Archives for category: For-Profit
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Charter Schools Where Insiders Flourish

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2012 //
6

As part of its wide-ranging investigation into the financial practices of the state’s booming charter sector, the Arizona Republic identified numerous instances where board members and family members were self-dealing.

Here are a few prime examples.

Of those highlighted here, this is the most startling:

$42.3 million for curriculum

Primavera Technical Learning Center

City:Chandler | Grades: 6-12 | 2011 enrollment: 3,160

Number of schools: 2 | Year opened: 2001

Payments: Damien Creamer and Vanessa Baviera Rudilla run one of the largest online schools in Arizona, and the non-profit school contracts with a for-profit company, American Virtual Academy, for its curriculum and software. Creamer and Rudilla are officers of the non-profit and earn salaries. American Virtual Academy also is owned by Creamer and Rudilla. From fiscal 2007 to 2011, the non-profit paid $42.3 million to American Virtual Academy. The non-profit is exempt from state purchasing laws. Damien Creamer said when the school started it purchased software and curriculum from a number of vendors. The curriculum was mediocre and the software burdensome and unwieldy, he said. As American Virtual Academy’s products developed, the school began using its services. Because the company is the only one to offer such an online platform, getting price quotes from other vendors is not an option, he said. Creamer said he makes sure the non-profit school and his for-profit company operate at arm’s length.

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, Privatization

Checker Finn Opposes the “For-Profit Model in Education”

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2012 //
69

Back when I was a conservative, I was a founding member of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which is now the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

TBF was a continuation of work that Checker Finn and I started in the early 1980s as the Educational Excellence Network.

We advocated for liberal education and for higher standards for all students.

Checker was always more enthusiastic about choice than I was, but we worked together harmoniously in our shared distaste for humbug of any kind. We even traveled together in Eastern Europe at the invitation of the AFT, to talk about education and democracy.

When I left the conservative fold, I left the board of TBF.

While I still disagree with TBF’s love affair with school choice, I admire the honesty and transparency that has distinguished the organization.

In this latest report, TBF hired an experienced journalist to investigate why Edison failed in Dayton, Ohio, as an operator of a large charter school. Checker was one of the founding gurus of Edison.

The story is fascinating.

Most interesting is this quote:

“Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, whose sister organization sponsors the two schools overseen by the Alliance for Community Schools board, is among the most disillusioned about Edison’s effort in Dayton. Finn was at the table with Whittle and Chubb when Edison was conceived, and he was an early proponent of its education model. He said that the company’s “horror show” in his hometown is a special embarrassment.

“They did an abysmal job in Dayton,” Finn said. “I think it was an implementation and an accountability failure.”

An assistant secretary of education under former President Ronald Reagan, Finn said he has become “cynical” about the for-profit model in education. “Shareholder return ends up trumping the best interests of students,” he said. Having watched education management companies for 20 years, “Most of the models I admire today are run by non-profit groups.”

Now that is newsworthy! Checker is one of the most prominent of the conservative champions of choice, and he here admits that he has become cynical about the for-profit model.

Tell that to Governor Snyder in Michigan, where 80% of the charters are for-profit. Or to Governor John Kasich in Ohio, who has collected millions of dollars in campaign funding from for-profit operators.

And thank you, TBF, for showing other advocacy groups what it means to be transparent and self-critical and honest.

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization

What Happened to Local Control in Nashville?

By dianeravitch
November 23, 2012 //
8

Amy Frogge is a recently elected member of the Metro Nashville school board. She overcame a heavily funded opponent. She was named to our honor roll because she ran for school board to speak for parents and students. A lawyer, she takes her civic duty seriously. She believes in democracy, where the people closest to the problems have a voice in resolving them.

That’s why she has been a strong opponent of the Great Hearts charter school. Frogge describes the situation here.

Its plans were inadequate in relation to diversity. Few of the Arizona Great Hearts schools are diverse. This was not acceptable to the Nashville school board. It was no problem for state commissioner of education Kevin Huffman, who didn’t care if Great Hearts ended up with few or no black children. He withheld $3.4 million from the children of Nashville to punish the school board for turning down Great Hearts.

Why is Kevin Huffman so devoted to this charter operator?

This is what Timothy Noah wrote about Great Hearts Academy in The New Republic, quoting investigative journalist Ann Ryman in the Arizona Republic:

“The schools’ purchases from their own officials,” Ryman writes, “range from curriculum and business consulting to land leases and transportation services. A handful of non-profit schools outsource most of their operations to a board member’s for-profit company.” A nonprofit called Great Hearts Academies runs 15 Arizona charter schools. Since 2009, according to Ryman, the schools have purchased $987,995 in books from Educational Sales Co., whose chairman, Daniel Sauer, is a Great Hearts officer. And that doesn’t count additional book purchases made directly by parents. Six of the Great Hearts schools have links on their Web sites for parents who wish to make such purchases. The links are, of course, to Educational Sales Co. Since 2007 Sauer has donated $50,400 to Great Hearts. You can call that philanthropy, or you can call that an investment on which Sauer’s company received a return of more than 1800 percent. I’m not sure even Russian oligarchs typically get that much on the back end.”

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization

In Which I Agree with Andy Smarick

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2012 //
21

Andy Smarick believes that public schools can’t be fixed or turned around. He thinks that the only way to solve their problems is to close them down and replace them with privately managed charters. Andy served on the board of a KIPP school, so he is confident that KIPP can do what no public school can do.

In a previous post, I called on Andy to join me in “the KIPP Challenge.” This is the challenge for KIPP to take over an entire low-performing district and show what it can do. Prove that it doesn’t skim the best students, show what happens when it takes all the kids, prove the critics wrong. Given Andy’s experience as a member of a KIPP board, I thought he should join me.

Now he says that the School Improvement Grants (SIG) are a vast waste of money. I agree with him again.

Billions have been spent with meager results. The Department of Education has boasted of double digit gains, but Anthony Cody showed the statistical game that the DOE was playing. Anthony warned last March that the DOE was “spinning the numbers,” and that the SIG program was not working.

Agreed!

I feel strongly that a decade from now, we will look back and realize that the billions spent on Race to the Top were a waste of money that diverted schools from their true mission of developing and educating citizens, not the best test-takers who can win a race for higher test scores.

Andy, lover of all things new, wants to see the SIG program replaced by a commitment only to new schools.

But Chicago and New York City have been doing that for years without much success. The New York Daily News reported recently that nearly 60% of the new schools opened by Mayor Bloomberg had lower passing rates than the “failing” schools they had replaced. Why do more of the same when it didn’t work? If most of the new schools do worse than the old schools, we will move backwards, not forwards.

So, my suggestion is that federal money go to build and strengthen communities as well as schools; that it be coordinated with social services and health services to make sure that children are fit and healthy; that it be spent to make sure that schools in every community have a full rich curriculum with experienced teachers; that it be used to make sure that every school serving poor communities has strong parental involvement and social workers. And that we honor our nation’s commitment to equality of educational opportunity.

I know Andy won’t agree with my prescriptions. But I don’t agree with privatizing education.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, For-Profit, KIPP Charter Schools, Privatization, Race to the Top

Michigan Parents Push Back Against Business Model

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2012 //
45

As I travel the country, I am often astonished to see how discouraged educators and parents are by the unproven schemes foisted on their schools by politicians.

The worst of these schemes come from radical politicians who think that government should get out of the business of providing public education.

They want education to be a commodity that you pick up whenever you want, wherever you want.

That is their ideal, though they are far from accomplishing it because it is fundamentally a very idiotic idea.

Governor Bobby Jindal is on that track in Louisiana.

Governor Rick Snyder is pushing hard in Michigan to ensure that education is available “any time, any place, anywhere, anyhow,” or words to that effect.

He doesn’t see to see any purpose or value in public education or public schools.

He recently got a report from a pretentiously named group of faithful right-wing operatives who call themselves the “Oxford Foundation,” even though they have nothing to do with Oxford University and they are not a foundation. They are Republican party wonks, cranking out what the governor wants.

The basic idea behind many of the radical deregulatory schemes is to strap the money to the child’s back (usually called either “fair student funding” or “weighted student funding” or some variation thereof) and then let the student take the money anywhere.

To a local public school; to a religious school; to a for-profit virtual charter; to a trade school; to anyone who hangs out a shingle or advertises on TV. In time, there would be no limits on what sort of institution fits the rubric of “any place, any time.”

Yes, there is pushback. I recently met with a group of superintendents in Michigan whose districts encompass nearly half the children in the state: They are not happy. They are discouraged. In private, one said this whole approach is “educational malpractice.”

And the parents are organizing.

I recently received this excellent post from Michigan Parents for Schools.

The parents understand that what is happening will destroy their schools and their communities.

They know more about their children and about education than Governor Snyder and the “Oxford Foundation.”

The best way to stop this madness is to educate the public. Educate parents.

Bottom line: Vote the rascals out.

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Michigan, Parent Groups, Parents, Vouchers

Georgia DOE Blasts Cyber Academy, Threatens to Revoke Charter

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2012 //
4

The Georgia Department of Education issued a scathing report about the Georgia Cyber Academy for its handling of students with disabilities.

The state DOE warned that the online charter school might lose its charter.

The Georgia Cyber Academy is owned by for-profit K12.

K12’s stock price dropped recently after news of the poor performance of its Colorado Virtual Academy, whose graduation rate is 22%.

K12 is planning to expand into the lucrative Washington, DC, market.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Georgia, On-Line Education, Privatization

More Charters Headed for Washington, D.C.

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2012 //
3

Washington, D.C. Is about to get a bunch of additional charters.

Nexus Academy, part of Pearson’s Connections Academy, wants to open a school.

So does K12, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock price dropped this week after news broke about the abysmal performance of the Colorado Virtual Academy.

Rocketship is on its way, with its heavy emphasis on learning in front of a computer.

And also there will be a new Hebrew immersion charter school.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, On-Line Education

Expose of Charter Corruption in The New Republic

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2012 //
42

Timothy Noah, a senior editor of The New Republic, has written a stunning expose of charter school corruption. He begins with Arizona, where the laws are so lax that self-dealing by charter executives is the rule, not the exception. Noah points out that 90 percent of charter operators are exempt from state laws requiring competitive bidding. The state has never withdrawn an exemption.

Noah bases his observations about Arizona’s Wild West of charters on investigative reporting by Anne Ryman of the Arizona Republic.

He quotes from Ryman’s article:

“The schools’ purchases from their own officials,” Ryman writes, “range from curriculum and business consulting to land leases and transportation services. A handful of non-profit schools outsource most of their operations to a board member’s for-profit company.” A nonprofit called Great Hearts Academies runs 15 Arizona charter schools. Since 2009, according to Ryman, the schools have purchased $987,995 in books from Educational Sales Co., whose chairman, Daniel Sauer, is a Great Hearts officer. And that doesn’t count additional book purchases made directly by parents. Six of the Great Hearts schools have links on their Web sites for parents who wish to make such purchases. The links are, of course, to Educational Sales Co. Since 2007 Sauer has donated $50,400 to Great Hearts. You can call that philanthropy, or you can call that an investment on which Sauer’s company received a return of more than 1800 percent. I’m not sure even Russian oligarchs typically get that much on the back end.

Oh, yes, Great Hearts Academy. This is the same Arizona-based outfit that has been turned down four times by the Metro Nashville school board because it did not have a diversity plan. Because of its rejection of Great Hearts, the Nashville schools were fined $3.4 million by Tennessee’s TFA state commissioner of education Kevin Huffman. Huffman and the governor really, really want Great Hearts in Nashville and apparently they “won’t back down” until Great Hearts has at least three or four campuses in Nashville, regardless of what the school board says. The governor and legislature are set to pass an ALEC-model law to create a commission to overrule local school boards that have the nerve to turn down a charter school.

By the way, Great Hearts Academy just got permission to open charters in San Antonio.

Noah notes corruption in Ohio and California charters, including the Adelanto Charter School, which was shut down. It will now be replaced the the nation’s very first parent trigger charter, also in Adelanto, California, which was selected by only 50 parents in a school that enrolls more than 600 children.

Keep writing, Timothy Noah.

Categories California, Charter Schools, For-Profit, Privatization

America’s Favorite Parlour Game?

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2012 //
5

What is America’s favorite parlour game?

If you are talking about the average American, I don’t know though I would guess that parlour games have been replaced by watching TV.

However, if you are talking about the wonks in conservative think tanks, a rare breed to be sure, I will share their secret: they are obsessed with trying to understand how their idol, Tony Bennett, got beat at the polls.

He had everything going for him: the nation’s leading advocate of privatization. Chair of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change. Plenty of money. And he lost.

Some attribute it to the massive power of those evil unions (Mike Petrilli at Fordham).

Some say he lost his base by embracing Obama’s Common Core standards (Rick Hess at AEI).

This Hoosier says he lost because he became a willing servant of the federal Department of Education and forgot the people of Indiana.

Remember federalism? An old idea, to be sure, but a good one.

Categories Accountability, Chiefs for Change, Education Industry, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization

Credit-Rating Agency: Charter Schools Are Risky Investment

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2012 //
9

Well, we are into big-time business talk about education.

For-profit colleges are losing market share.

K12 Inc.’s stock price drops after Wells Fargo downgraded its rating in response to the poor performance of K12’s Colorado Virtual Academy, where the graduation rate is 22 percent.

Now a rating agency finds that despite the passage of an ALEC-style amendment in Georgia, allowing a gubernatorial commission to open charters over the objections of local school boards, and despite a likely charter victory in Washington State, the charter sector as a whole is a risky investment. Read the analysis here.

Hey, is any of this about education or just about increasing market share and profits and return-on-investment?

Categories Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, K12 Inc., Privatization
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