Some bloggers have pointed this out for a few years now, so it is a good feeling to see the Tampa Bay Times (previously known as the St. Pete Times) cover it so extensively. Good for them.
They receive public taxpayer money, and they should be held accountable for it. They should not be turning that money over to questionable real estate deals instead of investing in students and their education.
Imagine charter schools' expensive leases draw scrutiny
Two Tampa Bay charter schools are part of a national chain that is drawing scrutiny for lease arrangements that absorb big chunks of taxpayer funding.
The Imagine charter school near downtown St. Petersburg spent $649,312 last year in rent while the Imagine School in Land O'Lakes signed a lease on Monday for a new school with base rent of $757,989 a year.
The landlord? Schoolhouse Finance, a company owned by Imagine Schools.
It bought the Central Avenue building that houses the Pinellas school four years ago, and built the Pasco school on Sunlake Boulevard over the past several months. District records show the Pinellas Imagine spent $133 per student per month on rent while the Pasco school spent about $121 per student per month. Both figures are more than double the average for other charters in the districts.
The St. Petersburg school was an F school for two years, but I hear that in 2011 it came up to a D.
Imagine Charter in St. Pete a million in debt. Taxpayers will foot the bill.
CHERIE DIEZ | Times The Imagine Charter School on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg is mired in debt and losing students
An F-rated St. Petersburg charter school stands on the verge of collapse, mired in debt and losing enrollment. And most of those debts — around $1 million in public tax dollars — are owed to the same private company that founded it.
Pinellas County district officials say they're battling with Virginia-based Imagine Schools, the nation's largest commercial charter operator, over the future of the Central Avenue school. The school was $963,572 in deficit last spring, according to auditors. It's paying $881,179 to lease a half-empty building from Imagine's real estate affiliate, plus thousands more for equipment, administration and fees, on income of just $2 million a year.
"It's a death spiral," said district charter supervisor Dot Clark.
I very much like the way that the Ft. Wayne Journal referred to the Florida situation with Imagine charters.
Imagine soaks the Sunshine State
The costly real estate lease agreements entered into by Imagine charter schools, including those in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, are getting more scrutiny in Florida, where the Tampa Bay Times examined the cost for Imagine school buildings in St. Petersburg and Land O'Lakes. In St. Pete, taxpayers spent $649,312 last year on rent for the charter school; in Land O'Lakes, the cost was $757,989.
..."Unfortunately, no one in Indiana is asking those questions. Hoosier taxpayers paid $1,053,668 in rent and $401,800 in operating costs for the Imagine Life Sciences Academy East in Indianapolis last year. The bills were similar for the three other Indiana schools.
Why the lease agreements aren't creating outrage is a mystery, unless it's because lawmakers and political candidates don't want to draw any negative attention toward charter schools and other privatization moves. The so-called "reformers," after all, are quite generous with campaign contributions.
