Four states, 4 examples of charter schools fraud. Oversight needed badly.

[madfloridian]

Those are only a few of the examples, there are many other states in which public money is being misused. The lack of regulation and oversight is not working.

Leadership at all levels needs to step in and take control of these spiraling problems. This is taxpayer money.

Millions involved in Philadelphia:

Jury in charter fraud trial hears of excess

Brown is accused of defrauding the four charter schools she founded of $6.7 million and then conspiring with two former administrators to obstruct justice by orchestrating a cover-up.
Francis L. Gizaza, an accountant who began preparing tax returns for Brown's schools in 1998, reviewed several years of nonprofit tax forms for the schools. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan E. Burnes asked him to highlight Brown's salaries.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2006, Brown was paid a total of $472,483 from three of her schools: $186,929 as the chief executive of the Laboratory Charter School; $108,554 as CEO of Ad Prima Charter School; and $177,000 as executive director of Main Line Academy, a small private school for students with special needs she established in Bala Cynwyd.

Laboratory has campuses in Northern Liberties, Overbrook, and Wynnefield. Ad Prima is in Overbrook and Frankford. Brown stepped down as CEO of both charters in 2008 after the state law was changed to bar charter administrators from collecting salaries from more than one school.

From Cleveland, Ohio:

Cleveland Heights charter school employees charged in $400,000 fraud scheme indictment

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A federal grand jury today returned indictments against four people charged with a scheme to defraud a Cleveland Heights charter school of more than $400,000, said U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach.

Indictments on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to launder money were handed down against Joel B. Friedman, 65, of Mayfield Heights; Jeffrey A. Pope, 46, of Bowie, Md.; Marianne Stefanik, 64, of Parma, and Virgil B. Holley, 51, of Cleveland Heights.

Friedman served as chairman of Greater Heights Academy, a now-shut down charter school located in Cleveland Heights. Stefanik worked as Friedman’s secretary at the school. Pope operated a consulting business in Maryland known as R&D International. Holley worked for Friedman at the charter school in various capacities, including starting Holley Enterprises to provide security at the school.

....The academy once enrolled nearly 1,000 students in grades kindergarten to 12, and collected more than $21.5 million from the state over the school’s lifetime of less than five years.

So many records were missing that the charter school was declared unauditable.

In Kansas City, Missouri, there was a huge discrepancy in the number of students claimed by the school and those in attendance the day the state visited.

Surprise state visit finds problems at Hope Academy charter school in KC

State officials decided to visit the school after the school reported a 99.5 percent attendance rate.

“That means better than 99 percent of its students were in school 90 percent of the time,” said Sarah Potter, spokeswoman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “That is highly unlikely. It is highly unusual ... for even our highest-performing ones to have an attendance rate that high.”

She said the state also found the charter school listed a higher than average percentage of the school’s population reporting perfect attendance. According to state officials, Hope Academy reported that 11 percent of its students had perfect attendance. The state average is 3 percent.

The day the state showed up at Hope Academy, 174 students were in attendance. That’s less than 30 percent of the 636 students the school says are enrolled there. The state also identified some students who live outside the Kansas City Public Schools’ boundaries.

Then there is the UNO charter group run by Rahm's close friend, Juan Rangel, in Chicago.

Sun-Times Sues Troubled Charter School Network

After blasting a charter school network in a series of articles for "lucrative payments on contracts" to "relatives of UNO insiders," the Chicago Sun-Times sued the UNO Charter School network for more records.

The Sun-Times and its reporter Dan Mihalopoulos sued UNO Charter School Network, United Charter School Network (UCSN), and United Neighborhood Organization of Chicago, in Cook County Court.

The Sun-Times this year published a series of articles by Mihalopoulos, alleging that UNO misused state funds, "including lucrative payments on contracts awarded to relatives of UNO insiders. UNO's CEO was compelled to issue a public apology for the incidents described in the Sun-Times reports, and defendants committed to adopt the recommendations of a retired federal judge who was hired by UNO to review those incidents," the lawsuit states.

After the publication of Mihalopoulos' articles - in February, March and July - Illinois twice suspended UNO's funding for new school construction, and in October, Mihalopoulos reported that the SEC was investigating UNO for possible securities fraud.

One of the worst examples was in my own state of Florida. A charter school principal deprived the school of many necessities, but she herself profited over $800,000.

FL failed charter school did without computers, library, or cafeteria. Principal got $824,000.

The principal in question not only received a $519,000 severance check, but she took home her $305,000 annual salary for a grand total of $824,000 during the 2010-2011 school year. The Orlando Sentinel also reported last week the school only spent $366,000 on teacher salaries and instruction during that school year. Nothing can justify that imbalance, especially for the leader of a charter that failed. Public school district superintendents don't even make that kind of unconcionalble salary. School boards would face public rage for even proposing such pay.

.."Last week the Miami Herald reported that Charter Schools USA handed out in excess of $205,000 in contributions to political organizations and candidates for this election, three times the amount the Fort Lauderdale-based company spent two years ago.

That money must come from the profits the company earns at taxpayer expense; in effect, the public is paying that political price so charter schools can leverage even greater profits from the Legislature.

Something is wrong with the policy of allowing more and more charter schools, the policy being pushed now by the Department of Education under Arne Duncan.

Public taxpayer money should not be abused like that. There is no excuse.

[blkmusclmachine]

1. A feature, not a bug.

MUST. LOOK. FORWARD.

[madfloridian]

2. ......

[valerief]

3. I thought charter schools were created to make fraud easier. nt

[TheDebbieDee]

16. Charter schools were created as an effort to defund URBAN public schools!

And since the Charter have little to no regulation with regard to the credentials that teachers must have, they can hire unqualified staff. And because there is no teachers union involved in the process, they can UNDERPAY the teachers....

[valerief]

31. Takng public funds and not delivering the goods sounds like fraud to me, legal or not. nt

[TBF]

4. Oversight? All they are after is breaking the unions -

crystal clear. It's not like the billionaires want a workforce of critical thinkers anyway. That just creates problems for them.

[madfloridian]

5. Training for the global marketplace...Arne's words

Union breaking is right.

In the same speech in which he referred to "white suburban moms" who thought their kids were so smart....he indicated his goals for education. Training for a global marketplace.

In a meeting with state education chiefs Friday, Duncan said some opposition to the Common Core State Standards -- a controversial effort to standardize education -- has come from parents displeased that test results have exposed local weaknesses. Duncan said he found it "fascinating" that opponents include "white suburban moms who -- all of a sudden -- (discovered that) their child isn't as bright as they thought they were, and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were."

Duncan apologized for the remark Monday afternoon.

Speaking to CNN, he said: "My wording, my phrasing, was a little clumsy and I apologize for that."

Duncan said his point was that the goal is to prepare U.S. students for a "globally competitive work force" and to challenge education leaders to better explain to parents why higher standards are needed and what it takes to achieve them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/politics/duncan-comment-controversy/

[TBF]

7. Right ... slave labor world wide

compliant, cheap work force while the billionaires and their lap dogs appreciate the profits ...

[DhhD]

11. Agreed. It is a way to break the Unions. And if a state has no Unions, like Texas, the parents are

keeping charters away because of oversight, but something has taken the place of oversight, parents and Unions. The State board of Education has approved removing Algebra II, Physics and Chemistry from the graduation curriculum. Removal of an appropriate education comes in the form of a non-college bound high school diploma in the State of Texas. Students can make the choice of graduation plans by being lazy and not doing the school work required. These students that are not going to college, and they are not ready to go to work, either. Low graduation rates and low scores means vouchers. Vouchers are for private religious schools or charters, which is now the entire system in Louisiana.

Texas Public educators are outraged. Students (in the Senior year) who realized their mistake will fail an elective class credit so they can spend a 5th year in high school getting the courses in, for the college bound graduation plan diploma.

Privatizers and Profiteers, need to keep out of public education which is currently counter to the US Department of Education and democracy.

[sabrina 1]

38. Yes, the goal is to create a nation of sheep who are not educated, but respond to orders like

robots, to crush independent thinking, which is what constant testing does. I do not believe this was just ignorance of how children learn, I believe it was deliberate in order to create a cheap labor force that doesn't' question, right here in the US where his Corporate buddies can profit and not have to go to third world countries in order to do so.

Undoing the harm done to the educational system by these criminals is going to take a long time and the sooner the effort begins the better.

Btw, I wonder if Arne subjected his own children to the same testing those 'white suburban moms' he is talking about, were forced into? Somehow I doubt it.

[madfloridian]

40. I am not sure the harm done now can be undone.

We have allowed it to get too far along rather than question the policy of Democrats. We did question it when Bush tried it under Margaret Spelling. Now too many accept it.

[sabrina 1]

41. Perhaps, but as more and more parents see what is happening to their children

the stress on them and on their teachers, I have noticed that locally there is a resistance movement starting. Where we are, eg, upstate NY in a rural community, people are opposing this system. I am not even sure it has anything to do with politics, but more to do with the fact that they are unhappy with what their children are being put through. For the past several months here there have been, for this area, large community meetings on a regular basis, opposing the constant testing and opposing any school tax increases to pay for this system.

It will probably have to come from local communities like this if changes are going to be made.

[Luminous Animal]

6. Kick and rec!

[madfloridian]

17. ......

Thank you.

[Luminous Animal]

22. De nada. My friend.

[Doctor_J]

8. privatization means no oversight. that's the point

"Burdensome Regulations" means no rules

[madfloridian]

18. Agreed.

Oversight of public schools only....none of charter schools in many areas.

Ain't gonna work.

[mountain grammy]

9. Only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, people will wake up.

[madfloridian]

13. Hope so also. But no one seems to be paying attention.

Or caring very much about it. Parents are starting to fight back against all the high stakes testing, so that's good.

[nikto]

10. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ...

...For the Deform-"reformers".

[nikto]

12. This...

...Is how you kill a Nation.








We're toast.

[madfloridian]

14. Getting rid of in-depth education....

yes, it will harm our nation greatly. A generation raised on what well may be propaganda to benefit corporations.

[TheKentuckian]

26. This is how you offset the changing demographics, increase ignorance and neuter thinking skills.

Disconnect the population from its history and then feed them myths, lies, and distortion.

Limit the spectrum of ideas.

Hogtie the ability to effectively communicate.

Foster segregation of intelligence and skills so that even the bright and learned tend not to look beyond limited perspectives and avoid applying knowledge creatively and holistically. Small boxes all around.

[okaawhatever]

15. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. We need facts and info to counter this insanity.

You should see the charter school structure they approved in N Carolina. It's shameful.

[madfloridian]

19. FL bad also. Senate prez said that public school teachers won't be treated same...

as charter school teachers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022415854

“If you think you’d rather work in a charter school so that you’re not necessarily under the thumb of the district or of a union, I think you ought to have a chance to apply to a charter school and get selected,” Gaetz said.

He says teachers who feel more comfortable in a traditional school environment should be able to work there, too.

“But you’re not going to get paid the same, you’re not going to get treated the same, you’re not going to get evaluated the same,” Gaetz said"

[liberal_at_heart]

20. We just lost that battle here in WA. For the first time our state will begin allowing charters.

They always promise accountability when trying to get these initiatives passed, but if the way the other states have done it is any indication I'm sure WA won't be any different. How do you fight it when your own voters approve of this crap?

[madfloridian]

21. The charter school groups and ed reformers run great PR campaigns.

They have the big money. Public school advocates do not have the money to match them in advertising. It's a shame.

[truedelphi]

36. Hear! Hear!

The Big Money ads tug at the hearts of the voters. What can voters do but VOTE FOR THE CHILDREN?

What an uphill battle has to be waged for every single institution, to re-capture what we are losing.

[bobGandolf]

23. Who cares....

as long as the test scores look good, and they produce non-inquisitive, ignorant, Fox TV watchers.

[madfloridian]

27. Right. The test scores now outweigh teacher judgement, grade books, classroom tests.

An honor student can be called failing if they don't do well on the almighty high stakes tests...first NCLB, Race to the Top, and now Common Core.

That test determines everything.

[xchrom]

24. du rec.

[Starry Messenger]

25. k&r

[sendero]

28. The whole charter school movement..

... and much of the rest of "education reform" is a smoke screen to move another big-ticket government expenditure into the private sector so the sociopathic "businessmen" can rip it off blind.

Charter schools were supposed to perform better than public schools but so far there no evidence that they do.

The whole thing is enough to make one sick.

[madfloridian]

32. Yes, getting public money turned over to the private sector.

While calling it something else.

[Doctor_J]

35. They got healthcare, they want education.

I think by the time he leaves office, our democratic president will have given them both.

[nikto]

43. Exactly right, sendero

You stated the simple, disgusting TRUTH.

[Enthusiast]

29. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch.

[madfloridian]

30. ....

Thanks a whole bunch.

[indepat]

33. Charter schools imo, are just like government contracting out to make a precious few filthy

rich. What else could be the purpose for charter schools so ripe to be riddled with fraud and cheating on test scores?

[Mc Mike]

34. Their 'reform' movement sure seems to attract more than its fair share of

crooked scalawags, who will steal anything that isn't nailed down.

Recced. Thanks, mad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. kick back to top

[jsr]

39. Recommend

[DirkGently]

42. We can have state-run vital services, which are designed to

serve, or we can have privatized vital services, which are designed to make the people who own them rich.

They are not interchangeable.