Archives for category: Education Industry
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DeVos Hires Advocate for For-Profit Colleges to Oversee Higher Education

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2019 //
13

 

Add this item to the Department of Unbelievable.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has hired an advocate of for-profit colleges to oversee higher education for the federal government. DeVos, of course, is known to have invested in for-profit education.

Depending on whom you ask, Diane Auer Jones has returned to the Education Department with either a mission or a vengeance…

Now, as the chief architect of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s higher education agenda, Ms. Jones is leading the charge to overhaul the accreditation system, and, to critics, revive the fortunes of for-profit organizations that operate low-quality education programs that have a track record of shortchanging students and taxpayers.

Jones is in charge of writing new rules for accrediting agencies that oversee higher education.

 

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Industry, For-Profit, Higher Education

Arizona: Save Our Schools Arizona Scores More Victories!

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2019 //
6

Beth Lewis wrote this report about the great news from Arizona, where SOS Arizona is staying strong, united, dedicated, and powerful.

SOS Arizona won NPE’s first annual Phyllis Bush Award for Grassroots Leadership, presented at the NPE conference last October in Indianapolis.

Beth Lewis writes:

We have good news from Arizona! Coming off of their huge victory in defeating Proposition 305, which would have been the nation’s largest voucher expansion, Save Our Schools Arizona took their fight to the statehouse and won several critical battles.

The grassroots powerhouse stymied all five legislative attempts to either expand access to “Empowerment Scholarship Account” (ESA) vouchers or lower oversight of the existing program.

This marks three years in a row that the national voucher lobby has been defeated by volunteer parents, teachers and retirees in AZ. It’s thanks to mounting pressure to respect voters and fund Arizona schools, as well as wide reaching efforts to educate voters about the harms of privatization. Thousands of everyday citizens called, emailed, and met with lawmakers to make their opposition clear. In the end, the voice of the people prevailed over the various local and national special interest groups trying to push these bills. Arizona, the one-time school choice proving ground, is now demonstrating to the nation how to fight and prevail against privatizers. And that’s exactly why SOSAZ needs our support – to continue prevailing and protecting public schools. Please support their incredible work by donating at sosarizona.org/donate – they are nowhere near done fighting and need massive support to continue their work!

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Education Industry, Privatization, Resistance, Vouchers

Ann Cronin: What Do We Mean by “Student Achievement”?

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2019 //
16

Ann Cronin is an educator in Connecticut.

In this post, she explains what real achievement is, and it has nothing to do with test scores.

There are all kinds of suggestions for improving student achievement – privatize public schools, increase the number of standardized tests that students take, implement national standards, and enforce no-excuses classroom discipline. None of these practices, however, have made a bit of difference. That is for two reasons. One reason is that the underlying causes of poverty and racial injustice have gone unaddressed, and the other reason is that standardized test scores can never measure achievement and, instead, reliably indicate only one thing: the income of the parents of the test taker.

So the first step in increasing student achievement is to redefine what we mean by achievement.  I recently witnessed something that crystallized for me what real achievement is.

She recently attended a ceremony in her community where high school seniors and adults were honored for community service.

When it was time for the second adult recipient, Roseanne Sapula, to give her speech, she spoke about how honored she was to receive the award she regarded as prestigious and how she had tried to write a speech but gave up. It was clear that she gave up because her volunteer work with the Monday Night Social Group, a group comprised of 40 special needs individuals of high school age and older, was so close to her heart that it was hard for her to explain her interactions with those in the group in a short speech. She did tell the audience that thinking up new adventures for those young adults and new ways for them to be part of the larger community was her “calling”.

As Roseanne was talking, she looked out in the audience and spotted one of the members of the Monday Night Social Group, Jacob, Fialkoff, a 20 year-old whom I later learned has cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder. She called out to him and asked him a favor. She explained to the audience that Jacob is scheduled to sing the National Anthem at the opening of the Connecticut Special Olympics and that he has a beautiful voice. She asked Jacob if he would sing it right there for all of us.

Jacob hesitated, probably feeling unprepared and that it was too much of a challenge at that moment. Roseanne, aware of his hesitation, asked him again, telling him that she would not be at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics and would love to hear him sing the National Anthem. He still hesitated. Roseanne then asked him if he could do it just for her. He softly said OK.

He sang beautifully.

Jacob’s singing the National Anthem, unrehearsed and on the spot out of love for the person who asked him, is what is missing in the conversation about increasing student achievement, which has been the illusive national goal since the passing of “No Child Left Behind” in 2001. We have tested and prepared kids for tests. And achievement doesn’t budge. We have declared that urban schools are “failing schools” and opened charter schools.  And achievement doesn’t budge. We have put in place Common Core standards.  And achievement doesn’t budge. We suspend and expel students at high rates, particularly in charter schools. And achievement doesn’t budge. That’s because we have been looking in the wrong places for achievement. We have been looking at standardized tests.

What a narrow definition of achievement has ruled our nation since 2001, and even earlier.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Love, Testing

Want to Learn More About Privatization Scams? Sign Up to Receive “In the Public Interest” Reports for Free

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2019 //
5

I receive regular updates from “In the Public Interest” and find them to be very valuable. I learn about privatization of schools, prisons, libraries, and virtually everything else that is usually considered to be public. I urge you to sign up and receive updates. Unlike my blog, their emails are typically once a week or once every two weeks, aggregating many stories from across the nation.

In the Public Interest is a national think tank that studies public goods and services and sends out a few emails that are helpful for people tracking privatization and trying to protect the common good.

  • Weekly privatization report: A scan of privatization-related news clips organized by sector (Education, Criminal Justice/Immigration, Infrastructure, etc.) sent out every Monday morning. Sign up here.
  • Our weekly newsletter: Analysis of privatization issues (like private prisons, public-private partnerships, charter schools, etc.) and stories that lift up the value and importance of the common good. You’ll learn something every time. Sign up here.
  • Cashing in on Kids: A twice-a-month scan of news clips and analysis tracking the movement to privatize public education. Sign up here.
Categories Education Industry, Privatization

Ohio: More Charter Scandals Running on STEAM

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2019 //
4

Bill Phillis writes about Ohio’s connection to the biggest charter school heist in history (so far):

 

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More about the STEAM charters that have connections with the individuals indicted in California for an $80 million charter fraud
Five STEAM charters were “licensed” to operate in Ohio. Two of them, sponsored by Ohio Council of Community Schools, closed after a short period (2 years for one and 4 years for the other.)
Three STEAM charters are still in business as follows:
·       STEAM Academy of Warrensville Heights sponsored by Ohio Council of Community Schools
·       STEAM Academy of Akron sponsored by the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation
·       STEAM Academy of Warren sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education
Three of 11 individuals indicted in California for an $80 million charter fraud case have direct connections to the STEAM charter business enterprise in Ohio.
Other Ohio charter operations have been connected to charter operators indicted in other states. Several months ago some charter operators indicted for charter fraud in Florida had Ohio charter connections. The deregulated charter environment attracts people that relish the possibility of a quick buck.
The Ohio Department of Education and the two other sponsors should initiate an investigation into the operation of STEAM charters in Ohio.
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540| ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| www.ohiocoalition.org
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Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization

David Osborne: Of Course, Charter Schools Are Private, That’s Why They Are So Great! (NOT!)

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2019 //
11

Haha, the charter industry keeps intoning over and over that charter schools are not public schools, but of course they are not. They are private schools that receive public funding and want more of it every year.

David Osborne, one of the loudest cheerleaders for charters, wrote in the Washington Post that charter schools are indeed private schools, and that is what makes them so fabulous.

It seems that the public sector mucks up everything, and the private sector really knows how to make things go well.

Kind of like those brilliant guys in California who figured out how to work the funding stream so they could siphon off $80 million for themselves and their allies.

And like the entrepreneurs who have figured out how to milk government funds by buying the real estate, then leasing it to their charter at exorbitant rates.

And like the legislators in Florida who direct public funding to the for-profit charters owned by their family.

It is refreshing to see a charter advocate admitting what everyone knows: charter schools are private, deregulated schools. Numerous studies have shown that they don’t get better results than public schools unless they cherrypick their students.

Now if someone can explain the rationale for government funding two sets of schools at the same time–one free to choose its students and set its own admissions rules, the other required to accept all students, including those kicked out by the private charters–then we might make sense of this mess.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Ohio: For-Profit Charters Get Rich Running Non-Profit Charters, Taxpayers and Students Get Stiffed

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2019 //
3

One of the most valuable sites online is KnowYourCharter in Ohio.

This post lays out the waste of taxpayer dollars gobbled up by charters.

Time to close the spigot of money going down the drain in Ohio, leeched away from public schools to fatten charter operators.

Ohio has long been a hotbed of for-profit charter schools.

While Ohio requires that all charter schools be technically non-profit, Ohio law permits these schools to hire for-profit management companies that come in and, in essence, run the schooland take control of the school’s taxpayer funding.

For-profit charter school operators have been at the forefront of Ohio’s array of charter school scandals. From White Hat Management’s long history of dodging scrutiny while maintainingpolitical influencei, to Imagine Schools’ boondoggle on school rent agreementsii to the collapse ofWhite Hat’s political successor, Altair Learning Management, that ran the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow – the epic collapse of which was widely reported last year and continues to generate headlines even today. It was recently reported that not one of the more than 4,666 students enrolled in ECOT’s final year actually attended the schooliii. Yet Ohio taxpayers paid ECOT to educate those kids for half a year.

But long overdue change is in the wind. Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder told assembledmedia shortly after he took the gavel that “I know they are technically nonprofit, but that secondtier, those management entities, I believe should be nonprofit.”1

The Know Your Charter website has updated the state data found on the website so parents, students, officials and media can compare the performance of charter schools and local public schools and districts. As part of that new data release, the Ohio Charter School Accountability Project examined how the 178 Ohio Charter Schools run by for-profit management firms2perform and spend money compared with the costs incurred by local public school districts.

The results are eye-opening.

  • Schools run by for-profit operators spend a hefty $1,167 more per pupil than school districts on non-instructional administrative costs3.
  • That’s 73 percent more money per pupil being spent by for-profit operators outside the classroom than the typical Ohio school district4.
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization

Karen Francisco: Indiana’s School Choice Frauds

By dianeravitch
June 21, 2019 //
2

 

Karen Francisco, editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, is a great defender of democracy, honesty, and public schools. She is a keen observer of the school choice hustle in Indiana, where grifters and entrepreneurs are welcome to rip off the public. Thanks, Former Governor’s Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence, and compliant legislators.

In this editorial, she explains how charter schools and voucher schools evade accountability. One neat gimmick is to change the name of a failing choice School, and the clock gets reset. Presto, Change-O.

She begins:

When Horizon Christian Academy produced some of the lowest standardized test scores in the state in 2015, a spokeswoman for the Institute for Quality Education defended the Fort Wayne school’s poor performance by claiming accountability for Indiana voucher schools is greater than for public schools.

“Traditional public schools as well as public charter schools can receive an F for four consecutive years before the state can intervene,” Erin Sweitzer told The Journal Gazette. “Private voucher schools, however, are required to stop accepting new voucher students after two consecutive years of receiving a D or F.”

What Sweitzer and other voucher proponents don’t acknowledge is the accountability loophole that allows charter and voucher school operators to walk away from a failing school and open shop under a different name – with barely an interruption in the generous flow of state tax dollars. After a D grade in 2015-16, Horizon Christian Academy went on to receive an F for each of the next two academic years. The state prohibited the school from accepting new voucher students last year, but paid $880,000 in vouchers for returning students. That’s on top of the $11.4 million Horizon’s three schools have collected since the taxpayer-funded voucher program began in 2011.

Now, the school’s co-founder has left Horizon and is preparing to open a new faith-based school, Abraham Preparatory Academy.

Tammy G. Henline told The Journal Gazette’s Ashley Sloboda that the school, at Statewood Baptist Church, is planning a “large, public registration soon.” WFFT-TV reported the school will “rely heavily on a virtual curriculum” and is seeking state accreditation, which would make it eligible to receive vouchers.

If the Indiana State Board of Education approves accreditation, it will deliver Exhibit A in the accountability charade supported by voucher proponents.

In the name of parent choice, they ignore policies that allowed the failing Imagine public charter school to reopen as Horizon Christian Academy and for unlicensed educators to earn six-figure salaries overseeing D- and F-rated schools.

Apparently the voters in Indiana don’t care about how taxpayer dollars are wasted.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Corruption, Education Industry, Fraud, Indiana, Privatization, Vouchers

Mercedes Schneider on the Biggest Charter Heist in History-More than $50 Million and Still Counting

By dianeravitch
June 21, 2019 //
14

Mercedes Schneider read the voluminous indictment of the founders of the online charter chain called A3. She describes the counts in the indictment in this post.

She writes:

In this post, I offer excerpts of the 67 counts detailed in the 235-page indictmentof Sean McManus, Jason Schrock, and nine others who used weaknesses in California’s charter school laws to construct a network of fraud and launder $50M in public funds into their own pockets over the course of years. These 11 individuals (and unidentified others) did so by opening multiple charter schools and using companies, both pre-existing and newly-created, to establish a complex system of self-dealing– with little to no education actually happening via those exploited, educational dollars.

The California legislature is currently deciding whether and how to reform the state’s charter law. The California Charter School Association is fighting any accountability or reform of the law. If a theft of more than $50 million by charter vultures doesn’t persuade the legislature of the need for reform, nothing will.

Bring on more theft of public money! More millions scooped up by entrepreneurs and grifters!

Thanks, Reed Hastings, Eli Broad, Bill Bloomfield, the Fischer family (the Gap and Old Navy), the Walton family, and all the other billionaires who make this piracy possible and who fund the CCSA!

Why spend money on public schools when it can go right into the bank accounts of smart and savvy entrepreneurs?

 

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools

Civil Rights Leader Jitu Brown Speaks Out Against Privatization by Charters and Vouchers

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2019 //
6

 

Jitu Brown is leader of the Journey for Justice and a national civil rights leader.

In this interview, he explains why he opposes school closings, charter schools, and vouchers, which have been disproportionately imposed on communities of color.

Don’t believe the claims by corporate reformers that black and brown parents want privately managed charters where they have no voice. They want well-funded public schools with experienced teachers and a full array of programs and services, where their voice matters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Vouchers
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