Legislature considering de-regulation of charter schools (little progress on transp. funding bill)

[JPZenger]

If you want mass transit funding, or money to repair roads or bridges, it looks like you will be out of luck again this year. The session is almost over.

However, the Legislature is still finding time to de-regulate charter schools.

http://yinzercation.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/killer-weeds/

Excerpt:

"This is a charter “reform” bill that will actually hurt school districts. In a recent analysis of the bill, the Education Law Center concluded, “Ultimately, SB 1085 would gut local control over charter school authorization and growth, encourage unfettered expansion of even poorly-operated charter schools, take already underfunded school districts to the brink of financial collapse, and remove important accountability tools that school districts can use to ensure that charter schools are performing well and equitably serving all kinds of students.” [Education Law Center SB1085] Those are very strong words coming from our lawyer friends."

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http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6041/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8833

Excerpt:

"The PA Senate is considering a new bill to reform charter schools, SB1085. This bill is bad for students, parents, and the community.

- SB 1085 will create a statewide authorizer, which would allow designated entities to authorize charter schools, which takes away the power from communities to make local decisions. This gives the power to approve charter schools to high-education institutions – but local tax-payers would still foot the bill!

- SB 1085 removes enrollment caps, which means communities lost more control over how these institutions function within their community and over how public education is delivered – while still being responsible for the cost.

- SB 1085 will prevent school districts from stopping the expansion of even poor-performing charter schools. The local school district will not be capable of checking that a charter school’s performance is up to standard and that their enrollment process remains equitable. The bill will also double a charter school’s length from five to ten years, further cutting accountability for a charter that is performing poorly."
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You may have noticed the many criminal charges that have been filed against charter school owners and managers. Shockingly, almost all of those charges were filed by FEDERAL prosecutors for fraud involving state money. Why didn't Corbett as Attorney General and his hand-picked successors file those charges? Could it be because his largest campaign contributor also controls the largest for-profit charter schools in PA and some of his top officials used to work for for-profit charter school companies?

The Feds have brought criminal charges against officials of 6 charter schools in Philadelphia alone, including one involving $7 million of fraud.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-11-08/news/43779553_1_agora-cyber-charter-dorothy-june-brown-ad-prima

Or, this one in the Poconos involving $1.5 million of illicit diversions.

http://articles.mcall.com/2013-10-09/news/mc-pa-pocono-charter-school-founder-sentenced-20131009_1_shawnee-tabernacle-church-tax-evasion-pocono-mountain-charter-school

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I didn't even realize that they had any regulations now.

By looking at the history of charter schools, and the problems that they have, as well as how they do not have to follow the same standards that the public schools are bound by, you would have to wonder what regulations they are subjected to now.

I see the day when we will not be able to have our public schools function, and all schools will have to be for-profit. And that is just what the Republicans want, although I do not understand why.

[Pat Riot]

2. None that they really follow.

Oh man, we need to make some noise about this one.