Archives for category: Education Industry
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Nancy Bailey: DeVos’ “Let’s Get Rid of Public Schools” Tour

By dianeravitch
September 19, 2017 //
21

Nancy Bailey valiantly followed Betsy DeVos’s national tour, from a distance.

Her message everywhere was the same: Public schools suck! Private schools are awesome!

In public schools, children sit in desks arranged in rows. In private schools, well, maybe the same but it doesn’t matter.

In public schools, children hate going to school. In private schools, they are enthusiastic and happy.

This woman is an ideologue. She knows nothing and learns nothing. Whatever she proposes is meant to damage public schools and communities.

Education is a learning profession, and she is not open to learning anything!

We will wait her out, fight her at every turn, and return to the task of improving and strengthening public schools for all children, a concept unknown to her.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, School Choice, Virtual Charter Schools, Vouchers

Arizona: The Widespread Fiscal Mismanagement of Charters

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2017 //
0

These reports document the widespread financial mismanagement of charter schools in Arizona, compiled by Curt Cardine. These reports are also archived on the Grand Canyon Institute website.

The reports can be read here, here, and here.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fraud, Privatization

Arizona: New Study Finds that Three-Quarters of Charters Are Financially Mismanaged

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2017 //
12

Curt Cardine, retired educator, has studied the charter schools of Arizona and discovered that most are financially unsound.

Next year, Arizonans will vote on whether to fund religious and other private schools with taxpayer dollars. How much waste are the taxpayers of Arizona willing to tolerate at the same time?

Cardine writes:

The economic theory behind school choice and vouchers relies on the ‘free’ marketplace and the consumers of educational services to cull winners and losers. Children represent ‘backpacks full of cash’ that follow the child to the school of their parents’ choice.

The data gleaned from 20-plus years of financial reports on charter schools paint a different story. In reality, Arizona families lack sufficient information to make an informed choice about what school their children attend. As Ronald Reagan might have put it, we have trusted without verifying the financial and academic results of that trust.

Since 1994, 424 charter schools have shuttered their doors, a failure rate of 43 percent. Thirty-four percent of all charters that fail do not meet the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools Financial Performance Recommendation. Another 90 charter groups that failed did not meet the Cash Flow Standard. My concerns led to three years of intensive research. This effort was undertaken to statistically verify first-hand observations as a charter and district leader. Special attention was paid to the 2013 through 2016 audits, annual financial reviews and IRS 990s (used by the IRS for nonprofits).

The research findings are documented in a series of three policy reports from the Grand Canyon Institute, a nonpartisan public policy think tank.

The reports are ‘Following the Money,’ ‘Red Flags’ and ‘Teachers in the Charter Marketplace.’

Following the Money presents financial data on charter school management salaries. Charter administrative costs on average are twice district management costs. One case showed two administrators earning a total that exceeded $500,000 for managing one small school with less than 300 students. The top earners are often husband and wife teams, relatives or business associates of the charter holder, collectively making more than $200,000 to oversee a few hundred children.

Charters are not required to conduct a competitive bid process like public district schools. This allows many charter holders to earn compensation by doing business with their own for-profit companies. In one case, a charter holder paid his own ‘for profit’ company $12 million in one year for learning-management software. The cost should have been less than 10 percent of that amount, based on what the Mesa Unified School District spends for a similar type of software.

In 2013-14, related-party business practices were worth a half a billion dollars, representing 48 percent of charter school transactions for contracts, leases and rents. As a comparison, public school districts are not allowed to do business with companies owned by the superintendent or school board.

Also, widespread irregularities abound in the financial information that some charter schools provided to different governmental agencies.

The next post contains the background reports. They are also archived here.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fraud, Privatization

BREAKING NEWS: Eli Broad Lost! WOW! Double WOW!

By dianeravitch
September 16, 2017 //
34

Karen Wolfe, parent activist in Los Angeles, writes about a dramatic turn of events earlier today. Eli Broad wanted to open a STEM school in Los Angeles. Not with his money, of course, but with public money. He also wanted more autonomy for charter schools, so they have even less oversight than they now have. It is highly unusual for a billionaire to ask the Legislature to give him a school. The Los Angeles Times thought it set a bad precedent but they supported it because, well, he does give the Times $800,000 a year (their reporters are untainted by his money, fortunately, but $800,000 is real money). And if the powerful charter industry in California needs anything, it is more oversight, more accountability, more transparency, not less.

And guess what! ELI BROAD LOST!

Karen Wolfe writes:


Victory in California!

On the final day of the legislative session, a massive coalition of teachers & parents, activists & experts, unions & school boards, those Democrats and these Democrats, and Republicans beat big money!

AB 1217, a bill sponsored by Eli Broad, would have established a school in the middle of Los Angeles, and so much more. It would have created a law–and set a statewide precedent–to let charter school operators circumvent local districts, the County Office of Education, and even the State Board of Education. This has never been done in California, where “local control” is fiercely protected. Obliterating that is a top priority of the charter lobby.

But we won!

What an uprising. First, a couple of us button-holed some of our local delegates to the Democratic Party in Los Angeles. Especially on the heels of the recent school board election, they got it! And they got to work. Within two days, the matter was put on the Los Angeles Democratic Party Central Committee agenda as an emergency measure. It passed unanimously–and it put our state legislators on notice. They were not going to sneak this through.

Then we California BATs sent out an Action Alert and worked up and down the state asking public education activists to call their senators. BATS started tweeting. Diane Ravitch posted it, and our state senators were getting calls from activists across the country. They knew they were being watched.

Before one caller even started talking, a senate staffer said, I’ll put you down as opposing. She said, how do you know that? He told her, I can hear a child in the background.

Each day, it stayed off the Senate floor. Were they waiting for the right moment, or did they know support was crumbling?

Then the Network for Public Education sent an eblast to tens of thousands of Californians who care about public education. Los Angeles activist Lauren Steiner took our message to a whole new community of California activists, opposed to privatization in general.

All the while, the teachers unions were working the legislature, and getting more partners to join the fight. School boards, firefighters, the PTA, all against this bill.

Together, we spoke truth to power and MADE them listen. We will not let them sell off our schools in secret, pretending that it is putting “kids first”.

Thank you to everyone who made calls!

Diane Ravitch always says, “We will win, because they are few, and we are many.” Sometimes it is hard to remember that. Today, I believe!

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

Pennsylvania: How Charter Schools Make Handsome Profits in States Where For-Profits Are Not Allowed

By dianeravitch
September 16, 2017 //
5

Remember that scene in the Dustin Hoffman movie “The Graduate” where a sharp guy whispers to the young Hoffman that the business of the future is “plastics!”

In the charter industry, the profits are not in tuition money. They are in real estate.

Pennsylvania theoretically does not permit for-profit charters. But that doesn’t mean that charters don’t make a handsome profit. It is all about real estate, or leasing the property you own to yourself for a fine fee.

The five-story brick and concrete building overlooking Brighton Road in Perry South features a Propel schools banner over its front door, with signs for the charter network at every approach.

The 99,155-square-foot Propel Northside is owned, though, by School Facilities Development Inc., a nonprofit corporation with a very narrow role: Leasing property to Propel.

SFD’s ownership allows Propel to collect around $322,000 in annual lease reimbursements from the state — money it wouldn’t get if it owned its school buildings. It’s an arrangement that had drawn criticism from the state’s top auditor and is threatened by proposed legislation.

“You’ve created this nonprofit and sort of in a sense, you control it,” said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a critic of the state’s charter school law. “You’re getting a lease reimbursement for renting to yourself.”

Since 2004, SFD has spent $32.6 million buying a portfolio of seven schools, comprising most of Propel’s 11 locations. With no employees and just a few volunteers and part-time consultants, the nonprofit receives $3 million in annual lease payments from Propel schools, and after debt payments runs annual six-figure surpluses.

From 1965 to 2006, the Pittsburgh Public Schools owned the Brighton Road building, maintained it and used it as Columbus Middle School. That simple arrangement isn’t mirrored in the charter school world, where specialized nonprofits take on various roles and receive millions of dollars in public money.

“Real estate is held in a separate company,” said Propel Executive Director Jeremy Resnick, recounting the advice he’s gotten from attorneys and financiers during Propel’s 15-year history. “This is how it’s being done.”

Jeremy Resnick–founder of the Propel Charter Chain–is the son of the esteemed education researcher Dr. Lauren Resnick of the LRDC at the University of Pittsburgh.

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

Atlanta: Charter School Founder Facing Dozens of Charges in Connection with Theft of More than $1 Million

By dianeravitch
September 16, 2017 //
5

In Atlanta, Christopher Clemons faces multiple criminal charges in relation to the alleged theft of more than $1 million from the charter school he founded.

The criminal charges against an Atlanta charter school founder have grown to 55 counts of forgery and theft of at least $1.3 million after a Fulton County grand jury indicted him on seven additional charges.

Christopher Clemons, the 38-year-old founder of Latin Academy, now faces charges linked to two other local charter schools he was associated with, according to the new indictment returned Sept. 1.

The first charges came after a reported theft of more than $800,000 from Latin Academy, which later closed.

The new case is linked to thefts of more than $500,000, including money allegedly taken from Latin Grammar School and Latin College Preparatory School.

Combined, the two cases against Clemons allege a theft of roughly $1.3 million.

Mercedes Schneider wrote about Chris Clemons, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received an MBA from MIT. She delved into his history and his self-described passion to help poor kids. Among other things, he opened a charter school in Denver and two charter schools in New Orleans.

Whether he was creating opportunities for poor kids or for himself is an open question, until the case is resolved.

Categories Accountability, Atlanta, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Fraud, Privatization

Los Angeles: If Eli Broad Wants a STEM School in Los Angeles, He Should Get It, Says Editorial in LA Times

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2017 //
34

The Los Angeles Times knows that it is a truly bad idea to let a billionaire buy a school of his choice in the LAUSD, but hey, it is Eli Broad, and he does provide $800,000 a year to underwrite education coverage in the LA Times.

LAUSD already has STEM schools, but this is Eli’s STEM school, and he really wants it.

Besides, it will provide wonderful resources for a few hundred kids in the nation’s second biggest school district, so who can say no?

So much for public education. So much for deliberation and due process. So much for billionaires buying whatever they want.

Does the LA Times agree that any other rich person should be allowed to get funding from the state for any school they want to open? Oh, yeah, that’s charter schools.

The LAUSD board split on the issue, with the pro-charter majority (all in debt to Eli Broad) supporting it, and the anti-charter minority saying that the district already has many excellent STEM programs which could use extra funding. (If they voted again today, the vote might be a tie, since the president of the board was just charged with multiple felony counts of campaign finance fraud.)

But with Eli, enough is never enough. He enjoys sticking his big thumb into the public’s eye and expecting gratitude.

Let us never forget that he secretly contributed money to defeat a ballot proposition to increase funding for the public schools.

If he can’t control them, why bother?

Categories Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Peter Greene: The Hostile Takeover of Teacher Education by Non-Teachers

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2017 //
26

Peter Greene read a new report about how to fix teacher education. Written by two experienced think tank desk jockeys who worked in the Obama administration, the report pretends to be progressive, but it is in fact reactionary.

The key, say these non-teachers, is to judge the quality of teacher education institutions by the test scores of students taught by their graduates. Just what you would expect from two guys who never taught.

The authors, David Bergeron and Michael Dannenberg, suggest several scenarios in which their plan could be imposed. The easiest and cheapest is just to buy the accrediting agencies and change their rules.

Greene writes:

“But really– what a perfect neo-liberal reformy solution to a problem. If something stands in your way, just buy it, and bend it to your will.

“Enter the Golden Era

“Once the New Reformster Accreditation Board was open for business, reformsters could put their stamp of approval on any number of bogus “Schools of Educaytion.” In fact, the paper notes happily, ESSA opens wide the door for all manner of “alternative providers of teacher preparation” as long as they can have their results validated by a USED-recognized authority, which– hey , we just made one of those a few paragraphs ago!! Yes, there’s some pesky law from 1965, but the Secretary can waive (aka “ignore”) that if she’s a mind to.

“The writers characterize the old system as the fox guarding the henhouse; they would like to replace the old fox with their own brand new reformy charter-loving test-driven fox. They are also fond of the same language used by choicesters to attack the public ed system– the current teacher prep system is a “cartel” that needs to be broken up, because these new guys want to cash in, too, and it’s not fair that they have to play by rules that they don’t like. Let a hundred sad versions of Relay GSE bloom. Let charter operators crank out fake teachers from “fully accreditated” fake teacher factories.

“And most of all, let’s base the entire structure of BS Test scores, one more terrible idea that refuses to die.

“It is the last building block in the grand design for a parallel school system, where schools are staffed by substandard teachers trained in only test prep, and therefor providing a substandard education, cranked out by substandard teacher prep programs set up to prove to a substandard accreditation board that they meet the substandard standards.

“Look, I am one of the last people to defend the current system of teacher prep. My solution is simple– replace every single person in the accrediting agency with a classroom teacher. My solution is certainly not to stage a coup to impose a ridiculous standard by which college programs are judged by second-hand results on a third-rate test.

“In the end, I can’t decide if these guys are cynical, arrogant, greedy, or dumb. I mean, it takes some balls to say, “The whole foundation of the teaching profession is wrong. We should rip it out and replace with our own unverified untested unproven results– by force if necessary.” It takes some serious greed to say, “If we just gutted and upended the system, we could redirect so many public tax dollars to private corporate pockets.” It takes huge cynicism to think either, or both, and just not care about the consequences. At this point, it just takes plain old boneheadedness to think that PARCC and its ilk can be used as a measure of educational success. But then, I’m cranky today. These guys have been around several blocks, have done respectable work in other areas. I’m honestly confused– how do people end up pushing such terrible ideas?

“The only good news I see here is that this is not a plan Betsy DeVos is likely to jump on. It comes from so-called progressives, and it involves more structures and institutions and rules. While I suspect that DeVos sees the same problem (“People have to jump through all these stupid hoops to become a teacher and all these dumb rules to run a teacher prep program”), I suspect her solution is much simpler (“No more rules for anyone! You can call yourself a teacher training program, and you can call yourself a teacher training program, and you can call yourself a teacher training program, and anyone can operate a so-called school and hire anyone they want and we’ll shovel money at all of them!”)

“So call it one more reminder that “progressive” doesn’t equal “friend of public ed” as well as a reminder that there are no limits to the huge badness of some reformster ideas.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Teacher Education, Testing

Charter Schools: Our Teachers Are Public Employees! Private Employees! Whichever Means They Can’t Unionize!

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2017 //
8

Rachel M. Cohen writes in The American Prospect about the curious efforts of charter schools to prevent their teachers from joining a union.

When it suits their purposes, they insist their employees are private employees of a private corporation, and therefore exempt from unionization.

But the y also, in other jurisdictions, say their employees are public employees of a state actor, and therefore exempt from unionization.

The only constant is their effort to prevent their overworked teachers from forming a union.

What charter teachers can depend on is that their employers will harass them if they display any interest in joining a union.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, Teachers, Unions

BREAKING NEWS: L.A. School Board President Faces Felony Charges Over Campaign Contributions!

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2017 //
26

This story broke in the LA Times just minutes ago.

“Los Angeles Unified School Board President Ref Rodriguez was charged on Wednesday with three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, among other charges, the result of a months-long investigation by local authorities into donations to his successful first-time run for office in 2015.

“The charges against Rodriguez, 46, who represents District 5, which stretches from Los Feliz to South Gate, were detailed in a news release from Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

“Prosecutors accuse Rodriguez of giving more than $24,000 to his own campaign, while illegally representing that the donations had been made by more than two dozen other contributors.

“The allegations come at a high point in Rodriguez’s political career. Elected board president in July, he currently presides over the first L.A. Unified school board majority dominated by members who were, like him, elected with major financial support from charter school advocates.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Ethics, Los Angeles
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