REPORT **the U.S. gov't has wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools that never opened, or opened

[riversedge]

The U.S. government has wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons, according to a report from the Network for Public Education.

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March 23, 2019 12:45 am
Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride


http://networkforpubliceducation.org/asleepatthewheel/

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Read the Executive Summary

This report details the Network for Public Education’s two month examination of the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP). Our investigation found a troubling pattern of insufficient applicant review, contradictions between information provided by applicants and available public data, the gifting of funds to schools with inadequate financial and governance plans, a push-out of large grants to the states with little supervision by the department, and the waste of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

By comparing claims made by charter grant applicants to information on state databases and school websites, we found numerous examples of federal tax dollars being misspent due to an inattentive process that routinely accepts applicants’ claims without scrutiny.

We found that it is likely that as many as one third of all charter schools receiving CSP grants never opened, or opened and shut down. In fact, the failure rates for grant-awarded charter schools in California has reached nearly four in ten.........................

[dchill]

1. Most charter schools are merely swindles.

I won't argue about it. I know it as a fact.

[PeeJ52]

2. Yet Betsy keeps feeding the beast...

and starving public education. Shameful

[DoctorJoJo]

3. Of The Orange Buffoon's Entire Swamp, Betsy Is the Worst!

[not fooled]

4. At the same time

the orange anus has Social Security and Medicare in his sights.

Shovel money to cronies, all for thee and none for we.

U.S. now officially a banana republic, with nukes.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Never really trusted the concept, TBH...

OTOH, in my state, I have heard some good about them. AFAIK, though, they are severely limited and regulated and limited in scope. I know there is a limited number of them allowed and the parameters for opening one are controlled by the state legislature.

Overall, though, I hate the thought of turning Education into another profit based industry, especially in Pre-K-12. I'm liking the pushes around the country to expand "public" education to CC and State College levels. I assume there will always be private schools, and that's OK, but we should really look askance at efforts to divert public funds to private schools, and especially religious ones.

[zentrum]

6. The DeVos family is

...like the Sackler family. Always scheming to hurt people and destroy lives.

[Mr. Evil]

7. Because they're just another scheme to scam people out of their money.

They get public funds for the essentials and charge tuition for their gravy. Republicans have been attacking and defunding public education for decades and then they pop up and say they're failing and then present the new, magical charter school as an alternative. And once again the rubes buy it.

[appalachiablue]

8. Such a scam. And privatization of the VA/Vets Admin is starting?

[clementine613]

9. In other words, Betsy DeVos and her cronies stole a billion dollars.

[hughee99]

10. Clearly, this is DeVos's fault. It happened on her watch.

“Of the schools awarded grants directly from the department between 2009 and 2016, nearly one in four either never opened or shut its doors. The CSP’s own analysis from 2006-2014 of its direct and state pass-through funded programs found that near- ly one out of three awardees were not currently in operation by the end of 2015.”

She’s been secretary of education since GW Bush, right?