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How Bad Must a Charter Be to Lose Its Charter?

By dianeravitch
April 23, 2016 //
12

I recently posted about a charter school in Los Angeles that lost its charter after an audit revealed serious financial irregularities. The charter operator was fined $16,000 although millions of dollars may have been misappropriated.

 

The Los Angeles Times story noted:

 

“Some of the allegations bordered on the bizarre.

 

“Auditors questioned, for example, the use of school funds to pay a $566,803 settlement to a former teacher who sued the organization for wrongful termination after she was directed by Okonkwo to travel with her to Nigeria to marry Okonkwo’s brother-in-law for the purpose of making him a United States citizen.”

 

Apparently, the owner of the charter was not required to repay to the school the $566,803 used to pay the teacher for wrongful termination.

 

The story is even more bizarre:

 

A reader posted the following summary of the investigation. Why wasn’t the charter owner prosecuted for immigration fraud? Why did the California Charter School Association support the renewal of this charter? Many questions, no answers.

 

********************************
Our reader wrote:

 

 

The L.A. County BOE hired a team to do an “extraordinary audit” of the charter in question, “Wisdom Academy of Young Scholars”.

 

It’s quite a read:

 

http://fcmat.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/03/LACOEWAYSAB139finalreport3-20-14.pdf

 

Among its many mind-blowing findings is the one pertaining to the immigration fraud.

 

in what might be the wildest story of extortion I’ve ever heard of in a school setting, the charter operator, Mr. Godfrey Okonkwo, engages in a unique way of helping his brother-in-law, a Nigerian citizen, obtain his U.S. citizenship;

 

This charter honcho, Mr Godfrey Okonkwo, gives an ultimatum to one of the non-tenured teachers working at the charter school:

 

… as a condition of continued employment … as in “Do this or else your fired.”

 

— this teacher must fly to Nigeria, marry the brother-in-law of the charter honcho, Mr Godfrey Okonkwo, then fly back to California, then live in a sham marriage long enough to satisfy immigration officials.

 

Halfway through, though, the teacher backs out of the deal. Incredibly, she went as far as to fly to Nigeria with her charter school boss, Mr Godfrey Okonkwo, actually marry Mr. Okonkwo’s brother-in-law, and then the three of them flew back to Los Angeles together.

 

However, it is at this point the teacher gets cold feet, and tells her boss, Mr. Okonkwo, that she’s backing out of such an unsavory and highly illegal proposition. The prospect of having to fill out detailed Homeland Security documents — with severe jail penalties and huge fines for those who are ever caught providing false information on this form — leads to this decision.

 

(To prove the charter honcho’s involvement, the audit shows that the Repuplic of Nigeria marriage certificate has the Mr. Okonkwo’s name and signature, as the “witness” to the marriage.)

 

As promised, Mr. Okonkwo fires the non-tenured teacher fore refusing.

 

In response, the teacher files a wrongful termination lawsuit against both Mr. Okonkwo, the “Wisdom Academy of Young Scholars, and the Merle Williamson Foundation (MWF), a non-profit 501(c)(3) under which WAYS operates. A jury later found in favor of the teacher plaintiff, and against Mr. Okonkwo, WAYS, and MWF. In a subsequent judgment, this teacher was awarded of $566,803. Mr. Okonkwo eventually pays the teacher this $566,803 in school funds that were supposed to go the classroom.

 

In defending himself in the lawsuit, Mr. Okonkwo defiantly claims that all of this happened off-campus during a holiday break from school, and thus, outside of the school’s scope of employment. “Therefore, butt out. This is none of the L.A. County BOE’s (the charter authorizer’s business.), or anyone else’s business. It’s a private matter between the bride, the groom/my brother-in-law, and myself.”

 

The problem with this line of defense, however, is that Mr. Okonkwo settled the wrongful termination lawsuit with the teacher for $566,803, but did not use his own private funds to do so. Mr. Okonkwo cut a check out of the charter school’s bank account, with the charter school “Wisdom Academy of Young Scholars”, as the payer on the check.

 

This also leads to Mr. Okonkwo being shown up to be a liar in another area. Mr. Okonkwo claims that she took no days off from school. However, multiple teachers — those interviewed regardin the marriage / immigration fraud confirmed that Mr. Okonkwo took many school days off, and traveled to Nigeria on those days.

 

Here’s the relevant passage:

 

(page 22 on the bottom footer ,

 

OR

 

page 30 of the PDF page counter)

—————————————–

“Professional Liability for Founder/Former Executive Director

 

“Documents from a lawsuit settled against the Merle Williamson Foundation (MWF) for wrongful termination of a former teacher at WAYS against the school show that the founder/former executive director traveled to Omtsha, Nigeria and directed one of the school’s teachers to go with her to marry her sister’s husband (brother-in-law) for purposes of making the brother-in-law a United States citizen.

 

“Although the teacher married the brother-in-law, she ultimately refused to complete the Department of Homeland Security form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, and brought suit against MWF. On December 4, 2012, a jury found in favor of the teacher plaintiff and subsequent judgment was awarded of $566,803.

 

“The contract dated July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2011 clearly states that the executive director shall be held harmless and be indemnified ‘from any and all demands, claims, suits, and legal proceedings brought against the Executive Director in her official capacity as agent and employee of the MWF, provided the incident arose while the Executive Director was acting within the scope of employment.” (emphasis added)

 

“Clearly this action by the ‘Executive Director’ was not within the scope of employment, was conducted during winter break in Nigeria, and yet the settlement was paid by WAYS charter school.

 

“The Certificate of Marriage document from Federal Republic of Nigeria shows the founder/former executive director’s signature as witness to the marriage between the teacher and Joseph Njor Enwezor (the founder/former executive director’s brother-in-law) on January 4, 2010.

 

“According to staff at LACOE who conducted interviews, these interviews with former teachers and board members indicate many trips to Nigeria to visit a personal residence in that country by the founder/former executive director, yet she asserts that she took ‘zero’ days off during the last five years.”
———————————————————

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the financial corruption that these creep engaged in. Read the whole thing. Again, it’s at:

 

http://fcmat.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/03/LACOEWAYSAB139finalreport3-20-14.pdf

 

All of this begs the questions:

 

“How egregious must a charter school’s transgressions — both legal and ethical — be in order to close that school?

 

“How bad must if be for the California Charter School Association to denounce these practices, and withdraw its support for the charter authorization by either a county BOE, or the state BOE?

 

“How bad must it be order to trigger a criminal prosecution?”

 

Mind you, immigration fraud involving sham marriages is felony.

 

Why is THAT not being prosecuted?

 

The very fact that, after all this corruption was uncovered, that this charter operator even thought that she had a chance at authorizing by the State Board of Ed. shows how entitled the charter industry players think they are.

 

Indeed, the Callifornia Charter School Association supported their appeals to the L.A. County BOE and State BOE.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Fraud, Los Angeles

Zillionaire DeVos Demands Expansion of EAA with $$$

By dianeravitch
April 20, 2016 //
10

Chris Savage, who blogs at Eclectablog in Michigan, reports that multimillionaire Dick DeVos has threatened to run opponents to Republicans who fail to support expansion of the disastrous Education Achievement Authority. DeVos funds vouchers and privatization. He just plain doesn’t like public schools.

 

Chris Savage writes:

 

“I have confirmation from two independent sources in the Michigan legislature that multi-millionaire Dick DeVos is using the threat of massive financial support for Republican primary opponents of vulnerable Senate Republicans to force them to vote for the bill that would expand the Education Achievement Authority statewide. The same approach was used to peel off recalcitrant House Republicans before they passed the EAA expansion bill last month. If Democrats John Olumba and Harvey Santana had not voted for it, however, they would not have had enough.

 

“According to my sources, DeVos has pledged to fund Republican primary opponents to the tune of $100,000 each. In addition, he would provide the Republican victims of their effort with a list of other wealthy donors who would also support their primary challengers.

 

“This is the same approach that DeVos was reported to have used to force passage of legislation that made Michigan a Right to Work state in during the lame duck session in December of 2012:

 

“…….In public, Snyder insisted that right-to-work was still not on his agenda. Privately, his aides met with labor and suggested that concessions on other issues would keep the bill off the table. All the while, though, DeVos and his team were furiously whipping the vote. In the weeks before the start of the lame-duck session, DeVos personally called dozens of state lawmakers, pledging his support if the unions threatened recalls or primary challenges…..”

 

“If there was any doubt in your mind that wealthy corporatists are attempting to subvert our democracy and our government, this should dispel that idea. What the Koch brothers are doing nationally, the DeVos family is doing in Michigan to promote their anti-labor, anti-public education corporatist agenda.

 

“They are literally buying our government, one legislator at a time.

 

“It is my hope that Republicans in the Senate will be as offended as the rest of us by this blatant attempt to extort their votes. Anyone who values our American democracy and who values the principals of a representative, one-person/one-vote republic should be outraged at this.”

 

 

 

 

Categories Corporate Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, Failure, Fraud, Michigan

Los Angeles: Charter Operator Fined $16,000 for Conflicts of Interests That Netted Her $19,000 a Month and Possibly Millions

By dianeravitch
April 18, 2016 //
26

Another amazing but true story from Los Angeles about the loose rules under which charters operate.

 

This charter operator opened a charter school in 2006 called the Wisdom Academy for Young Scientists. She bought a building and leased it to the charter for $19,000 a month. She paid herself a salary of $223,615. She renovated the building and charged it to the state. Auditors think the charter operator may have funneled millions of dollars to her own accounts from public funds. The violations were too egregious to overlook.

 

Some of the allegations bordered on the bizarre.

 

Auditors questioned, for example, the use of school funds to pay a $566,803 settlement to a former teacher who sued the organization for wrongful termination after she was directed by Okonkwo to travel with her to Nigeria to marry Okonkwo’s brother-in-law for the purpose of making him a United States citizen.

 

The school was closed in 2014. The operator claimed bias. She was fined $16,000.

 

In papers filed with the state, Wisdom’s leaders accused auditors and the county office of misconduct and “open hostility … against this African American operated school,” calling it “the culmination of years of unfair treatment and retaliation … because a few [county office] staff members dislike our school’s founder Kendra Okonkwo, her family, the thickness of her accent, and the color of her skin.”

 

Ordinarily, this degree of theft of public funds would merit a criminal prosecution. The California Charter Schools Association supported this charter’s appeals to the county board and the state board.

Categories Charter Schools, Fraud, Los Angeles

Newsflash: North Carolina Is Not Afraid to Copy an Unsuccessful Model from Tennessee

By dianeravitch
April 16, 2016 //
10

The North Carolina legislature, which has garnered wide attention for its devotion to Tea Party principles, is rushing to create a statewide district for low-performing schools, modeled on Tennessee’s Achievement School District. The district would gather together the schools in the state’s bottom 5% by test scores and remove them from their local school district, despite any objections from the local school boards. The basic idea is that local control can be ignored because the state wants to take these schools and give them to for-profit charter operators. This is likely to be a bonanza for the for-profit charter operators, who are very good at squeezing a profit out of schools for low-income children. Most assuredly, all the schools in this new statewide district will enroll very poor children.

 

Now, you might think that a careful legislator might think twice or maybe three times about this latest reform. After all, the legislators heard testimony from Gary Henry of Vanderbilt, whose team studied the Tennessee Achievement School District and could discern no statistically significant improvement.

 

Republican supporters of the bill were joined by two Democratic legislators in pushing through the legislation. There’s no time to wait, they said, because they care about the kids and won’t tolerate the status quo any more.

 

Meanwhile, Rep. Rena Turner, R-Iredell, said she’s “excited” about the bill. “We have to take every opportunity to respond to our kids who are underserved,” said Turner.

 

An administrator in Tennessee’s district told committee members last month that the reform was beginning to gain its footing after a rocky first two years. However, that presentation came shortly before Vanderbilt University education researcher Gary Henry presented data that, despite promises of school turnarounds in Tennessee, seem to show the district had created no statistically significant changes in student performance in its early years.

 

As a result, public school leaders in North Carolina have been openly critical of achievement school districts since the proposal was floated last year.

 

This week, N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson reaffirmed her opposition in an interview with Policy Watch’s Chris Fitzsimon.

 

“Why would we spend extra dollars that could be spent in the classroom directly helping students in order for out of state or other companies to hire a superintendent to run a school or schools across North Carolina?” said Atkinson. “I think it’s an idea that has not proven to be very effective in other states using that idea.”

 

Shortly after the vote Wednesday, Yevonne Brannon, chair of the advocacy group Public Schools First NC, said the bill does nothing to address the root cause of some chronically struggling schools: high concentrations of children from impoverished families.

 

“We’re not doing anything to improve per-pupil expenditures,” said Brannon. “We’re not doing anything to address teacher turnover. We’re not providing more wraparound services. We’re looking for more harsh, punitive measures to deal with low performing schools rather than being more thoughtful and more purposeful.”

 

On Wednesday, though, Horn seemed to dismiss critics who noted the district’s mixed results in other states.

 

“Fear of failure is not a deterrent,” said Horn.

 

What a brilliant statement! “Fear of failure is not a deterrent.” Why be afraid to copy an experiment that has not succeeded anywhere else: not in Tennessee, not in Michigan, and not in New Orleans. Why let “fear of failure” stop you when you have no evidence that your plan will help the kids? How bad can it be? After all, ALEC says it is a good idea. Promising to help the kids should be enough of a reason to move forward on a plan that has never succeeded anywhere. Just remember: It’s for the kids. Not the for-profit entrepreneurs.

Categories Accountability, Fraud, North Carolina

Michigan: A Spectacular Charter School Scandal

By dianeravitch
April 9, 2016 //
13

This is one of the most curious, most convoluted charter scandals I have come across. Of course, it happened in Michigan, where about 80% of charters  operate for-profit and where the state exercises minimal oversight of the charter sector.

 

In 1999, an optometrist named Steven Ingersoll was among the first to see the potential in the charter industry. He developed his own pedagogy called Integrated Visual Learning and opened the first of four charters, Grand Traverse Academy. The board of directors were other optometrists who liked Ingersoll’s ideas. Certainly, optometrists would be drawn to a teaching method based on “visual learning.”

 

There were chummy relationships among Ingersoll, the management company he hired, and board members:

 

“It was not until lawyers for the school began asking questions that the tangled financial relationship between Ingersoll’s management company and the charter he founded began to unravel, culminating in the most significant federal criminal case in the history of Michigan’s 20-year-old charter school industry. Ingersoll, who started Smart Schools Management, Inc., stands accused of illegally diverting construction loan money for another charter school to his private account, in part to pay back money he had taken from the Grand Traverse charter. His hand-picked members on the school board knew he had advanced himself money from Grand Traverse, but had no problem with the arrangement, school records show.

 
“Ingersoll will go on trial next month on seven criminal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion. The allegations of financial self-dealing and cozy relations between Ingersoll, his associates and board members could not come at a worse time for the Michigan charter movement. The state’s powerful, mostly for-profit charter school industry has found itself on the defensive since the Detroit Free Press published a devastating series last June chronicling how charters receive nearly $1 billion a year in state taxpayer money with little accountability or transparency on how that money is spent. The series detailed how board members at some charter schools were forced out when they pushed to learn more about finances from management companies, and how state law failed to prevent self-enrichment by those operating some low-performing charter schools.”

 

One blogger, Anita Senkowski, doggedly followed the case of Steven Ingersoll and posted documents. Her blog is called “Glistening Quivering Underbelly,” where she calls herself Miss Fortune. She described Ingersoll as the poster boy for Michigan’s lack of charter oversight.

 

Ingersoll was indicted in 2014 and convicted in 2015 for tax evasion and fraud.

 

Senkowski wrote last fall:

 

“Convicted in March [2015] on three counts of tax evasion and conspiracy, Ingersoll owned and formerly managed the Bay City Academy and managed the Grand Traverse Academy until days before his April 10, 2014 indictment.

 

“Between 2007-2012, Ingersoll misappropriated an estimated $3.5 million dollars from the Traverse City charter school — but has never been investigated or charged with embezzlement.

 

“And what about the Grand Traverse Academy’s Board of Directors? After much public posturing, it opted not to pursue any legal remedy to recover the money, and apparently that’s where it stands.”

 

Senkowski alleged that the board knew what Ingersoll was doing and didn’t care.

 

Now she has another bombshell report. Even after Ingersoll’s indictment, he continued to receive monthly payments of $12,500 from Mark Noss, a member of Ingersoll’s original board who started his own charter management company.

 

She writes:

 

 

“An accountant formerly employed by Mark Noss at his Full Spectrum Management, LLC (FSM) sent a stunning whistleblower email to the Grand Traverse Academy Board of Directors on March 15, 2016 at 6:00pm, alleging Noss deceived the Board when he stated during its December 17, 2015 meeting that he “has no business relationship with Dr. Ingersoll at the present time.”

 

“The former FSM accountant disclosed information to Board president Brad Habermehl and Grand Traverse Academy employee, Heidi Sych, that revealed Noss had been making monthly $12,500 payments to Steven Ingersoll for nearly two years.

 

“The incendiary email, sent by former FSM accountant Richard Lowe, and a March 16, 2016 response from Mark Noss, were both provided to the U. S. Attorney’s Office by counsel for Lake Superior State University.

 

“According to a supplemental brief filed late this afternoon by government prosecutors, FSM honcho Mark Noss acknowledged paying Ingersoll $12,500 per month since he took over the role of educational services provider for the Grand Traverse Academy on March 19, 2014, with the first payment issued in April 2014.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Fraud, Michigan

Steven Singer: Charter Lobby Donates $50,000 to Candidate Backed by Pennsylvania Teachers’ Union

By dianeravitch
April 3, 2016 //
8

Now here is a conundrum: Why would the charter school lobby donate $50,000 to a candidate for State Attorney General who is already backed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the teachers’ union?

 

Steven Singer poses that question here. Pennsylvania is a state that is rife with charter school scandals. Such scandals would normally be investigated by the State Attorney General. Duh. If Josh Shapiro gets elected, let’s see how vigorous in investigating the scandals that Singer links to in his blog, and how vigorously he prosecutes the charlatans and frauds who are profiting off the gullibility of parents.

 

Singer asks:

 

 

What’s the best way to avoid a charter school scandal?

In Pennsylvania, apparently you bribe the Attorney General.

 

That may be why Students First PAC donated $50,000 to Josh Shapiro, a Democrat running for the position.

 

This political action committee is not to be confused with the infamous national group founded by Michelle Rhee. Students First PAC is a state organization that typically contributes to charter school friendly candidates.

 

And $50K is quite a chunk of change in a State Attorney General race – the office in charge of prosecuting charter schools for breaking the law.

 

 

Charter school scandals have been an almost weekly occurrence throughout the Commonwealth. Chester Community Charter School, the state’s largest brick-and-mortar organization, is under investigation for pocketing $1.2 million “in improper lease-reimbursement payments.” As Philadelphia public schools are being closed due to a miserly state budget, “nonprofit,” charter operator Aspira Inc. was caught using public money to boost its real estate holdings instead of using those funds to educate children. Nicholas Trombetta, the founder of Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter, an institution that operates exclusively over the internet, “was charged with fraud, for funneling $8 million of the school’s funds into his personal companies and holdings.”

 

It’s easy to see how having the state Attorney General on your side would benefit an industry rife with fraud and malfeasance.

 

Shapiro, chair of the Montgomery Country Board of Commissioners, is the odds on favorite to succeed Kathleen Kane as the state’s highest ranking law enforcement officer.

 

He is running for the Democratic nomination against Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, and Allegheny Country Attorney General Stephen Zappala.

 

Despite strong corporate education reform ties, Shapiro has been endorsed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the largest teachers union in the Commonwealth.

 

Categories Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Fraud, Pennsylvania, Virtual Charter Schools

California Judge Orders Failed For-Profit Corinthian Colleges to Pay Students $1.1 Billion

By dianeravitch
March 31, 2016 //
49

California’s Attorney General Kamala D. Harris won a settlement in excess of $1.1 billion against defunct for-profit Corinthian Colleges for defrauding students  with false advertising. There is a website in the linked article where students can apply for restitution. Since the corporation is bankrupt, they may never see any repayment. The entire for-profit sector is a mighty scam; they should all be tightly regulated for fraud and predatory practices. Or shut down before more students are ripped off.

 

The Los Angeles Times reported:

 

 

Granting a default judgment, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow found that Corinthian Colleges provided untrue or misleading statements about graduates’ job placement rates, duping both students and investors, and that the Santa Ana-based company unlawfully used U.S. military seals in advertisements, among other claims.
The for-profit college operator, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May, was also faulted for advertising programs or degrees that it didn’t offer, such as training programs for X-ray and dialysis technicians, according to court papers.

 

The judgment found that Corinthian and its subsidiaries had unfair and unlawful debt collection practices, including barring students from attending classes if they were behind on loan payments, and that they failed to disclose their role in the “Genesis loan” program.

 

Corinthian Colleges, along with its Heald College business, were also faulted for misrepresenting the likelihood of whether academic credits earned at their programs could be transferred to the Cal State system, according to court papers.

 

In his 21-page judgment, Karnow ordered restitution of $820 million for students and civil penalties of just more than $350 million.
“For years, Corinthian profited off the backs of poor people — now they have to pay. This judgment sends a clear message: There is a cost to this kind of predatory conduct,” Harris said in a statement.

 

Harris filed suit against Corinthian Colleges Inc. and its subsidiaries in 2013, accusing the company of targeting low-income students with a “predatory scheme,” touting untrue job placement rates.

 

The attorneys for Corinthian did not appear at hearings, because they say the  corporation is bankrupt and there is no one to represent.

 

 

 

 

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Higher Education

Chicago: Why UNO Charters Fought Public Audits

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2016 //
14

The Chicago Sun-Times reported the results of its battle to gain access to the financial records of the UNO charter chain. UNO fought to keep its records secret, claiming they were a “private” organization. What the newspaper discovered when it won was a spending spree on the taxpayers’ dime–er, make that hundreds of millions.

The CEO of UNO, Juan Rangel, was politically powerful: he served as co-chair of Rahm Emanuel’s first mayoral campaign. Rangel got a grant of $98 million from the state to build more charter schools. He was compelled to resign when news broke that millions in contracts from the state grant were awarded to allies of Rangel.

But the new revelations show a pattern of profligate spending by the organization. It also shows how charters used taxpayer money to buy political favors.

Dan Mihalapoulos writes:

“Even as they ran a network of charter schools for thousands of students in low-income neighborhoods across Chicago, United Neighborhood Organization leader Juan Rangel and other UNO officials were piling up big bills at fancy restaurants and for travel on the taxpayers’ dime, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

“In the year before a contracting scandal led to Rangel’s forced resignation, the clout-heavy Hispanic community organization and charter-school operator spent more than $60,000 for restaurants on his American Express “business platinum” card, according to the records, which UNO fought for nearly three years to keep secret.

“The spending spree included $1,000-or-higher tabs at Gene & Georgetti, Carmichaels, Vivo Chicago, Rosebud Prime, the East Bank Club, Carnivale, a downtown hotel’s rooftop bar and Soldier Field’s concessions during a soccer game featuring Mexico’s men’s national team.

“And UNO spent more than $60,000 a year on travel in 2010 and 2011, the internal records show. Rangel alone flew out of town 31 times in four years.

“In 2010, Rangel traveled at the organization’s expense to Managua, Nicaragua, the records show. Rangel and two aides, Miguel d’Escoto and Francisco “Pancho” d’Escoto, met during that trip with the d’Escotos’ uncle, a former diplomat advising them on possible expansion.

“Rangel’s and UNO’s fortunes took a downturn after the Sun-Times reported in February 2013 that the organization paid millions of dollars from a $98 million state school-construction grant to companies owned by two brothers of Miguel d’Escoto, who was Rangel’s top deputy, and to other contractors with close ties to the group.

“As federal and state authorities began investigating, the newly obtained records show, UNO officials spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to contain the scandal, which cost the organization millions of dollars in state funding and resulted in a federal consent decree requiring outside oversight of the group’s contracting practices.

“UNO has paid more than $962,000 since the start of 2013 to the firm of Mary Patricia Burns, who became the group’s primary lawyer shortly after the scandal broke.

“Her law firm, Burke Burns & Pinelli Ltd., has been a major campaign contributor to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. The state Democratic Party boss from the Southwest Side sponsored UNO’s state grant — which was the biggest government subsidy given to charter schools in the country. Burns didn’t return calls seeking comment.

“The organization also paid more than $307,000 to retired federal judge Wayne Andersen and others who aided him in an investigation of UNO’s contracting practices.

“The spending took place as UNO was operating a government-funded charter schools serving about 8,000 predominantly Hispanic students, largely from low-income families. About 96 percent of students at UNO’s 16 campuses qualify for free or reduced lunches, records show.

“Despite being almost entirely government-funded, UNO leaders fought to keep the spending records secret, arguing that they didn’t have to comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Act because UNO is a private organization. But they ultimately released the records in a recent legal settlement with the Sun-Times.

“Since UNO founded the charter-school chain in 1998, the Chicago Public Schools system has given the privately run schools hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, in addition to the state funding the organization got for school construction. Until less than a year ago, the UNO Charter School Network — which is separately incorporated — passed along much of the CPS funding to UNO, which managed the schools.”

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Fraud
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