Expose of Charter School Corruption in The New Republic

[yurbud]

Timothy Noah, a senior editor of The New Republic, has written a stunning expose of charter school corruption. He begins with Arizona, where the laws are so lax that self-dealing by charter executives is the rule, not the exception. Noah points out that 90 percent of charter operators are exempt from state laws requiring competitive bidding. The state has never withdrawn an exemption.

Noah bases his observations about Arizona's Wild West of charters on investigative reporting by Anne Ryman of the Arizona Republic.

He quotes from Ryman's article:

“The schools’ purchases from their own officials,” Ryman writes, “range from curriculum and business consulting to land leases and transportation services. A handful of non-profit schools outsource most of their operations to a board member’s for-profit company.” A nonprofit called Great Hearts Academies runs 15 Arizona charter schools. Since 2009, according to Ryman, the schools have purchased $987,995 in books from Educational Sales Co., whose chairman, Daniel Sauer, is a Great Hearts officer. And that doesn’t count additional book purchases made directly by parents. Six of the Great Hearts schools have links on their Web sites for parents who wish to make such purchases. The links are, of course, to Educational Sales Co. Since 2007 Sauer has donated $50,400 to Great Hearts. You can call that philanthropy, or you can call that an investment on which Sauer’s company received a return of more than 1800 percent. I’m not sure even Russian oligarchs typically get that much on the back end.

http://wp.me/p2odLa-32Z

[busterbrown]

1. Thanks so much for the post.

I know most of us are hip to this Charter bullshit.
But we must begin sending the message out.
Main stream Media has barely touched this subject.
It is so fucking imp. to the future of our country.
I know so many who are destitute because of the for profit college crap!

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Let's hope the POTUS gives this a good read. nt

[yurbud]

3. no kidding! and it's not like the right is twisting his arm on this

[goclark]

5. I am a cheerleader for my president but

But..I thought that his buddy mayor in Chicago thinks
Charters are the best way to go.
I absolutely don't agree.

They are designed to break the backs of the teacher's unions
and ultimately have no Public schools.
In Los Angeles our mayor : ( loves charters and has been working to put charters class space in every public school... many believe that will mean bye bye public schools.

I have been a Consultant for UCLA and PHOENIX. - supervised teachers in Public and Charters.

NOT saying ALL charters but 98 % of the charters I visited and other consultants visited didn't hold a candle to the public school.

I will try to locate the link that says Public Schools are performing better than Charters.

[Squinch]

4. Thanks for posting!

[silhouete2]

6. This saddens me but doesn't surprise me

Charter schools are the big money maker. I've never understood why people support this smear that we teachers in public schools are “lazy" and don't care about the children and charters are the cure when they are using children as a commodity in order to make a profit. I'm not saying all charters are bad--however, it is unfair that most do not have to play by the same rules as public schools. I’m sick and tired of hearing how private industry is better—all the private sector people see is $$ signs when they look at children—NOT looking out for their welfare, just the bottom line. That is criminal.

[goclark]

7. Makes me mad/Sad

I had a friend that played golf with a guy that owned a charter school.
My friend was a retired engineer.

Once a month he attended the Board Meeting- I asked him what did they talk about...what issues did they address.
"Mostly we talked about golf-we raised our hands "yes" if he had to get our opinions for a vote."

Each month they were given a check for. I think he said $800 for being on the Board.

Charter Schools are a Business...like Bain.

[silhouete2]

9. Yep

Privatization isn't the panacea all these people want you to believe. It does NOT benefit the kids, it benefits the investors and those who run the "corporate" school. There are reasons we have public and private domains. What you described in your post is a perfect example of why they are separated. This stuff is even creaping into public schools. In my district--3 of the 4 higher ups--the superintendent and 2 of the asst. supers, have NEVER taught in a classroom. They gradudated from the business model program for superintendents. OUr Super is always gloating about all the millions he has "saved" the district--by cutting bussing for our neediest kids, cutting back on support personnel, bigger class sizes, making hte teachers give up pay to cut days in school in order to save librarians, counselors---and he is PROUD of all the money the district has in the bank. Why we are saving it, we still aren't sure. He said it was for bad times, and we cetainly are in them now. Wonder if by the passage of Prop 30 in CA if he will start letting some of that go and reinvest in our schools. We also wonder if he will continue to cut from programs to "save money". Time will tell--but it is a crying shame.

[goclark]

10. want to cry just thinking abt it

The teachers /facilities don't have to reach the same standards.
Ex.. in one charter that I covered the teacher's parking lot
was the parking lot of the chuch-----imagine trying to back out
when a 2nd grader is running to get the ball.

That is the tip of the iceberg.
I could go on and on.

I also know of 3 BRAND NEW CHARTERS----fancy ones named for
lengendary African American administrators.
My thoughts on it....a way to make that community believe in the
Charter School concept.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Over the years I have noticed that whenever a Republicanite touts "privatization,"

he has a crony waiting in the wings to take advantage of a no-bid contract.

I first noticed it when a Portland-area Republicanite legislator proposed canceling the light rail projects and setting up a system of--I wish I were making this up--jitney buses*. It turned out that this legislator had a friend with a business plan for jitney buses.

*Jitney buses: a common form of transportation in the Third World, these are vans that pick up passengers wherever they are and drop them off wherever they want to go within a given area.

[yurbud]

11. unfortunately, too many Democrats see the "benefits" of privatization too

namely, campaign donations now, bigger campaign donations after they give the crony government contracts, and high paying jobs with the crony after they leave office.

The problem with a good all-public solution from a politician's perspective: at most they will get the admiration, respect, and votes of their constituents, all things that a crony's money could buy (or so they think).