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Michigan’s Ghost Charters: Where Did the Money Go?

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2019 //
4

Michigan has been Betsy DeVos’ Petri dish for school choice for 20 years. The state theoretically has no for-profit charters but in reality, 80% of its charters are run by for-profit management companies.

Michigan also has the largest number of charters that received millions from the federal Charter Schools Program but never opened. These are “ghost schools.” Carol Burris identified them in the NPE report Asleep at the Wheel.

Reporter Allison Donahue investigated to see where the money went.

The study highlighted how the money was spent at four of Michigan’s “ghost schools”:  The Harris Academy, The Great Lakes Anchor Academy, Cultivating Growth and Warren Classical Academy.

Although the inspiration to open these charters differs from developer to developer, a common thread was found within these ghost schools’ invoices ─ for-profit consultants and education management organizations.

Betsy DeVos gave Michigan another $47 million to add more charters, but the state board of education rejected the grant. However the state attorney general said the state education Department was required to disperse the funds.

DeVos wants more charters-in Michigan, Alabama, New Hampshire, Texas, everywhere— and as the saying goes in D.C., she is shoveling the money out the door as fast as she can.

Needed or not, here come more charters!

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Michigan, Privatization

Little Rock: An Urgent Appeal for Donations to a Legal Defense Fund for the Public Schools

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2019 //
2
Hello from Arkansas! Thank you for your continued coverage of the Walton-funded takeover efforts in LIttle Rock School District, and public education in Arkansas. I’ve been blogging about education policy & politics here for a little over a year, and really appreciate the times you have shared my work and the work of Dr. Anika Whitfield. You have really helped get Arkansas into the national spotlight!
 
I’m writing to ask for help getting a fundraising project off the ground. Alex Handfinger (a member of Grassroots Arkansas alongside Dr. Whitfield) and I have incorporated a public-benefit corporation to fund legal action against state mismanagement of the Little Rock School District. Together, we are the Education Defense League of Arkansas (EDLA.)
EDLA has recruited three passionate attorneys, so far. Each of our attorneys is a recognizable name in Arkansas: Matt Campbell — an established “good government” bulldog, Chris Burks — the brother of one of our State Board of Education members, and Amelia LaFont — a civil rights attorney who worked as a public education activist in New Orleans, fighting the same battles down there that are currently being fought up here. Each of these attorneys has cases already filed that we can consolidate and build into class-action cases against state mismanagement in LRSD.
“EDLA-affiliated attorney Amy LaFont has filed a case in federal court under the First Amendment, The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act, on behalf of two dedicated special education teachers, who advocated for students’ rights at Hamilton Alternative Learning Environment (ALE.)

“It is our understanding that there are many educators and employees who have experienced retaliation for advocating for students in LRSD. EDLA is joining LaFont, her clients, and her co-counselors, by providing financial and logistical support, to maximize the impact of this lawsuit.”

One step at a time, though. My job, right now, is to raise some money.
 
Since EDLA is a B-corp, we can offer donor anonymity — but we can’t offer tax writeoffs. Do you know anybody who would be interested in contributing on those terms? Here is a fundraising packet we’ve developed, explaining our strategies & needs in greater detail. https://www.eddefenseleague.org/strategies-and-needs.html Please consider sharing it with anybody you think might be able to contribute!
 
Thank you for your continued attention & support.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay
Blogger at www.orchestrating-change.com
Mission Coordinator at eddefenseleague.org
Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Education Industry, Little Rock, Privatization

Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2019 //
8

There are many ways in which nonprofit charters make a profit. Most involve complex real estate transactions and such things as “triple net leases” which are hard for the public to understand. Such deals often involve a charter operator owning or leasing the real estate and renting it to the charter school at exorbitant rates, with the public footing the bill.

Michael Kohlhaas has discovered another ingenious way that allegedly nonprofit charter operators extract money from their operations. 

He describes the case of a charter operator in Los Angeles who sold his “receivables” soon after getting his charter.

Kohlhaas writes:

The idea is very simple. A charter school has guaranteed future income in the form of payments from the state. They sell those payments to a finance company at a discount.

The finance company also charges a transaction fee. So for instance, if a charter has enrollment worth $1,000,000 they might sell those future payments for $980,000 now, which is less 2%. That means that $20,000 of public money, meant to educate children, has just evaporated into some zillionaire’s pocket for no reason, with no social benefit, nothing.2

This is usury. Payday loans for putatively public institutions. It’s textbook predatory lending with the unique distinction that both the borrower and the lender are teaming up to prey on a third party, which is the public. And, as I said, none of this is theoretical. Excelencia Charter Academy actually did this last year, which was their first year in operation.

It was obviously part of the plan all along, because founder Ruben Alonzo began arranging the sale within six weeks of receiving his approval from LAUSD. Read the details in this email chain. And keep this story in mind next time some charter minion starts burbling on about putting kids first and the putative efficiency of the private sector. Their financial model includes skimming a percentage of public money for no reason other than to enrich their cronies. This, friends, is not what efficiency looks like.

The company that handled the transaction for Excelencia is called Charter Asset Management, and this is only one of the incredibly shady sounding services that they offer to charter schools. They’re also not alone in this business. Another such company, which also buys receivables, is Charter School Capital. This one is even shadier than the other, founded as it was by an actual charter school operator who then used it to buy the receivables from his own school, thus pocketing the transaction fees himself.

Kohlhaas used the state’s public records act to obtain a huge trove of emails sent by charter operators, and he has mined them for posts like this one.

This is a big difference between a public school and a charter school. Would it be legal for a public school principal to sell the “receivables” for his or her school? Of course not. She would be charged with a crime and sent to jail.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization

Arthur Goldstein in Pittsburgh Watching Charter Protest

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2019 //
7

Arthur Goldstein, veteran NYC teacher, traveled to Pittsburgh for the Public Education Forum, which will be live-streamed by MSNBC.

Outside he sees a group of protestors from the charter industry, complaining that public schools get any notice at all. Six percent of America’s children are in charters. Almost 90% attend public schools.

Goldstein remembers the many events where the charter industry monopolized Oprah, NBC’s Education Nation, “Waiting for Superman,” etc. and no public supporters were invited as the speakers sneered about them.

Now the charter industry has Betsy DeVos, the nation’s top education official, singing their praises. So why protest a gathering where they have two spokesmen (Booker and Bennett) but are not the sole focus of attention?

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Carol Burris Invites Comments and Corrections on “Asleep at the Wheel”

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2019 //
19

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, responds here to critics of NPE’s “Asleep At the Wheel,” the landmark analysis of the deeply flawed federal Charter Schools Program and invites comments and criticisms.

NPE wants readers to scrutinize the report carefully. If there are any errors, we will promptly correct them.

She writes:

Examining a list of nearly 5000 charter schools to determine which were open, closed or never open was a difficult and tedious task. There is no common standard when it comes to state reporting on closed charter schools—some states give lists of closed schools. Others do not. Many states only give a list of currently opened schools. Even those lists are not often up to date and rarely indicate if the school’s name has changed.

 In the case of unopened charters that received federal CSP funds there is no list at all. We (myself along with two part-time staff, Darcie Cimarusti and Marla Kilfoyle), would hunt for school information on the internet if a school in the database was not on the open or closed list and had no NCES number. Some of the schools that never opened had shells of Facebook pages and odd commercial information that is meaningless, but nevertheless pops up.

And then there are charter name changes, takeovers, charters turning into public schools and other complications with which we had to contend. Often we needed to make a judgement as to whether or not the school was indeed the school that had received the grant. We did the best we could, realizing that there would be some errors. We promised we would correct any mistakes we made and we will.

 We also knew that school choice advocates and groups opposed to public education would attempt to discount our work by finding error as a means to convince policymakers to disregard the report.

 On December 12 William Flanders of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a right wing think tank that promotes vouchers and charter schools, and Jim Bender of  School Choice Wisconsin  did just that in their blog on Fordham. They claimed to have found ten schools on our list of 132 Wisconsin closed or never opened schools that were open. They said these were “glaring” errors and it was not an “honest” report and therefore the entire 40 plus page report should be discounted.

 Let’s go through those “ten glaring errors” (they actually list 11 schools) one by one. The first name in bold is the school they say is open. The second name in bold is the school on our list of closed schools. 

Banner Prep of Milwaukee—may indeed be open, but we listed the Banner School of Milwaukee, which according to the list of closed schools on the website of the Wisconsin  Department of Education closed in 2015.

 Class Act Yes that is open. But we do not have it on the list of closed schools.

Etude—Perhaps this is also a different school because the Etude School, which is the name we list, closed in 2011 according to the state list. The NCES number (551365002690) associated with the school that got the grant does not return a school when you search here.

 Island City Academy. That was our error and we will correct it. Island City Research Academy is closed. 

Jedi Virtual K12  We list Jedi Virtual High School as closed. According to the state list it closed in 2011. In 2007 it had 14 students. In 2018 it had 13. Jedi Virtual High School was awarded a $400,000 grant.

 Lincoln Inquiry School. If you pop in the NCES number of the school given the grant, (551668002180) up comes a public school—Lincoln Elementary. It may have once been a charter but the school that received the grant is now a public school.

 Mead Elementary School. According to the school closure list, it closed in 2008. The NCES number returns no school.

 Milwaukee College Prep 36th St. and College Prep North closed in 2016 according to the closed independent charter schools’ list. The first NCES number comes up as no school, the second did not have an NCES number when given the grant. They were independent charters. Milwaukee College Prep 38th St. got a grant but that is not on our closed list. Perhaps the authors got the streets confused.

 Hmong American Peace Academy the school listed by us as closed is HAPA/International Peace Academy. International Peace Academy closed in 2013. This may be a school merger, since the initials fit. If the merger occurred before they got the grant, we will take it off the closed schools list.

 Mc Kinley Academy received a grant and we do not list it as closed. We list McKinley Middle Charter School as closed. According to Wisconsin’s closed schools list. There is a Mc Kinley Middle School that closed in 2012 in one location, and another that closed in 2018. The search by NCES number (551236001631) results in no school coming up.  Mc Kinley Academy has a different NCES number (550861002701).

 You can find a list of closed independent charter schools and closed public schools (district charters are on the closed public schools list) at: 

https://dpi.wi.gov/cst/data-collections/school-directory/directory-data/published-data

 We will remove Island City Academy from our list of closed schools, and further research the school merger.

 We will continue to review our list and keep track of charter failures. We welcome corrections to our lists with documentation which can be sent to info@networkforpubliceducation.org.  We will periodically do updates adding and removing names as information becomes available.

 Here is the bottom line. The Department of Education should report to Congress and the public on its $4.1 billion dollars investment in charter schools by providing transparent listings of schools that never opened, schools that have closed and why those schools failed.  The public deserves transparency and accountability not only from charter schools, but from the program designed to start them. The data that is available, limited as it is, shows a clear and undeniable problem.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Privatization

Education Leaders Respond to Planned Charter Protest at Tomorrow’s Public Education Forum

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2019 //
13
For Immediate Release
December 13, 2019		 CONTACT:

Ori Korin
202-374-6103
okorin@aft.org 
Eric Jotkoff
617-784-1877
ejotkoff@nea.org 
Education, Civil Rights and Community Groups Respond to News of Planned Protest at Democratic Presidential Forum in Pittsburgh
 

PITTSBURGH—Several leaders of the 11 organizations co-hosting a forum on public education with eight Democratic presidential candidates this weekend—who, combined, represent more than 7 million people, including the Alliance for Educational Justice, the American Federation of Teachers, the Center for Popular Democracy, the Journey for Justice Alliance, the NAACP, the National Education Association, the Network for Public Education, OnePA, the Opportunity to Learn Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union—issued the following statement:

 

Alliance for Educational Justice National Director Jonathan Stith said:

 

“The mandate of black and brown students in the Alliance for Educational Justice is to end the school-to-prison pipeline wherever it rears itself.  We stand with those who stand with us against the prisonization and privatization of our schools. Students of color are in a crisis wherever they attend class. Our schools are over-policed and under-resourced, and we have no rights the federal government feels bound to protect. Our fight is for sustainable community schools that don’t need police, where Black and Brown students and their parents are respected and are able to determine the education we deserve.”

 

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said:

 

“We are so excited that there are candidates for president who believe in public education and want to engage with the students who go to our public schools, the parents who rely on our public schools, the allies who advocate for our public schools, and the educators who work in our public schools. After all, public schools are the foundation of our democracy. That’s why Saturday’s education forum will be all about engagement—engagement around the issues that matter to all of us. We are united behind a single goal: to engage the candidates in a wide-ranging, important conversation about public education in our country and how we can best meet the needs of the people who work and learn in them.

 

“As to the announced protest, we are wondering why the groups didn’t simply ask any of the conveners whether they could join in the forum. Many of the organizations involved in the forum work with charter schools, many support them, and some represent educators who work in them. We’ve worked for months with partners to accommodate all inquiries from groups that requested participation in the forum. We’d encourage these groups to talk to candidates about their education platforms and proposals, or to consider holding their own forum, instead of staging a protest at the last minute at other groups’ events.

 

“Notably—and sadly—what we have discovered is that the group behind this protest is tied directly to a Republican campaign firm with connections to President Trump, whose track record, starting with the appointment of Betsy DeVos, the most anti-public school secretary of education in history, certainly speaks for itself.”

 

Center for Popular Democracy Director of Education Justice Campaigns Dmitri Holtzman said:

 

“This forum is an important opportunity for young people and allies to speak directly to presidential candidates about the issues that matter most to them and their futures. Education justice centers on the strengthening and uplifting of public education. That’s why the Youth Mandate for Presidential Candidates—which has been endorsed by over 150-plus youth-led organizations and allies—calls for an end to federal funding for charter schools and a moratorium on charter expansion. We stand firm in this fight and look forward to discussing these issues with presidential candidates at the forum. Any attempts to protest and disrupt this event undermine democratic and civic engagement about the future of public education.”

 

Journey for Justice Alliance National Director Jitu Brown said:

 

“We are excited to have Democratic presidential hopefuls speak to the breadth of the education justice movement: parents, educators and students. We know and live through the harm caused by inequities in public education and how the illusion of ‘school choice’ intensifies those inequities. To be clear, we will not be pitted against black and brown parents who support charters.  J4J is not anti-charter school as centers of innovation in our communities. We are, however, firmly anti-charter industry which has advocated for school closings, produced mediocre academic results and done harm by destabilizing education in our communities. We don’t have failing schools—as a public we’ve been failed.”

 

National Education Association  President Lily Eskelsen-García said:

“All students should have access to a quality public education no matter what ZIP code they were born, the color of their skin, or how much money their parents make. But sadly, for too long, astroturf groups have pushed privatization schemes including charters and vouchers, that divert already scarce money from the public schools that 90 percent of students attend. Despite the fact that these efforts have failed to improve education outcomes for students, Betsy DeVos and her allies continue to support efforts to privatize our public schools.

 

“Over the past two years, educators, parents and students across the country have come together in the #RedforEd movement to say enough is enough. It’s time to get serious about student success. Our elected leaders need to focus on the proven steps to ensure every student has access to a quality public school education. That means fully funding our public schools so students have the support and wraparound services they need, more one-on-one attention, inviting classrooms, and a well-rounded curriculum.”

 

Network for Public Education Executive Director Carol Burris said:

 

“The Network for Public Education Action believes that public schools are the pillar of our democracy and therefore parents have a right to elect those who govern their schools. Our nation’s most vulnerable children deserve public schools that have the resources to meet their needs. Well-resourced schools are undermined when funds go to privatized alternatives. Privatized choice with charters and vouchers is a means by which to distract the public from the need to equitably fund and support our public schools.”

 

OnePA leader and Pittsburgh parent Angel Gober said:

 

“When we win for the most vulnerable and underserved children, we win for all children. Charter schools are not the way.  As a black mother, what I have seen is other families choosing charter schools only to be disappointed by big promises. The lack of special education supports, the lack of innovative curriculum, and the harsh zero-tolerance policies find children right back in their public schools. We cannot continue to fund two separate education systems, especially one that leaves children with disabilities behind.”

 

Opportunity to Learn Action Fund Director John Jackson said:

 

“Today’s presidential candidates’ forum is significant because simply having an election doesn’t make a democracy, and after decades of inequities and injustices not only is our democracy on trial, but, by parents, students and educators engaging the candidates, they are placing justice on the ballot.”

 

SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry said:

 

“SEIU believes that every child should have excellent schools in their neighborhoods—no matter what their zip code or what they look like with communities, parents, teachers and classified employees having input and oversight into how our public schools and publicly-funded schools are run. SEIU members send their children to charter schools and they work in charter schools. We cannot deny how, unchecked, some charter school operators put profits over students. We see how lack of public oversight can lead to charter school operators operating for some of our communities, not all of our communities, and drain much needed resources from public schools. We will keep fighting for excellent public schools for all children, no exceptions.”

 

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The AFT represents 1.7 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

 

 

 

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

Breaking News: New Hampshire Tables Offer of $46 Million from DeVos to Double Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2019 //
8

 

Betsy DeVos gave New Hampshire $46 million from the federal Charter Schools Program to double the number of charter schools in the state. She uses the federal funding of $440 million as her slush fund to rapidly expand charters.

[CORRECTION: I ORIGINALLY WROTE THAT NH REJECTED $25 MILLION; THAT WAS AN ERROR. NH REJECTED $46 MILLION.]

In 2018, Democrats won control of the state legislature.

This morning, the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee voted 7-3 to table the federal grant. The members of the committee were concerned about the impact of more charters on existing public schools.

New Hampshire is experiencing declining enrollments as the population ages and birth rates decline. It is an odd time to increase the number of schools competing for a shrinking pool of students.

BREAKING: The Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee just voted 7-3 against accepting the first payment of the $46 million federal charter school grant:
NH lawmakers table federal charter grant, request more information – ReachingHigherNH
On Friday, November 8, 2019, the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee voted 7-3 to table the first portion of the $46 million federal grant to double the number of charter schools in New Hampshire. The…
reachinghigher

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, New Hampshire, Privatization

Alabama: TFA Alum Plans to Open a Federally-Funded Charter in an Impoverished Rural County with Only Two Public Schools

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2019 //
2

Betsy DeVos awarded $25 million to Alabama to grow some charter schools. She gave the money to an organization called “New Schools for Alabama,” which is supposed to launch 15 new charters over the next five years. Where there is money, there will always be takers, even where there is no need. This year, two charters are in the incubation stage. One is in Perry County, which has only two K-12 public schools, declining population, and low funding. The charter will be a nail in the coffin for one of those two public schools.

Larry Lee writes about what Betsy DeVos has done:

https://www.alreporter.com/2019/12/12/opinion-perry-county-schools-threatened-by-charter-schools/

Opinion | Perry County Schools threatened by charter schools

They stand as silent sentinels of a time gone by.  Watch towers on the past.  “They” are sturdy concrete silos, rising 40-50 feet above Perry County’s black prairie land.  Head south out of Marion on Highway 5 and you’ll spy one every few miles.  Each a reminder a dairy was once there and those silos were filled with corn silage to keep milk cows well-fed.
They remind us of the struggles this black belt county has faced for generations.  Struggles that continue today.
No one understands this any more than John Heard, longtime county school superintendent.  State data shows that public school enrollment has dropped from 1,938 to 1,256 in the last decade.  There are only two schools in the system today.  Things are no better at Marion Academy, a private school, that has fewer than 100 students in pre-12 through 12th grade.

And if one number can illustrate the plight of this school system it is 137.  That is where the system ranks in terms of local revenue per pupil.  Which means out of 137 systems in the state, it is dead last.  By comparison, its neighbor to the west, Marengo County, gets $1,300 more per student from local sources than Perry does.

Marion is the county seat.  In antebellum days it was a jewel in Alabama’s crown, probably best known for its commitment to higher education.  Judson College was founded in 1838 and is still there.  What is now Samford University in Birmingham began there.  Marion Military Institute’s parade grounds still welcome visitors on the south side of town.  Alabama State University in Montgomery has its roots in Marion.
All things considered, Perry County would appear to be the last place to open a charter school.  But in our quest to sprinkle charter schools at random around the state, that is the plan.  It makes no sense.  But then, in todays world of Alabama public education, logic is too often thrown to the wind.
If a charter school opens in Perry County, it will drive a stake in what’s left of the public school system because it will siphon precious dollars away.  Since charters are public schools supported by public dollars, every student attending one of the county’s two remaining schools (one which is rated a B by the state and the other rated C) means the county system will lose all Federal and state funding for that student.  Presently, this is about $8,500 per pupil.
 
How we got to this point is a curious tale and testimony to the consequences of what we are supposed to believe are good intentions.
New Schools for Alabama is a brand new non-profit based in Birmingham.   Its mission is to bring charter schools to the state.  This year’s education budget gave them $400,000 for operating expenses.  (Yep, we are taking money from public schools to fund a group who, if successful, will take more money from public schools.  Another example of the logic practiced by the supermajority leadership of the state legislature.)
New Schools was recently awarded a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education headed by Betsy DeVos, who has never seen a charter school she didn’t like.  Plans are that New Schools will award three $1.5 million grants annually to give charters a jump start.  They have also set up a fellowship program in which they fund someone to spend time at a charter school in another state so they can come back to Alabama and get a charter up and running.
This is where Perry County comes in.  New Schools recently announced that one of their first fellowships is going to Darren Ramalho to start Breakthrough Charter School in Perry County.
And here is where the irony gets even more ironic.
Ramalho is a graduate of UCLA and came to Perry County in 2014 as a Teach For America teacher.  TFA descended on Alabama in 2011.  Like many others, they came to “save the Black Belt.”  Perry County has used TFA from the outset and while most other west Alabama school systems quit TFA years ago, Perry County has continued to do so.  Which means they have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this program which puts temporary teachers in local schools.
In other words, someone from California who has been supported by John Heard and the Perry County system for several years now has intentions to bring harm to them.  As you can imagine, Heard is upset.  And rightly so.  In this corner of the world, actions such as this are sometimes referred to as “biting the hand that feeds you.”
Perry County is struggling–and has been for generations.  They definitely do not need an effort that will only intensify their struggles.
But putting a charter school there will do just that.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Alabama, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Sue Legg: Is the Florida Legislature Planning to Undermine Teachers’ Pensions?

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2019 //
4

Sue Legg of the Florida League of Women Voters wrote here about concerns about teachers’ pensions and whether the 2020 legislature is planning to undermine them.

She writes:

There are rumblings that the 2020 Florida Legislature may revise funding for the Florida Pension Plan.   There is no question that the retirement system revenue has declined; it has not been 100% funded since the 2008 recession. The current rate is about 84% of the cost if all people retired at one time. Of course that is an unlikely scenario, but there are now more people vested in the system than are contributing to it. One million public employees participate in the system, about half are teachers and the others are local and state government employees. As retirees increase and new participants decrease, covering costs becomes more problematic…

Pensions are not the problem..The real question as always is whether funding pensions is mostly a political, not a financial issue.  The National Association of State Retirement Administrators cited a report stating that an 80% funding level is the federal benchmark for financial stability of state pension systems.  Florida’s level exceeds that benchmark. Nevertheless, there is a political divide over providing pensions, and it is closely tied to those supporting school privatization.  Florida charters and private schools typically do not contribute to retirement systems, and the resulting high teacher turnover keeps salaries lower.   Thus, there is more money available for management companies in the private sector.   This is not a recipe for a high quality educational system.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Florida, For-Profit, Pensions, Privatization, Teachers, Vouchers

Charter Industry Announces Its Plans to Disrupt Pittsburgh Forum on Public Education on Saturday

By dianeravitch
December 12, 2019 //
28

Prominent groups that support public schools–not charter schools or religious schools–are meeting on Saturday in Pittsburgh to discuss the future of public education with Democratic presidential candidates.

The billionaire-funded charter industry is angry that they can’t control the event and they have released their plans to disrupt the event.

Contrary to the claims of the charter industry, charter schools are not public schools. They are private contractors that receive public money and are typically unregulated and fail to meet basic standards of accountability and transparency.

Unfortunately, their leaders insist on minimal or non-regulation, assuring that grifters and entrepreneurs will be able to receive public dollars without any accountability.

The industry resolutely refuses to acknowledge, let alone curb, the waste, fraud, and abuse that has created a backlash against charter schools.

The Center for Education Reform, led by former Heritage Foundation education analyst Jeanne Allen, sent out this email:

 

 Charter Schools in Pittsburgh & Leaders

 throughout Pennsylvania Unite

 

Issue strong message to special interest sponsors of “Public Education Forum 2020” and the Democratic candidates ignoring parental demands

 

 

WASHINGTON – Charter school leaders in Pittsburgh, joined by others throughout Pennsylvania, and by key state democratic officials issued strong statements today challenging the Democratic candidates for president who will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this Saturday, December 14, 2019, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the “Public Education Forum 2020: Equity and Justice for All.” Sponsored by unions and other interest groups, the Forum has sparked strong responses from the Pennsylvania charter school community, with its unfounded attacks upon the substantive work being carried out throughout the state and right in the city where the forum will be held.

 

“We call on the candidates to remember those who won’t be there: the thousands of parents from underserved communities tragically forced to watch their children suffer academically because of a failed system that refuses any real reform,” said representatives of 5 of the city’s charter schools in a statement, speaking on behalf of the state’s 143,000 charter school students and their parents.

 

“The Democratic Presidential candidates have been summoned to demonstrate their allegiance to the unions and special interests who they believe hold the key to their nomination,” said CER Founder & CEO Jeanne Allen. “Not invited were any charter or reform minded voices to participate in this nationally televised forum where Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is expected to attend and criticize the very charter schools he has tried to keep from operating.”

 

Many charter educators will be on the ground in Pittsburgh to make their voices heard, including Dara Ware Allen, PhD, CEO and Principal, City Charter High School; Dr. Tina Chekan, CEO/Superintendent, Propel Schools; Jon McCann, CEO, Environmental Charter School; Vasilios Scoumis, CEO, Manchester Academic Charter School; Brian Smith, Founder & CEO, Catalyst Academy Charter School; William C. Wade, Ed.S., CEO, Urban Pathways K5 College Charter School; and David Zeiler, CEO, Provident Charter School. They have issued the following statement in response to the Public Education Forum this Saturday.

 

“As eight potential future presidents gather here in Pittsburgh this Saturday and are hosted by some of the nation’s most powerful special interests, we call on the candidates to remember those who won’t be there: the thousands of parents from underserved communities tragically forced to watch their children suffer academically because of a failed system that refuses any real reform. It is a cruel irony that the tagline of this weekend’s forum is ‘equity and justice for all’ when all the candidates being celebrated each oppose the very policies that help our schools give such words real meaning. Thanks to school choice, our public charter schools prevail at giving life-altering opportunity to children for whom educational success – and the more hopeful and secure future that comes with it – would likely be denied.

 

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