen to be unpopular figures in deep blue New York City.

“Moskowitz has expressed interest in running for mayor for years, but her recent affiliation with the leaders of the national Republican party will likely complicate any future bid. She has been attacked by her longtime foes in the city’s teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, for her ties to the Trump administration. Moskowitz has also been criticized by her staff for not speaking out against Trump policies that are unpopular in her schools.

“Ryan is a longtime supporter of charter schools.

“Spokespeople for Success and Ryan did not respond to requests for comment.

“This story first appeared on POLITICO New York on May 8, 2017.”

To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/education/whiteboard/2017/05/paul-ryan-to-visit-success-academy-school-in-harlem-087403

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, Privatization

Adam Bessie and EriK Thurman: A Graphic Essay on School Choice, DeVos, and Segregation

By dianeravitch
May 8, 2017 //
4

Adam Bessie (writer) and Erik Thurman (artist) have created a graphic essay that explains in a series of drawings the consequences of school choice and how it affected students with disabilities in New Orleans. Their graphic essay is especially pertinent at a time when the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is an evangelist for school choice and indifferent to the consequences.

I recommend that you see it. It illustrates the adage that a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, New Orleans, Privatization, School Choice, Special Education

Florida: The Great Hijacking of Taxpayer Money Escalates!

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2017 //
4

From Sandy Stenoff of Opt Out Florida:


We are “all hands on deck” in Florida and would greatly appreciate all the help we can get. Please feel free to share this e-mail.

Dear Public Education allies,

Florida’s 2.8 million public school children need your help now.

Both the Budget and HB 7069, the Conforming bill, which contains an inappropriate number of policies and barely vetted concepts, will face an up/down vote in both the House and the Senate Monday afternoon.

We are fighting a monumental disaster of a bill in Florida. Please help in any way that you can. It is a dire situation. We are not exaggerating. There have been any number of bills in Florida this session purporting to mandate “fewer better tests.” A lot of dirty strategic and technical maneuverings on the part of the reformers has finally resulted in HB7069 a massive charter bill, the worst we have ever seen.

From two Florida superintendents on the direction of these mandates:

http://livesite-prd-2.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/pasco-school-superintendent-the-legislatures-spending-plan-will/2322920

Sup. Vitti to Senate: Reject HB 5105 “Schools of Hope”

URGENT ACTION

Kathleen Oropeza of Fund Education Now has prepared these action alerts for easy sharing – explaining the meat of the bills. These links are critical to share as they will take folks to the action to reach the legislators.
http://bit.ly/2pSGNEZ

Tell the Senate to Vote NO on HB 7069 – The Worst List of Education Policies Ever

If you are writing your own message about HB 7069, here’s a link directly to the Take Action portion so they can send personalized letters http://bit.ly/2qDZIo0: Senators; Vote NO on the Conforming Bill/HB 7069

We will be tweeting with hashtags

#StopHB7069
#Vote4PublicEd
#forthechildren

Legislator contacts:
http://m.flsenate.gov/about/contact
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/myrepresentative.aspx

Public schools won’t win this fight without you.

Thank you for your help and support.

Sincerely,

Sandy Stenoff
The Opt Out Florida Network
#OptOut for a PublicEdRevolution

“…standardized tests are not like the weather, something to which we must resign ourselves. . . .
They are not a force of nature, but a force of politics- and political decisions can be questioned, challenged, and ultimately reversed.

Teachers, parents, and students can turn their frustration into action and successfully turn back the testing juggernaut in order to create classrooms that focus on learning.”
Alfie Kohn – The Case Against Standardized Testing, 2000

On Apr 24, 2017, at 1:34 PM, Monty Neill wrote:

Hi everyone.
Testing season is well under way or ended in many places. So, how goes opting out? Are there other local efforts that you are involved in that you can share with us?
Thanks,
Monty
—
Monty Neill, Ed.D.; Executive Director, FairTest; P.O. Box 300204, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-477-9792; http://www.fairtest.org; Donate to FairTest: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/fairtest

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization

Florida: Get Ready for Another Jeb Bush Charter Hoax

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2017 //
8

In the 2012 and 2013 legislative sessions, Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee and allies in the privatization movement tried to get a parent trigger law through the Florida legislature but met a solid wall of parent resistance. Now the same forces are gathering for another run at privatizing the Sunshine State’s public schools. The method is to declare not just F schools eligible for charter takeover, but D and F schools; to get more such “failing” schools by raising the bar on the testing. Voila! A bigger market for the charter industry!

Does it sound familiar: legislating the privatization of “failing” public schools? This time, it seems like they have merely removed the parents from the “parent trigger.” And, by removing the option of a district managed turnaround option, this bill will force persistently low performing schools to close or become privatized. Like the previous “parent trigger”, this bill is about pushing a political agenda and little else. And the House has set aside $200 million education tax dollars to further this agenda.

Should it matter that when the House Education Committeeworkshopped strategies to “Close the Opportunity Gap”, the only invited speakers were from charter networks (KIPP, Uncommon and GreatHearts)? Should it matter that the House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee only scheduled charter chains to speak during its workshop addressing “innovative” ways to close the achievement gap (Basis, Achievement First,IDEA, SEED)? Why not hear about successful district managed turnaround plans?

Should it matter that House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who has made this bill a House priority, is married to a lawyer who founded a successful Pasco County’ Classical Preparatory (charter) School which is planning an expansion?

Should it matter that Rep. Manny Diaz Jr, who has been an outspoken proponent of this legislation (claiming “it is our moral responsibility to make this move and provide this option for our kids”), is employed by Florida’s largest charter chain, Academica?

Should it matter that the Florida Department of Education has repeated raised the bar and changed the School Grades calculations, which has potentially masked improvements and/or achievement of students in these so-called “failing” schools? In 2015, Commissioner Pam Stewart celebrated Florida ranking 7th in the nation in student achievement and reported that students in Florida who receive free and reduced lunches outperform those who receive free and reduced lunches in all other states. Is it possible these schools may have made significant gains that are unappreciated by the current accountability system?

Should it matter that school grades can be shown to be a reflection of the socioeconomic status of the student body? Researchers have been able to predict school grades based on US census data alone…

Should it matter that the FSA was never evaluated for fairness, reliability or validity for at risk sub populations of students, including low socioeconomic level, minorities and English Language Learners, the very kinds of students overrepresented in these chronically underperforming schools?

And finally, should it matter that charter schools do not get better academic results than public schools and often perform worse? Sometime, charters appear to do better because they can control the types of students they choose to serve. And THIS may explain why, even when Speaker Corcoran is dangling $200 million under their noses, successful charter networks appear to be uninterested in becoming Florida’s “Schools of Hope”.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Parent trigger, Privatization, Resistance

California: How the Charter School Association Bought Power and Democrats with $$$

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2017 //
57

Ten percent of the children in California attend privately-managed charter schools. But that small number of students has the most powerful and richest lobby in the state, funded by billionaires.

The overwhelming majority of charters are non-union, which appeals to the Walton family, the richest family in America, with a net worth of $130 billion or more, produced by their non-union Walmart stores. It appeals to billionaire Eli Broad, who never saw a charter he didn’t like. It appeals to billionaire NETFLIX founder Reed Hastings, who wants to eliminate the nation’s school boards.

The charter lobby gives large sums to individual candidates, both Democrats and Republicans. Their major adversary, the California Teachers Association, spends most of its lobbying money on issues, not individual candidates. When there is more funding, both charter schools and public schools benefit.

The charter lobby uses its influence to increase its power and its numbers. It wants more: more money, more schools, more students. It wants less accountability, less regulation, less transparency, and less oversight.

In the past, the charter lobby relied on Republicans to sponsor its bills. Because of its spending, it now has Democrats on board too.

“Though the union gave nearly $29.5 million in political contributions in 2015 and 2016, most of it supported measures on the November 2016 ballot, and only $4.3 million of that went toward candidates and other committees. Conversely, the charter association spent more than $17 million in those years to help finance the campaigns of 137 local and state candidates, plus an additional $340,000 on various local and state measures.

“The teachers union instead focused most of its financial fire power on ballot initiatives, having spent roughly $21 million in 2015 and 2016 to support Proposition 55 – the successful measure that sustained past increases on income taxes to raise funds for schools – and an additional $1.7 million in 2016 on Proposition 58, which largely overrode restrictions on bilingual education in public schools.

“The charter school association committed just $4,678 to Proposition 55’s passing in 2016, state records indicate. Charter schools are also major beneficiaries of the revenues generated by Prop. 55’s passage…

“And while in past years the association partnered with Republicans to craft legislation, this year’s slate of sponsored bills was drafted entirely by Democrats. “That’s a big change for us,” Rand Martin, a lobbyist for the charter school association, told the March conference.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Sen. Bernie Sanders Endorses Steve Zimmer and Imelda Padilla for L.A. School Board!!

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2017 //
17

Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Steve Zimmer and Imelda Padilla for the Los Angeles school board. The election will be held May 16.

““Billionaires should not make a profit off of public school children. That’s why I’m supporting Steve Zimmer and Imelda Padilla for the Los Angeles School Board. They will fight against the Trump/DeVos agenda to destabilize and undermine public schools,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders in a statement.”

Zimmer’s opponent Nick Melvoin is supported by billionaires who hope to privatize public schools in Los Angeles.

Zimmer is committed to fighting the Trump-DeVos agenda of charters and vouchers. His opponent is not.

I recommend that citizens of Los Angeles vote for Zimmer and Padilla. They will fight for public schools and the common good.

The Network for Public Education has endorsed both Zimmer and Padilla.

Send a message to Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos! No privatization! No corporate control! No vouchers! The public schools belong to the people, not the billionaires!

Categories Betsy DeVos, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

William J. Mathis: Fake News from Florida About Charter “Success”

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2017 //
5

William J. Mathis is the the Vice-Chair of the State Board of Education in Vermont, currently managing director of the National Education Policy Center

Fake News and Politicized Prevarications: The Florida State Department of Education and the Center for Education Reform Reports on Charter School Performance

“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
— Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789.

In a rational world, we accept that knowledge, honestly applied, will set things right. But the nation’s political world is not so rational. In our current controversies, “fake news” and “alternative facts” are used to establish an ideology or to dismiss inconvenient truths. This is not a recent phenomenon. Throughout history fake news has been used to justify wars, unify people, and assault opponents. Its purpose is to invent or establish some scientific appearing veneer to justify activities which otherwise would be on shaky grounds. Unfortunately, education does not escape such politicized prevarications.

As a case in point, Donald Trump and his education secretary Betsy DeVos tout charter schools and privatization reforms.

Supplying the veneer, the Center on Education Reform (CER) headlined a recent press release, “Florida Charters Outperform Traditional Public Schools.” Citing the Florida Department of Education’s “Annual statewide analysis of student achievement” they claim that charter schools show higher achievement than traditional public schools (TPS) in 65 of 77 comparisons – or 84% of the cases.

This would be an impressive statistic if it were a true reflection of charter school performance!

But it’s not.

As a researcher and former superintendent, my first red flag is that such spectacular results are incompatible with the body of research on charter schools in general and with Florida-based research in particular. For example, researcher Matthew DiCarlo in his study, “The Evidence on the “Florida Formula” for Education Reform” noted that Florida charter schools had no impact on math scores and a negative effect on reading scores in 2013. In 2015, the prestigious CREDO study was expanded to examine seven Florida urban regions which showed “decidedly mixed” results — some scored higher and some lower. Whether high or low, the magnitude of differences was small or moderate.

These are dramatic discrepancies – from no meaningful differences in previous studies to 84% positive. A closer look indicates three glaring problems: selection effects, demographic differences, and faulty analysis.

Selection Effects – It is commonly known that parents who choose to send their children to a charter school place greater value on education and provide greater support than those who don’t participate. The accepted research adjusts for this fact. In short, selection effects could account for all the reported differences in performance. Yet, the Florida Department of Education produced a report that apparently ignores this basic truth. In their press release, the Center for Educational Reform also ignored selection effects.

Demographic Effects – Both the Florida Department of Education and CER tout the advantages of charter schools for minority children. This is misleading. As is well known, affluent children and white children score higher and do so in Florida, as well. The department’s report prominently places a demographic chart but then does not discuss the importance or relevance of these facts.

Let me explain:

• Poverty – Traditional Public Schools (TPSs) enroll a greater proportion of economically needy children. For TPSs, 61.5% of the children are on free and reduced lunch (FRL) while charter school students are more affluent (49.1% FRL).

• Students with special needs represent 14% of TPS students but only 9.4% of charter school students.

In other words, traditional public schools in Florida are serving more students with greater educational needs. Research tells us that socio-economic circumstances are the strongest predictor of test score performance. Thus the report may be measuring student demographics more than comparative school effectiveness. Like selection effects, demographics may account for all the differences.

Using the wrong numbers – Proficiency levels – Typically, the scores of students in one group would be averaged and compared to another group’s average score. But in the Florida and CER reports, they compare the percentage of children who passed a cut-off score. This hides valuable information. For instance, if a group made a great deal of progress and the average student score went up but still did not cross the cut-off threshold, this is scored as not proficient. This method has been critiqued for some time because it introduces perverse incentives like schools concentrating on students just under the cut-off. Thus, when the wrong numbers are used, great gains can be hidden and very small gains can be manipulated to look like very large gains.

So did charter schools outperform traditional public schools in Florida as the state department of education’s report says? Did charter schools achieve “remarkable results?” From the data they presented, we really don’t know. Yet, based on a strong body of knowledge, we can be certain that the comparisons touted by CER and the state are exaggerated. The weight of the evidence favors the CREDO studies — Florida’s charter schools do about the same as public schools.

This raises an ethical and government problem. The three major problems addressed here are commonly known to researchers and people who work with charter schools. Yet, the state report fails to adjust, compensate or even mention these concerns. They clearly had the data to do a proper analysis. So the real question is, are the people in the Florida Education Agency’s, Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, partisans or just simply unaware of the research in their field?

It is hard to imagine that The Center for Educational Reform, a pro-charter advocacy group, does not know and understand these issues. Yet, they do not raise these questions in their press release. They simply repeat the state’s results.

While both the department and the Center can narrowly but correctly say their tabulations are accurate, it is a politicized prevarication of the facts. It is fake news. For citizens, the result is the presentation of a false scientism designed to promote and endorse charter schools rather than provide a new light on the best ways to improve education for all children.

Bakeman, J. (April 17, 2017). According to a New Department of Education Study, Charter Schools Outperform Traditional Public Shows. Retrieved April 23, 2017 from https://www.edreform.com/2017/04/according-to-a-new-department-of-education-study-charter-schools-outperform-traditional-public-shows/

Florida Department of Education (2017).”Student Achievement in Florida’s Charter Schools: A Comparison of the Performance of Charter School Students with Traditional Public School Students. Retrieved April 23, 2017 from http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7778/urlt/Charter_Student_Achievement_Report_1516.pdf

DiCarlo, M. (June 2015). “The Evidence on the “Florida Formula” for Education Reform.” Retrieved April 23, 2017 from http://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/evidence-florida-formula-education-reform

William J. Mathis, Ph.D., is the Managing Director of the National Education Policy Center. The views expressed here are his own.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fake News, Florida, Privatization
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