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Retired Educator Creates “Arizonans for Charter School Accountability,” Exposes Frauds and Scams

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2017 //
13

Jim Hall retired after three decades in education. He founded Arizonans for Charter School Accountability. He explains here:

I retired in June after over 30 years in education and 23 years as a school principal. One day I happened to find my research on charter school financing that was to be my dissertation for a PhD I never completed. I did a little research into one of the charter school companies I was studying and realized there were still major concerns about the financial accountability of charter schools in Arizona. I noticed that the charter organization was having a board meeting on September 10th so I decided to attend.

I started this organization largely because of an incident that occurred when I attended the board meeting. The Board President demanded to know my name – I repeated over and over that I was a member of the public and did not have to give my name. At the end of the meeting, a senior member of the company that manages the charter schools demanded my name in the hallway outside the meeting room. I refused and she pulled out her phone and took my picture saying “I’m taking your picture in case there are problems in the future”. I was completely shocked at this display of arrogance.

Arizonans for Charter School Accountability was born the next day. I filed a complaint with the Attorney General on behalf of ACSA regarding the violations of Arizona’s open meeting law. The AG’s office investigated the charter organization and they were forced to revise their website at each school and provide documents they had neglected to post in the past. The investigation is ongoing. Apparently, from the Board agenda for the October 15, 2014, they are being subjected to a “document audit” by the Attorney General’s office.

The charter organization finally posted their 2015 budget that should have been posted in July. It was a mess – there were significant areas that had they simply left blank. I found that they submitted this budget to the Arizona Department of Education and it was accepted, apparently without examining it. I made official complaints to the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools against the charter organization for filing incomplete budgets. I registered a complaint to the Auditor General’s office because ADE was negligent in accepting the budgets.

This week, on October 15, 2014, the charter organization submitted their Annual Financial Report for 2014 to ADE as is required by law. It too was full of omissions. Looking back over the last five years, all of their annual financial reports were incomplete. Today I filed additional complaints with the Charter School Board and the Auditor General’s office.

The budget and the annual financial report are literally the only documents charters have to submit to the State, since they can request waivers from compliance from both financial regulations and procurement rules. The State of Arizona apparently doesn’t even read these documents.

Charter schools waste millions of education dollars every year, at the expense of public schools and the children of Arizona. Corporate charter schools act with impunity because no one examines their actions.

I now have a passion that will fill my retirement. The Arizonans for Charter School Accountability will continue to examine the financial dealings of this charter organization and others. We will file complaint after complaint. We will go to the media to expose corrupt organizations. We will fight to change the law so that charter schools have financial accountability to the taxpayers of Arizona.

 

Categories Arizona, Charter Schools, For-Profit, Fraud, Hoax

Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche”

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2017 //
25

Politico reports that the offices of Republican Senators are overwhelmed with letters, emails, and faxes opposing Betsy DeVos, according to Politico. She is the most controversial and unpopular cabinet choice of Trump, and Senators have been overwhelmed by negative comments. Most of them have gone into hiding. Their phone lines are jammed or off the hook.

The reasons for the avalanche of opposition:

1. She is unqualified, having no experience as a parent, student, teacher, or local board member in a public school, which 85% of American students attend 10% in private schools and 5% in privately owned charter schools).

2. She is a lobbyist for privatization of public schools.

3. As she demonstrated in her Senate hearings, she is ignorant of federal law and policy.

4. She is hostile to public schools.

5. If appointed, she will transfer federal funds from public schools to non-public schools.

6. She uses her vast fortune to buy votes of Republican senators.

Parents care about their children and their schools and communities. They object to a Secretary of Education who doesn’t care about their public schools and will hurt their children and their communities while prattling about “great schools.” Indeeed, they may even be aware of the damage DeVos has already done to the public schools of Michigan.

If no Republican breaks ranks, voters must remember in November: 2018, 2020, and 2022. Actions have consequences.

Why in the world does the GOP stand fast behind a nominee who is so clearly uninformed? Could it be the millions she and her family have given them? As DeVos once said, we do expect something in return for our money. Payback day arrived and she is getting what she paid for.

Trump has nominated many people who were unfitted to the mission of their Department, like Dr. Carson for HUD, Scott Pruitt for EPA. But DeVos! Our public schools are at risk.

It is not the grizzly bears that are alarmed by DeVos. It’s the Mama Bears. They protect their cubs.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Fraud, Michigan, Parents, Privatization, School Choice, Vouchers

Betsy DeVos Lied to Senate Committee about Cybercharter Graduation Rates

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2017 //
32

Betsy DeVos is a huge fan of cybercharters. When responding in writing to questions from the Senate HELP Committee, she cited astonishing graduation rates for cybercharters.

She lied.

Benjamin Herold of Education Week did the fact-checking:

In her written response to questions from a key Democratic senator, Education Secretary-nominee Betsy DeVos defended full-time online charter schools using graduation rates significantly higher than those used for state and federal accountability purposes. The figures and language cited by DeVos directly mirror those used in a report from K12 Inc., the country’s largest for-profit operator of cyber charter schools, in which DeVos is a former investor.

According to the Ohio education department, for example, the Ohio Virtual Academy has a four-year graduation rate of 53 percent, good for an “F” on the state’s accountability system.

DeVos put the figure at 92 percent….

She was specific in her lies.

In written questions, Murray, who is the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, asked whether it is appropriate to advocate for the schools, despite their poor results.

DeVos responded:

“High quality virtual charter schools provide valuable options to families, particularly those who live in rural areas where brick-and-mortar schools might not have the capacity to provide the range of courses or other educational experiences for students. Because of this, we must be careful not to brand an entire category of schools as failing students.”

She then cited a number of schools and what she described as their graduation rates, which differ markedly from the figures used by each school’s state for accountability purposes:

The Idaho Virtual Academy has a 90 percent graduation rate, DeVos said. The school’s most recent publicly reported figure for state accountability purposes is 33 percent.

The Nevada Virtual Academy has a 100 percent graduation rate, DeVos said. The school’s most recent publicly reported figure for state accountability purposes is 67 percent.

The Ohio Virtual Academy has a 92 percent graduation rate, DeVos said. The school’s most recent publicly reported figure for state accountability purposes is 53 percent.

The Oklahoma Virtual Academy has a 91 percent graduation rate, DeVos said. The school’s most recent publicly reported figure for state accountability purposes is 40 percent.

The Utah Virtual Academy has a 96 percent graduation rate, DeVos said. The school’s most recent publicly reported figure for state accountability purposes is 42 percent.

The schools listed in DeVos’ written response, and the language she used to introduce them—”the following virtual academies have four-year cohort graduation rates at or above 90 percent”—is the same as the language used by K12 Inc. in its 2016 Academic Report.

Here is what she did not mention, but that the Senate HELP Committee–and the full Senate–should know.

The Tennessee Virtual Academy is the lowest-performing school in the state (Senator Alexander must know that). When then-State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman tried to close it, he was stymied by its friends in high places.

The New York Times reported that the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has the lowest graduation rate in the nation.

Even DFER founder Whitney Tilson inveighed against K12 Inc. because of its “dismal academic results” and “sky high” attrition rates.

Stephen Henderson, the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press, warned that Betsy DeVos has a long-standing habit of twisting data to promote her favorite causes (charters and vouchers), and that she is not to be trusted to tell the truth.

He wrote:

A true advocate for children would look at the statistics for charter versus traditional public schools in Michigan and suggest taking a pause, to see what’s working, what’s not, and how we might alter the course.

Instead, DeVos and her family have spent millions advocating for the state’s cap on charter schools to be lifted, so more operators can open and, if they choose, profit from more charters.

Someone focused on outcomes for Detroit students might have looked at the data and suggested better oversight and accountability.

But just this year, DeVos and her family heavily pressured lawmakers to dump a bipartisan-supported oversight commission for all schools in the city, and then showered the GOP majority who complied with more than $1 million dollars in campaign contributions.

The Department of Education needs a secretary who values data and research, and respects the relationship between outcomes and policy imperatives.

Nothing in Betsy DeVos’ history of lobbying to shield the charter industry from greater accountability suggests she understands that.

If she’s confirmed, it will be a dark day for the value of data and truth in education policy.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Reform, For-Profit, Fraud, Graduation rates, Virtual Charter Schools

EduShyster: Betsy DeVos’s Alternative Facts

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2017 //
37

Kellyanne Conway may go down in American history for coining the term “alternative facts,” which apparently means that “facts” are whatever you think they are; that if someone says that 2+2=4, there are “alternative” ways to reach a different conclusion. For example, 2+2 might actually equally 3 or 7 or 41, depending on what the meaning of “facts” is. Some people believe that “alternative facts” is actually a synonym for falsehoods. Or, lies.

 

EduShyster  delved deeply into Michigan politics and discovered that Betsy DeVos, on track to become Trump’s Secretary of Education (another of Trump’s little jokes) has her own “alternative facts.” 

 

DeVos has said that if confirmed, she will not give up her financial stake in a company called Neurocore, because–well, Trump didn’t release his tax returns and didn’t end his conflicts of interest, so why should she?

 

But apparently she believes in this company. EduShyster reviews its claims, which are amazing but then learns that this brain retraining is costly.

 

Now for the bad news: brain retraining doesn’t come cheap. Collecting qEEG data to identify neurological weakness, developing a personalized brain performance plan and restoring the brain to optimal functionality, all the while being monitored in a brain room will set you back $2200—which may or may not be covered by insurance. That’s bad news if you’ve got a stodgy insurer who insists on dated data metrics, like peer-reviewed studies (yawn). But wait—good news: Neurocore is now partnering with Prosper Healthcare Lending to assist clients with program financing. Also, be sure to ask a Neurocore team member about the Neurocore Scholarship Program.

 

Seeing green
As I read more about Neurocore, I felt the part of my brain that houses my recollections about Michigan education scandals light up. Had I not just encountered an expensive and, um, experimental miracle cure that claimed to make students smarter? Indeed, I had. I speak, of course, of Integrated Visual Learning, the brain-child of one Steve Ingersoll, the optometrist turnedMitten state edupreneur who was recently sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for tax evasion. While Neurocore is laser focused on the brain’s *neuroplasticity,* Integrated Visual Learning or IVL trained its sights on the gateway to the brain: the ocular orbs. Students at Ingersoll’s charter schools were hooked up to a machine to see if their eyes zigged and zagged across a page of text from the usual left to right. If not, expensive *therapy* was in order. Like Neurocore, IVL posted impressive results as self-reported on its website. At Ingersoll’s charter schools, Ritalin prescriptions were dropping and test scores were rising as throngs of students made the transition to *visual learning.*

 

Say what?
Imagine my surprise, then, when on my travels through Michigan last month, I found myself in the offices of a charter school lobbying org, listening to a lobbyist explain that Ingersoll’s schools were actually shining stars in Michigan’s charter landscape. My own eyes zigged and zagged in response. *But the guy just got sent to jail!* I responded. But as was patiently explained to me, I’d been looking at the matter upside down. Ingersoll’s sentencing was proof that the system works—*checks and balances*—while the fact that kids at the charter schools continued to excel even as the founder of the Excel Institute was being led away in handcuffs, well, that was what we should be talking about…

 

Scams, frauds, cons, coming to your state soon. And just think, the Secretary of Education will own a piece of the action and be able to promote it at the same time!

Categories Betsy DeVos, For-Profit

Anita Senkowski: The Evangelical Christian Roots of DeVos’s Favorite Brain Enhancement Investment

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2017 //
18

Anita Senkowski is a fearless investigative blogger in Michigan who is the scourge of charter frauds. Her blogs, for example, exposed fraud at a charter chain that involved the misappropriation of millions of dollars, and the fraudster is bound for prison.

 

In this post, she examines the evangelical Christian roots of Neurocore, the biofeedback company that Betsy DeVos likes so much that she refuses to sell her stock despite the obvious conflict of interest with her role as Secretary of Education. Decisions made by the Department could enrich the company and her stock portfolio. Not that she needs the money.

 

Under normal circumstances, if a nominee for the Cabinet refused to divest a conflict of interest, that would be the end of his or her nomination. But these are not normal circumstances. We have a president who never released his tax returns and refuses to separate himself from control of his business empire, which is rife with conflicts of interest. He hasn’t even given up the 60-year lease on the Trump Hotel in D.C., a block from the White House, even though the lease with the Government Services Administration explicitly says that no elected official may be a beneficiary of the lease. Trump seems to live by the saying, “Never apologize, never explain.”

 

Senkowski also points out that the head of the company received his “degrees” from a for-profit online “university.”

 

Her Facebook site has this motto: “So sue me already.” Apparently no one has, because she is still biting the frauds, cons, and scams in northern Michigan. It sounds like a full-time job!

 

 

 

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, For-Profit, Fraud

Democrats Ask for Another Chance to Question DeVos, Republicans Say No

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2017 //
44

Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee requested another opportunity to question Betsy DeVos about her financial conflicts of interest, but Republicans quickly rejected their request. 

 

She may may enhance her family fortune by holding on to stocks in her portfolio that her actions will affect. Please don’t believe that billionaires don’t care about making more money. Some do, some don’t. DeVos’s refusal to eliminate all her education investments shows which kind of billionaire she is.

 

DeVos was so ill-informed at her only hearing that her remarks turned her into a national laughing stock. Republicans are protecting her by not giving Democrats another chance to allow her to embarrass herself.

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

Betsy DeVos Refuses to Divest From “Brain Enhancement” Corporation

By dianeravitch
January 22, 2017 //
43

 

The New York Times reports that billionaire Betsy DeVos refuses to sell her interest in Neurocore, a company that uses biofeedback to enhance brain functioning. She has a direct conflict of interest. Will that stop her nomination? I wouldn’t bet on it. It didn’t faze Republicans that she knows nothing about federal law regarding children with disabilities. Why should they care that she will use her position to enrich herself? When is enough enough?

 

The committee vote on DeVos will take place on January 31. Call your Senators’ offices. Speak to his or her aides. Urge them to vote NO on this unqualified, uninformed party debutante. She is not entitled to be Secretary of Education as payback for hundreds of millions of donations to the Republican Party.

 

 

“Betsy DeVos, the billionaire school choice advocate selected by President Donald J. Trump to serve as education secretary, is a strong supporter of using biofeedback technology to help children and teenagers enhance their performance in school.

 
“Ms. DeVos and her husband, Richard DeVos Jr., are major financial backers of Neurocore, a Michigan company that operates drug-free “brain performance centers” that claim to have worked with 10,000 children and adults to overcome problems with attention deficit disorder, autism, sleeplessness and stress.

 
“In an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics made public Friday, Ms. DeVos said that she had stepped down from the Neurocore board but that she would retain her financial interest in the company. She valued that stake at $5 million to $25 million in her financial disclosure statement.

 
“On Friday evening, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he would delay the initial vote on Ms. DeVos’s nomination by a week, until Jan. 31, as Democrats argued that the process had been rushed through, without enough time to answer remaining questions about her financial disclosures.

 
“Ms. DeVos and her husband promote Neurocore heavily on the website for Windquest Group, a family office the couple use to manage some of their many investments. The website, for instance, includes a link to a Washington Post article about Kirk Cousins, a Washington Redskins quarterback who describes how he “retrained” his brain to better perform on the field by going to a Neurocore center.

 
“But the claims that Neurocore’s methods can help children improve their performance in school could present a conflict for Ms. DeVos if she is confirmed as education secretary — especially given that the company is moving to expand its national reach.

 
“Neurocore, founded about a decade ago, operates seven of the brain performance centers in Michigan and recently opened two in Florida. It has said it has plans to open as many as seven other centers across the country this year. Ms. DeVos’s financial disclosure shows that she and her husband have an indirect interest in the company through a family partnership.

 
“Richard W. Painter, a White House ethics adviser under President George W. Bush, said he was familiar with Neurocore and applauded the business and education concepts behind it — but he said the DeVoses would be better off selling their interests in the company.”

 

California teacher Jack Covey sent the following comment on this news story:

 

“I am very sensitive to the needs of students
with disabilities.”
— Betsy Devos, at her confirmation hearing,
in response to a question from Senator Murray.

 

I think we now may have a little clarity as to what
she meant by that remark … as in when such needs
benefit her investment portfolio.

 

QUICK BACKGROUND:

 

Neurocore — a totally unscientific, quack medical
“bio-feedback” company that claims to cure autism, ADHD, etc.
where it operates nine “brain performance centers,” where
the controversial “drug free” cures offered there are not recognized by
any entity or anyone in the mainstream medical establishment.
Despite its grandiose claims of success, Neurocore has never consented
to have these practices tested or investigated in peer-reviewed
studies.

 

… “snake oil” is how Jennifer “Edushyster” Berkshire
referred to it in a recent tweet:
https://twitter.com/EduShyster/status/822793877614710788

 

 

Indeed, the Michigan Dept. of Insurance has upheld
insurance company denials of coverage for any Neurocore
“cures” on the grounds that there is zero evidence supporting
the efficacy of any of their treatments. These repeated
denials and upholding of these denials contradict
Neurocore’s website, which claims that their treatments
are covered by insurance carriers.

 

Betsy and her husband are two of Neurocore’s main investors
via their umbrella company Windcrest, which also is the
main backer of that Boxed Water being peddled to
the struggling citizens of Flint, Michigan. (a photo
of Betsy at a school site, included a product placement
for this “Boxed Water.”)

 

Her stock ownership and membership on Neurocore board of directors
was discovered two days ago — alas, after her confirmation
hearings.”

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, Billionaires, Education Industry, Ethics, For-Profit, U.S. Department of Education

Bald Piano Guy Explains the DeVos Agenda

By dianeravitch
January 21, 2017 //
9

The Trump administration is committed to bashing, trashing, and underfunding the nation’s public schools, while diverting federal funds to charters, religious schools, home schooling, and cybercharters.

 

There are three things we must do:

 

1) Fight back with every resource at hand

 

2) Laugh and keep up our spirits

 

3) Never lose hope

 

In the service of #2, I offer you the Bald Piano Guy, a teacher who will make you laugh out loud as he sings about the DeVos agenda for education.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Religion

Florida: League of Women Voters Reports Fraud, Conflicts of Interest in Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
January 18, 2017 //
70

This story was originally posted in May 2014. In light of the Trump-Pence privatization agenda, it bears reading again.

 

The Florida League of Women Voters released a bombshell study of charters across the state. The study shows that charter schools do not perform better than public schools; that charters are more segregated than public schools; that many charters funnel money to religious organizations; that a significant number of charters operate for profit; and that the charter industry has captured control of key seats in the legislature.

 

Here is the press release. Open the links and read the study. At the end of the press release is a list of state legislators identified by the LWV with “Conflict of Interest Concerns.”

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2014

 

Contact:
Deirdre Macnab
LWVF President
Email: floridaleague@earthlink.net
Phone: (407) 415-4559

 

League of Women Voters Releases

State-Wide Study on School Choice

 

Tallahassee, Fla — Twenty percent of the state’s charter schools close because of financial mismanagement or poor academic standards, according to the League of Women Voters of Florida after a year-long study of charter schools in 28 Florida counties.

“Charter schools could fill a niche in Florida’s educational spectrum, but for many, their biggest contribution may be to corporate bottom lines,” said Deirdre Macnab, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

With over 576 charter schools in the state, the League of Women Voters of Florida conducted a study in order to better understand the oversight, management, accountability and transparency of charter and private schools in Florida.

The study found that:

Approximately one-third of charters are run by for-profit management companies. Many screen students, then drop those who are not successful, which public schools are prohibited from doing. Charters also serve particular socio-economic groups, increasing segregation in schools.

Although charters tend to be smaller than traditional schools, there is no consistent difference in achievement for charter school and public school students.

Many charters blur the distinction between religious and non-secular schools. Some churches receive as much as a million dollars in lease payments annually for their facilities from charter schools.

In areas with declining enrollments, neither the charters nor regular public schools are large enough to adequately provide support for staff like nurses or counselors. Retaining teachers is also a problem; most charters offer lower salaries and benefits than public schools.

The League’s study produced several recommendations:

Charters should be limited to those that fill unmet needs in identified local school districts.

Stronger local management oversight and disclosure policies are needed.

Financial mismanagement issues must be addressed, as too often the privatization of schools leads to financial abuse.

For more information, including further findings and recommendations, please see the state-wide study, along with the individual studies conducted by eighteen local Leagues across Florida.

###

The League of Women Voters of Florida, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. For more information, please visit the League’s website at: http://www.TheFloridaVoter.org.

FLORIDA LEGISLATORS WITH A DIRECT INTEREST IN CHARTER SCHOOLS:

Conflict of Interest Concerns

 Senator John Legg Chair of Senate Education Committee is co-founder and business administrator of Daysprings Academy in Port Richey.

 Senator Kelli Stargel from Orange County is on board of McKeel Academies. She is on the Education Committee and sponsored the Parent Trigger Bill.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20130429/EDIT02/130429282

 House Budget Chairman Seth McKeel is on the board of McKeel Academy Schools in Polk
County.

 Anne Corcoran, wife of future House Speaker Richard Corcoran has a charter school in
Pasco County. http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/pascos-classical-prep- charter-school-delays-opening-for-a-year/1276912. Richard Corcoran is Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

 Senator Anitere Flores of Miami is president of an Academica managed charter school in Doral.

 Florida Representative Erik Fresen is Chair of the House Education subcommittee on appropriations. Representative Fresen’s sister is the Vice President of Academica and is married to the president. http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida- politics/content/ethics-commission-clears-miami-rep-erik-fresen-alleged-voting-conflict.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/14/2545708_p2/company-cultivates-links-to-
lawmakers.html

 George Levesque, Florida House lawyer cleared Erik Fresen of conflict of interest
concerns over charter schools. He is the husband of Patricia Levesque, former Jeb Bush Deputy Chief of Staff and currently Executive Director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education which promotes school choice. http://www.truthabouteducation.org/1/archives/01-2010/1.html.

 Representative Manny Diaz is Dean of Doral Academy, an Academica managed school. He is the leader for the new statewide contract bill in the Florida House. Doral College was cited by the Florida Auditor General for a $400,000 loan from Doral Charter High School. Conflict of Interest and procurement for Charters with federal grants: http://floridacharterschools.org/schools/taps/conflictinterest_att.pdf

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

Florida League of Women Voters Documents Charter Scams

By dianeravitch
January 18, 2017 //
14

I originally posted this story in October 2016. In light of the Trump-Pence privatization agenda, it is worth reading again.

Pat Hall and Sue Legg of the Florida League of Women Voters have performed a public service by detailing how for-profit charter companies rip off taxpayers and cheat children.

You can be sure Jeb Bush will not assign this report when he lectures at Harvard this fall about the Florida “miracle” that no one can see other than himself and his hirelings.

Here is the beginning. Please note that 40% of taxpayer funds goes to the management company, not to educating students. What a racket!

Hall and Legg write:

“ANALYSIS OF CHARTER SCHOOL USA REAL ESTATE BUSINESS PRACTICES

“Florida now educates more than 230,000 students at more than 650 publicly funded charter schools. While many of these schools are providing good educational opportunities, we have found that the fundamental structure of the for-profit management companies, specifically Charter Schools USA, must be questioned. The following outline summarizes a very detailed report given the LWVF Board this past summer.

“1. CSUSA has six non-profit school boards that operate 49 schools in 12 urban counties in Florida. Additionally, CSUSA operates 17 schools in 6 other states.

“2. The six governing school boards cover the 49 charters and are run by CSUSA; they are not independent of the management companies.

“3. Inter related affiliated businesses include Red Apple Development, Ryan Construction Company, the Florida Charter Education Foundation and Connex (curriculum software). Furthermore, we found over 300 limited liability companies (LLCs) initiated by CSUSA.

“4. Facilities financing incorporates all aspects of land acquisition, site clearing, construction, bond financing and multimillion dollar lease fees. CSUSA charges the Hillsborough County School district at one of their four schools more than $30/square foot, significantly higher than downtown Tampa skyscrapers!

“5. Tracking expenditures of taxpayer monies is impossible due to for-profit business practices which are not transparent.

“6. Long term lease agreements, after flipping (changing deeds from one related company to the next) from Ryan Construction to Red Apple Development, are charged out 40 years, and charge rent and interest amounts on top of the lease payments. Most CSUSA lease fees in Hillsborough County take 25% of all taxpayer dollars designated for educating children. Some are even higher.

“7. Another 13% to 15% is charged by CSUSA for management fees, hence 40% of public money is not spent instructing children. State auditors have questioned how these costs are reported.

“8. Evidence exists of real estate “flipping” by CSUSA in Hillsborough County. This results in new real estate appraisals to increase value. Lease and rent costs use these values to justify cost charged to charter budgets.

“INTERIM REPORT: ANALYSIS OF CSUSA REAL ESTATE BUSINESS PRACTICES

“By Pat Hall and Sue Legg, LWVF Education Team, June 2016

“Introduction. District school boards grant charter school contracts to private entities and monitor their financial balance sheets, but by legislative intent, they do not have responsibility for their management and operation. Charters have little regulation, and the result has been a continuing saga of scandals. This report goes beyond the mismanagement and corruption issues to the fundamental structure of for-profit management companies, and it questions the accountability of these companies for their use of public funds. Charters may be self-managed or operated by non-profit or for-profit companies. We focus on one for-profit charter management company, Charter Schools, USA (CSUSA). Florida has several others including, Academica which was the focus of a federal investigation, and Newpoint charters which face indictments. A detailed example of the complex facility transactions for CSUSA’s Woodmont K-8 school raises the issue of excessive profiteering. We have data that indicate these business practices are not specific to one school or one company. CSUSA organizational structure: CSUSA is owned and operated by the CEO, Jonathan Hage. It has multiple interrelated entities whose operations are difficult to track. CSUSA has created six non-profit charter school boards to operate 49 publically funded, privately managed charter schools in 12 Florida counties. Additionally CSUSA operates 17 schools in 6 other states. These non-profit boards subcontract to the CSUSA for profit educational management firm which founded them.”

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