Of course, not all Charter Schools are fraught with scandal. However, the Charter School Scandals are many, spread throughout the country, and involve a lot of misappropriated funding.
Stating the obvious, public schools have their scandals, too.
As early as 2001 the evidence of the conflict between greed and kids was obvious:
But some say Advantage's troubles, and those of some other for-profit education companies, point to a deeper issue: the inherent tension between trying to educate children and making money.
''You have an industry with a lot of Wall Street sharpies and insider wheeler-dealers and a gaggle of marketing executives trying to convince the public that they can reform education and turn a profit and everybody wins,'' said Alex Molnar, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who recently published a critical study of for-profit education companies.
''They had to sign up as many schools as they could and promise them everything,'' Molnar said. ''Now some of those chickens are coming home to roost.''
Promises unfulfilled
Charter Schools for profit, in my opinion, are amoral, immoral, and judging from the huge list of scandals, illegal.
Rick Scott's Florida has one of the highest number of scandals. No surprise there.
I'm sorry, but should the words "industry, Wall Street sharpies, insider wheeler-dealers, marketing executives, education, and profit" be viable definers for Charter Schools teaching kids from 5 - 18?
Charter School Scandals is an amazing on-line service that is extremely well organized. It easy to find the Charter School Scandals by state, year, management company, and type of scandal. The list is huge and doesn't include all the scandals.
The scandals range from bizarre, violent, religiously extreme, child molestation/abuse, to outright theft.
Oddly, many Charter Schools that received Stimulus Money IN SPITE of being on the SCANDAL LIST!
Is it any surprise that, when there are huge amounts money being transfered from Federal and State coffers, the scam artist profit mongers will show up?
Are we really shocked that there are those so motivated by greed, that they think nothing of using our nations children as shills to fill their pockets?
Not unlike the mortgage fraud, Charter Schools are being used fraudently for profit and gain.
It is so widespread, we have to wonder if there are enough FBI agents or whoever is responsible for fraud investigations and prosecutions to keep up with it all.
One of the cleverist financial scams being used looks like this.
This example is originally from the Philadelphia Inquirer which is a paid subscriber site. I found quotes from the PI at www.schoolsmatter.info:
City Controller Alan Butkovitz's investigation of 13 Philadelphia charter schools found repeated examples of complex real estate arrangements in which charters leased or rented facilities from related non-profit organizations.
"The way the charter law is written and not enforced--there is a gigantic loophole through which people can profiteer," Butkovitz said. "This is not supposed to be a vehicle for maximizing profit for operators and related parties."
Complex real estate arrangements? What a surprise!
One example of "complex real estate arrangements" found in Philadelpia was a nightclub operating on weekends inside one charter school. Creative capitalism. I wonder if they taught the school kids mixology during the day?
What is amazing is that Controller Butkovitz found significant issues at 13 of the 13 Charter Schools he investigated.
This New York story seems to cover almost all of the potential for-profit scams available as well as creative Political Involvement:
April, 2010: New York City In Queens, state Sen. Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Rep. Gregory Meeks got their mitts on two charter schools that have been swept up in a federal grand jury probe of the two officials' finances, which are, umm, complicated.
Meanwhile, the students have lousy quarters, and one of the schools provides a comparatively deficient education.
The 300 kids who attend the Peninsula Preparatory Academy Charter School in Far Rockaway sit in trailers in a lot behind a chain-link fence, surrounded by piles of dirt, with no labs, gym, playground or cafeteria kitchen.
Founded by Smith, who was joined on the board by Meeks, Peninsula moved there after comfortably occupying space in Middle School 53. Why the shift? It could be because the site is owned by a developer called the Benjamin Companies.
Employees and affiliates gave almost $150,000 to Smith's campaigns. He funneled more than a half-million dollars to the firm, earmarked for preparing construction of a school building. There is as yet no visible evidence of this, although the company has used the school as a selling point for housing it hopes to build on a surrounding tract.
As if all this weren't bad enough, Peninsula is run by a for-profit company called Victory Schools, whose founder, Steven Klinsky, is a Smith donor. Plus, the kids are lagging. Peninsula received Cs on its last two school report cards.
Smith and Meeks have also been board members of the Merrick Academy Charter School. Housed in a converted bowling alley in Queens Village, the school has a leaky roof, no gym or playground and inadequate heat.
The school made three small political donations to Smith.
An architect who - for free - worked on the bowling alley was at the same time working on a home Smith was renovating. He also later designed a home for Meeks.
In the Bronx, City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo directed $1.5 million toward building a permanent facility for the South Bronx Charter School for International Culture and the Arts.
The school was headed by her nephew Richard Izquierdo Arroyo, who pleaded guilty last month to embezzling $115,000 from an unrelated taxpayer-funded nonprofit, partly to pay for trips and meals for himself, his aunt and his grandmother Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.
Back to Philadelphia
April 2010: In Philadelphia, a federal probe has discovered that the CEO of the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School rents the school's property from Parents United, an organization which she also heads, making her both landlord and tenant. Apparently, the charter school’s board also approved $536,093 for travel and conferences, but the school didn’t document them.
America's definition of capitalism has become federally and state funded "capitalize on every aspect of society for profit and gain" using tax payer money to fund them.
In closing, hats off to those Charter Schools who are legitimately providing good education without bilking the system for profit and perks.
I wonder if these Charter Schools will be able to survive, or be gobbled up by the larger, national Charter School chains looking for profits.
Again, to check for Charter School Scandals nationally or in your area, go here to find them.
To see a small sampling of Charter Schools who received Stimulus funding while embroiled in scandal, go here.