Reply #9: More on this from the Perdido Street School blog site:

[madfloridian]

http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2010/04/philadelphia-as-failed-experiment-in.html

"Education reformers had much hope for the success of the charters, but so far, much of the success seems to be in lining the pockets of the charter school operators.

As I detailed here yesterday, 13 Philadelphia charter schools are under investigation by the City Controller's Office for financial abuse and fraud. 9 charter schools are under investigation by the US Attorney's Office in Philly for the same reason.

The most striking example of abuse is at Harambee Institute of Science and Technology, where the operator ran a nightclub out of the school on weekends, handed out $7.5 million in construction contracts to her husband for work on her schools, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal travel and expenses and listed them as business-related, and claimed to work more than 365 days a year when she put in for compensation.

Then you also have the charter school operators of Philadelphia Academy who were caught defrauding the school for close to $1 million dollars and bribed a policewoman with $34,000 to keep quiet. When it became clear investigators were going to arrest everybody involved, one of the charter operators committed suicide. The other pleaded guilty to mail-fraud theft and tax evasion. The police officer, a 25 year vet, was given a year in prison."