Archives for category: For-Profit
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

DeVos Ally, New Leader of For-Profit K12 Inc. Promises to Clean Up Its Shoddy Record

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2018 //
18

Over the years, it has become obvious that virtual charter schools are a sham. ECOT in Ohio was a spectacular failure, which made millions for its for-profit owner (“the ECOT man”) but cost taxpayers over a billion dollars that should have gone to public schools. The founder of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is now in jail, convicted of stealing millions of dollars, but convicted only of tax evasion, not embezzlement. June Brown, who operated K12 Inc. schools in Pennsylvania, avoided conviction because of her advanced age (she kept the money).

K12 Inc. is perhaps the biggest of the shams because it has the most students. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It makes handsome profits, but its students drop out at a high rate and get low test scores on state tests. The NCAA stripped 24 of the virtual K12 Inc. schools of accreditation a few years back after it discovered that students were often taking the K12 Inc. tests without bothering to first sit for instruction. NCAA officials saw tests that included “true-false” questions, and observed that students could take the test again if they failed. Any number of K12 Inc. virtual schools have been engaged in fraudulent practices that led to fines or even jail sentences for their operators.

K12 Inc. has been repeatedly criticized for the poor performance of its students. They start behind and they don’t catch up. See here. See here. See here. See here.

K12 Inc. originated with Ron Packard, who was paid $5 million a year to run it, Michael Milker, the ex-felon who invested in it, and Bill Bennett, the ex-Secretary of Education who was supposed to sell it to home schooling families (but had to step back after making a comment on his radio show that the best way to reduce crime was to encourage the abortion of black babies.)

Politico interviewed Kevin Chavous, a close ally of Betsy DeVos, who adores for-profit virtual charter schools. He promised to do better in the future.

K12 INC. PUSHES TO DO BETTER AMID CRITICISM OF VIRTUAL SCHOOLS: Low graduation and attendance rates have led to widespread scrutiny in recent years of virtual schools, which allow students to do Internet-based schooling on a computer at taxpayers’ expense. One of the largest providers is K12 Inc., which serves 110,000 students in 31 states.

— Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. council member and a founding board member of the American Federation for Children school choice group that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos used to chair, took over a year ago as president of the company’s academics, policy and schools group. He recently stopped by the POLITICO newsroom, and offered insight into work underway at K12 Inc. Here’s what he shared:

— Tracking students. Chavous said the company rolled out a new system to more closely track both student and teacher performance and focus on “aggressive engagement” to ensure students are logging on. Teachers and administrators are held accountable when students aren’t progressing. He noted that only 11 percent of K12’s first-time students are on grade level when they start, so many have a long way to go to catch up academically. “We are going to be very disciplined about making sure we have growth with all of our students,” Chavous said.

— ECOT collapse. Even though K12 wasn’t affiliated with the massive Ohio virtual school ECOT that closed earlier this year, Chavous said its collapse has been a wakeup call. He said about 4,000 of its former students moved to Ohio Virtual Academy, a K12 school. One big lesson is that the “onboarding process” is important, so he said in Ohio they’ve started requiring mandatory orientation so there’s a clear understanding among students and parents of what’s expected. Another lesson, he said, is that providers need a better understanding of each student’s academic needs from the get-go.

— Desperate parents. Chavous said he’s spent hours listening to inquiries from parents calling to ask about attending a K12 school. Nearly half are parents whose kids have been bullied, he said. “Ninety-five percent of those phone calls, the parents are full of desperation,” Chavous said.

— School violence. After school shootings, he said K12 sees an uptick in calls, and safety concerns are one reason parents like online education. “We’re filling a need that others aren’t filling. That means we do have a responsibility to fill that need academically in the right way. And … our company takes that charge on,” he said.

— Future of school choice. Chavous said he thinks DeVos’ support for virtual schools has had little effect on the work K12 is doing around the country. “It really hasn’t had an impact on policy shifts that we’ve seen,” he said.

Categories For-Profit, Fraud, Virtual Charter Schools

Hedge Fund Manager: Investing in Charter Schools is “Easiest Money” He Has Ever Made

By dianeravitch
October 7, 2018 //
9

Forbes reports on the investment strategy of billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman. He makes money investing in charter schools and thinks he is “doing good” by undermining public education.

“It turns out that Bill Ackman is making good money in the most unexpected of places: financing charter schools for low-income kids.

“Since 2011, the billionaire hedge fund manager has invested $20 million of his own money in the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, which was started by former tennis star Andre Agassi and has built 79 new charter schools in poor neighborhoods around the country. The impact investment, which Ackman made via his charitable foundation, has netted annual returns north of 10%.

“Meanwhile, performance at his hedge fund has been languishing. Ackman has lost money for the past three years running, largely because of disastrous bets on two companies: Valeant and Herbalife. During that time, his net worth has dropped by more than half, to an estimated $1.1 billion. Recently he’s managed to turn things in the right direction, with his Pershing Square Holdings posting gains of 15.8% through September 30, according to the firm.

“Ackman’s foray into impact investing began in 2011 when Agassi, a tennis champ with eight Grand Slams under his belt, pitched him on his new fund, the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. Agassi, who had teamed up with professional impact investor Bobby Turner, promised Ackman that his capital would go toward the construction of 100 new charter schools for low-income children by 2020 in areas like the Bronx and Southwest Detroit—and that he would see double-digit returns, to boot. Ackman put in $10 million and agreed to take calls from other potential investors who were deciding whether to plunk down their own money. (Ackman, who began playing tennis at age 7, says he managed to beat Agassi in a doubles match—sometime after the two first met in 2011).

“With that, Ackman became a vocal and early proponent of impact investments, which are designed to reap a financial return as well as some positive social or environmental impact. His foundation has put a total of $42 million toward these investments in recent years, in areas ranging from affordable housing to financial inclusion to education…

“His largest impact investment to date is in the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, which has financed construction for 79 new charter schools that have served over 41,000 students since 2011. It generates returns for investors by leasing or selling new schools to charter school operators like KIPP at a profit. Ackman has put a combined $20 million into two funds. (Stewart Rahr, another U.S. billionaire and a Forbes 400 member, has put in $10 million.)..

“Ackman, who signed the Giving Pledge in 2012 and promised to donate more than half his wealth, has pledged or donated over $400 million to organizations like Teach for America and Human Rights Watch through his foundation.”

Someone should tell Mr. A koan that his investments and gifts are undermining a basic democratic institution and harming the teaching profession by sending inexperienced amateurs into classrooms to replace professional teachers. At the same time, he is helping to kill unions.

Maybe that, plus return on investment, is exactly what he wants.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Teach for America

Florida: Voucher Fraud Stiffs Teachers, Taxpayers, No One Cares

By dianeravitch
October 5, 2018 //
13

Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel writes here about a voucher school that is a sham, but the state doesn’t care. Does anyone in Florida care about accountability for taxpayers’ money, or about the quality of education?

I urge you to subscribe to the Orlando Sentinel to follow its fearless coverage. I did.

And remember, when you read this story, that this is what Betsy DeVos describes as the “best” state because she wants everyone to follow Florida’s example of charters, vouchers, and no accountability for public dollars.

Maxwell writes:

Two years ago, the Beta Preparatory school in Orlando was being run — with your tax dollars — inside a commercial complex on South Orange Blossom Trail, alongside eight bail-bonds businesses and a drug-testing company.

With no outdoor space for recess — and fellow tenants such as “Drug Tests R Us” — it wasn’t most parents’ vision of an ideal learning environment.

Apparently Beta wasn’t an ideal tenant either. The private school that takes state vouchers was evicted for not paying its rent.

Yes, the entire taxpayer-subsidized school. (Class, the words of the day are: “Final notice.”)

So last year, Beta moved to a new locale — a church campus in Orlando, where it continued to take more of your tax dollars … until things went south there, too.

Teachers filed formal complaints about a “lack of basic school supplies,” academic “irregularities,” student safety, inadequate staffing and a “lack of professionalism.” Multiple teachers said the school stiffed them on salary. The church said the school stiffed it on rent.

Ultimately, the school shut down for good.

You might think that would be the final chapter in this sorry story.

But not in Florida.

As Sentinel reporter Annie Martin reported last weekend, the owner of the Beta school simply opened another school a few weeks ago with a new name; this time in Volusia County … once again with your tax dollars.

Court records show the school’s owner filed the application for the new school the same week a court ordered him to pay $18,793 for not paying a teacher at his last school.

Florida education officials and politicians didn’t seem to care. They seem content to send your money — and children’s futures — down a black hole.

They scream about “accountability” for public schools, but have few checks and balances on the private schools that take public money to supposedly better serve low-income and special-needs students.

In its “Schools Without Rules” series, Sentinel reporters found voucher (or “scholarship”) schools faking safety reports, hiring felons, hiring high-school dropouts as teachers and operating in second-rate strip malls. They discovered curricula full of falsehoods and subpar lesson plans.

If you confront defenders of this system, be they legislators or school operators, many start mumbling about the virtue of “choice”— as if funding a hot mess of a school is a swell thing, as long parents choose that mess.

Horse hockey. I choose accountability. And transparency. And standards.

And the estimable Mr. Maxwell goes on to write:

Florida legislators — such as House Speaker Richard Corcoran — claim to support all those things as well.

If a tourism bureau makes headlines about questionable activities, Corcoran issues subpoenas and screams that taxpayers have a right to know how “every penny” and “every dollar” is spent. (He’s right.)

When a university is accused of improperly spending $38 million on a construction project, he demands an “immediate investigation.” (He’s right there, too.)

But as nearly a billion dollars — a mix of tax dollars and corporate tax credits — are siphoned away to voucher schools, many with proven problems, Corcoran and his buddies look the other way, meekly mumbling: Um … choice.

Mr. Speaker, you should choose to do your job.

Instead, the Sentinel’s been doing it for you. Last year, our journalists personally inspected more voucher schools in six months than every state education official combined visited in a year. And we found problems galore.

Some voucher schools whine: You’re focusing on the bad apples.

You’re damn right we are. That’s what news organizations do. We focus on problems — whether it’s dangerous airlines, corrupt toll-road agencies or, yes, shoddy schools — so we can fix them.

We’ve done it for decades at public schools — exposing safety violations, unfit teachers, absentee school board members and failing schools. And in every case, elected leaders demanded fixes.

But when problems are found at voucher schools, defenders simply whine about being picked on.

Grow up. You sound like an airline exec asking news teams not to cover a crash.

Lawmakers should require all voucher schools to hire certified teachers, or at least college grads. Schools should be inspected every year. Curriculum plans should be filed with the state. Graduation rates and nationally accepted test scores should be publicly reported. And school operators who fail shouldn’t be allowed to re open.

If you want those standards — all basic, yet none of which are in place for voucher schools — demand them from your legislator. (Contact info at http://www.leg.state.fl.us)

No decent school should be afraid of standards. If you don’t want accountability, don’t take public money.

And if you’re an elected official who doesn’t care about accountability — for all schools — find a new line of work.

Categories Accountability, Corruption, Education Reform, Florida, For-Profit, Vouchers

Arizona: Governor Ducey, Facing Election, Decides It Is Time to Curb Charter Corruption

By dianeravitch
October 4, 2018 //
12

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona has been a stalwart champion of unregulated charters and vouchers. He has looked the other way when members of the legislature pass laws to enrich themselves while running charter chains and voucher programs. He has ignored conflicts of interest, nepotism, and self-dealing because, hey, that’s how unbridled capitalism works!

But the state is now knee-deep in scandals committed by privatizers, and guess what? Governor Ducey says it is time to reign in the corruption!

In a debate with his Democratic opponent, David Garcia, Ducey claims he wants to reform charter law. Is it because of the latest scandal, where a legislator (Eddie Farnsworth) sold his for-profit charter chain to a nonprofit and cleared at least $11.8 million in profit plus a contract to manage the nonprofit chain?

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic is outraged that the government is indifferent to charter fraud.

She writes:

Farnsworth says he’s just a businessman who took a risk, followed the law and is now reaping the reward.

“Charter schools have been lucrative to me because I’ve done what every other business has done to make money: I had an idea,” he told Harris. “I put the business plan into place. I followed every law and every contract. I provided a product that is a good product that people wanted.”

“It doesn’t hurt that for most of the last two decades, Farnsworth, along with other legislators who own charter schools, has helped write some of those laws. In his 16 years as a legislator, for example, Farnsworth has voted 12 times to boost “additional assistance” to charter schools (read: himself).

“But there is no conflict, we are told.“

Garcia is an education professor. He has pledged to eliminate the profiteering from the charter se tor. His own children have attended an arts-focused charter school, so he is not opposed to charters on principle, just to the rampant fraud that makes Arizona a national laughing stock.

Despite his support for charters, the Network for Public Education Action Fund Endorses Garcia because Ducey is an ALEC stooge and a voucher proponent. Garcia opposes vouchers and has pledged new dedicated funding for public schools.

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Arizona, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization

How Charter School Chains Make a Profit

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2018 //
17

In this post, journalist Stephen Rosenfeld explains how charter operates make a profit. He has only scratched the surface. Some make profits through clever real estate deals, where they buy or lease a space, renovate it at public expense, then charge the state exorbitant rental fees. Some embezzle. Some use their school credit card like an ATM. Some set up “related companies” and divert funds to those companies, which they happen to own. Some hire contractors and get kickbacks. There is no end to ingenuity when no one is watching.

Rosenfeld begins with the interesting question: In what way is Enron like the charter industry? (One of the major funders of charter schools is John Arnold of Texas, who made his fortune as an Enron trader, before it imploded).

On the surface, Enron was in the energy business. But behind closed doors, it was engaged in an array of dubious investments and transactions that helped its top executives amass wealth. The charter schools cited in their report similarly present a public face of being alternative public schools. But their founders also used an array of financial tactics, especially involving school real estate deals, to become rich by diverting millions from their classrooms.

Nationwide, 43 states and the District of Columbia have 6,800 charters serving 2.9 million students. They comprise 6 percent of K-12 public school enrollment, which has increased six-fold in the last 15 years. When states approved the first charters in the 1990s, the idea was to nurture locally accountable experimental schools. However, since then a K-12 privatization industry has emerged that is dominated by companies seeking to create regional or national brands, akin to any other corporate franchise. These larger charter operations tend to have non-profit and for-profit arms, which can mask an array of complicated financial relationships.

The charter industry’s largest operations often are run by what’s called educational management organizations, EMOs, which “now control 35-to-40 percent of the industry with an estimated 45 percent of charter students,” the scholars said. These sophisticated operations can attract private investors because they can use their status as schools to get large tax breaks, which, in turn, are applied to a range of profit-making ventures that have nothing to do with educating under-served communities.

“Charter schools attract investors because of the potential for new revenue streams,” the authors said. “For instance, the New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) program provides investors the opportunity to make profits from charter-school real estate transactions. Enacted as a component of the Community Relief Tax Credit Act of 2000, the NMTC was designed to encourage investment in low-income communities. The NMTC accomplishes this goal by providing investors in a community development entity (CDE) a 39% tax credit over a seven-year period.”

But the biggest way to grab seven-figure sums in the privatized education sphere was through shady real estate transactions, they said, saying their for-profit arms can “obtain revenue from charter schools through lease payments for the use of the facilities.” The authors them gave five stunning examples, where the school’s founders could not stop themselves from grabbing millions.

Read about his five examples.

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

Ohio: Inspector General Holding Up Report on For-Profit Deal for “ECOT Man”

By dianeravitch
September 25, 2018 //
11

Bill Phillis writes:


State Inspector General holding up a report of an investigation into a multi-million contract that the state steered to IQ Innovations, a company owned by the ECOT Man

The ECOT Man’s donations to political campaigns and political party organizations opened up several spigots connected to state revenue streams. IQ Innovations, created by the ECOT Man, received millions via a contract steered to it by state officials. The Ohio State University was a section of the pipe through which the funds flowed. The chancellor of the Board of Regents was an operative in turning on the spigot.

The attached news release provides yet another sordid piece of the ECOT scandal.

Why the corruption? Because some state officials not only allow it to happen but helped it happen.

“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
– John Adams, September 10, 1785

William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org

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

Michigan: Virtual Schools Grow Despite High Failure Rate

By dianeravitch
September 25, 2018 //
17

The virtual charter industry is booming in Michigan, despite its abysmal performance.

Michigan, DeVos’s home state, has outsourced its education system as much as possible to for-profit entrepreneurs. Michigan is the only state where 80% of charters are operated by for-profit corporations.

http://www.wkar.org/post/study-virtual-schools-growing-mi-despite-poor-outcomes#stream/0

According to this report, one-quarter of the 101,000 students attending virtual charters did not pass a single class.

The graduation rate is far below that of public schools.

Michigan’s standing on NAEP has fallen to the bottom 10 since the widespread adoption of school choice.

Michigan is an exemplar of PROFITS MATTER, NOT EDUCATION.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Reform, For-Profit, Fraud, Michigan, Scandals, School Choice, Virtual Charter Schools

The Business of Charter Schools: Real Estate!!!!

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2018 //
20

Charter operators don’t get rich on tuition, although many have a business model that relies on cost-cutting, low-wage teachers, TFA, and replacing human teachers with technology. Those wonderful computers don’t expect health or pensions. When they break, you can repair them or discard them.

The big bucks are in real estate!

ESJ properties
https://therealdeal.com/miami/2018/08/04/aventura-firm-makes-45m-addition-to-its-portfolio-of-school-properties/

It is traded as EPR properties (Entertainment properties in the graph you show

Investing in Enduring Experiences

And they also own the BASIS schools.
https://insightcenter.eprkc.com/basis-schools/

In Arizona, if the school goes under, they get to keep the property, even though the taxpayers have paid for it.

And look at this
https://insightcenter.eprkc.com/education/

This is what is known as “legal graft.”

It is a theft of public assets.

In plain sight.

The bond industry issued warnings against charter schools, because they endanger the financial ratings of school districts and cities.

Mercedes Schneider: Municipal Analysts Call for Charter Financial Transparency

Municipal Analysts Ask Whether Charter Schools Make the Grade

Moody’s: Charters Pose Serious Risk to Struggling Cities

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

The Business of Charter Schools: A $45 Million Charter Deal

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2018 //
28

Long, long ago, almost everyone went to the neighborhood public school. The school had a principal, who was overseen by the superintendent. The superintendent answered to a local school board. Those were not idyllic times, to be sure, but no one ever imagined that there was profit to be found in the public schools, or that the public schools would one day be part of “the education industry.” All that is changed now. There are still neighborhood public schools, but now there is an industry that relies on entrepreneurs and market forces. You don’t have to be an educator to manage or operate or start a charter school (think tennis star Andre Agassi or football hero Deion Sanders). There are tax breaks for investors in charter schools. Charter school properties are bought and sold, like franchises or just ordinary real estate. They have no organic connection to the local community. The profit for entrepreneurs is to be found in the real estate transactions.

A recent real estate deal brought this change into focus. There is a buyer and a seller; there are investors. There is return on investment. The world has changed. The charter industry has profits and losses. They open and close. It is not about education. It is a business.

school

[more intro]

A $45 million charter deal suggests profits on the horizon

by Tom Chorneau
Graduation mortar board cap on one hundred dollar bills concept
August 09, 2018(Fla.) A private real estate fund, which boasts of pioneering big money investments in charter school properties, announced this week a $45 million deal to buy four schools in three states.

ESJ Capital Partners, based in the Miami area, added the schools to a portfolio that includes a number of more traditional investments, including apartment buildings, medical offices and tourist attractions.

But the firm also owns 28 charter school properties that they say are valued at more than $650 million.

The firm promises to “provide optimum returns for our investors through disciplined procedures, selective investment criteria and structured processes,” according to their website.

Although for-profit investment in charter schools accounts for only a small slice of the movement nationally, there are examples of commercial enterprise within the system.

In some instances, a lender might be able to take advantage of a tax break because of their investment in a school that is located in an economically challenged neighborhood. In other cases, an investor might be interested in the consistent, government-back rent that charters can pay.

There is probably far more invested by a handful  of very wealthy patrons of charters, who view the movement has providing a much needed competition to traditional public schools.

Whether driven by profits or politics, the growing availability of financial support for charters is much needed, supporters say.

In comparison to traditional public schools, charters have much more difficulty borrowing money. The banking community has traditionally viewed charters operators has carrying far more risk of insolvency than traditional public schools.

Charters in most states must also pay for school improvements or new construction out of operating budgets.

A number of big philanthropic organizations have stepped in to improve the fiscal landscape for charter facilities.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has been very active in the Los Angeles area, as has the Gates Foundation in Washington State.

Earlier this year, the Walton Family Foundation—led by the heirs of Walmart founder—announced the creation of two nonprofit entities to help finance the cost of building and maintaining new charter schools. Combined, the investment from the foundation is expected to be close to $300 million.

But there apparently is also money to be made too.

In 2016, ESJ sold five Florida charter schools for $72 million to Charter School Capital, a financial services company specializing in charter schools. The partners did provide the purchase price of the schools.

The partnership’s latest acquisition are schools located in in the Phoenix area, Washington D.C. and Toledo, Ohio.

All of them are operated by Virginia-based, Imagine Schools.

ESJ reportedly has $100 million invested in properties operated by Imagine Schools.

“The Imagine campuses that we just acquired have been open over 13 years and are thriving financially and academically, with consistent high enrollment,” Matthew Fuller, chief investment officer of ESJ, said in a statement.

According to a release from the partnership in announcing the 2016 transaction, ESJ was one of the first investment groups nationally to see the potential in charter schools.

“At the height of the Great Recession, ESJ identified a niche in developing charter schools as an alternative to their traditional commercial investments,” the release said. “The real estate asset management group predicted this asset type would evolve and scale into a mainstream, single tenant investment category, attracting more institutional investors, lenders and bondholders.”

…read more

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

Arizona: What a Joke! Gov. Ducey Wants to Reform Charter Law!

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2018 //
7

Arizona has a Charter Law that ignores nepotism, conflict of interest, Profiteering, frauds, scams, etc.

Now Governor Doug Ducey is in a tight race with educator David Garcia, and Ducey wants to “reform” the charter law! And I have a bridge to sell you if you are that gullible.

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic says that this is hilarious. PS: I love Laurie Roberts and Craig HARRIS of the Arizona Republic, who regularly expose charter corruption (he exposes it, she ridicules it).

She writes, to begin:

“A month ago, Gov. Doug Ducey said he wasn’t concerned that the head of Primavera charter school – which puts just 11 percent of its state funding into instruction — scored an $8.8 million “shareholder distribution” from the for-profit company that runs the online operation.

“I’m not concerned about the CEO,” Ducey told The Republic’s Craig Harris. “That is of very little interest. I’m concerned about the child and the parent and what the child is equipped to do after 12 years of education.”

“Today, Ducey and other Republicans have seen the light and the light is a freight train of public outrage racing right at them as they seek re-election.

“As a result, Ducey is now backing a set of charter school reforms proposed by state Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, who like Ducey is facing a fight to get back to the state Capitol next year.

“While I’m certainly happy to see that Ducey and his Republican colleagues at long last might be willing to plug gaping loopholes that have allowed some charter operators to plunder public money, I have to ask the same question I asked when they suddenly saw the need to prioritize public schools as teachers took to the streets this spring:

“Where’ve you been?”…

“Virtually every year, we hear an outrageous story about a charter school operator who has fundamentally failed the smell test, either by shorting kids or lining their pockets – or both.

“Virtually every year, Democrats in the Legislature propose reforms to fix laughable state laws that require hardly any oversight or public accountability.

“And virtually, every year Republicans ignore all evidence of a problem while joining hands and chanting “school choice, school choice, school choice.” This, to the delight of their dark money pals who shovel campaign money their way.

“Indeed, it is a choice to focus only on charter school successes — and there certainly are some — while ignoring problems rampant in the charter school industry.

“Just last fall, the centrist Grand Canyon Institute released the results of a three-year study that found up to up to 77 percent of charter school holders are using public funds on “potentially questionable financial transactions” — often paying themselves or their various relatives to provide goods and services to their charter schools under a price they get to set, courtesy of no-bid contracts.

“The study found that charter school executives earn on average 50 percent more than their school district counterparts while teachers earn 20 percent less. That classroom spending and academic performance are both lower in charters than in district schools.

“Rather than taking a serious look at those findings, our leaders and the charter school industry labeled the Grand Canyon Institute as “anti charter” and did … nothing.”

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »