Have you been hearing all those shouts and cries to hold public school teachers accountable? Have you heard how they need to be laid off or fired, or have their school closed and be replaced with charter schools?
There a little double standard going on now in the field of education. It has gotten worse since Arne started giving money to districts that lift the cap on charters.
There are good public schools, there are excellent public school teachers. There are a few good locally run charter schools. Yet they are not regulated.
Haven't we learned from the harm to our economy because of the lack of oversight? Are we not seeing what happens to oil wells in the Gulf when they are not regulated as they should be?
Yet now we are going to do the same thing with education.
Charter schools are funded with taxpayer money, yet they are privately run and free from most regulations that govern public schools run by school boards.
Charter school leaders charged with stealing over $200,000 in public fundsThe leaders of a high-performing San Fernando Valley charter school were charged this week with stealing more than $200,000 in public funds through embezzlement, money laundering and filing false tax returns, among other alleged crimes. Eugene Selivanov, 38, and his wife, Tatyana Berkovich, 33, have denied any wrongdoing, according to their attorney.
The couple faces 38 felony and misdemeanor counts for alleged actions from 2004 through 2009 in their operation of Ivy Academia, a charter school with test scores that place it in the state's top 30% of schools.
..."Charters — public schools that are independently managed— allowed the couple to pursue their idiosyncratic vision. Students begin learning business principles in kindergarten and develop business plans in 6th grade. All grade levels participate regularly in a mock society that includes merchants and government agencies and the exchange of school currency for services and wages.
The couple has acknowledged that in the early days of the school, they mixed public funds from the nonprofit charter with money and accounts attached to earlier for-profit enterprises they operated: a preschool and a summer camp/school.
The practice attracted criticism from the Inspector General of the Los Angeles Unified School District, who conducted a 2007 audit of Ivy Academia. Selivanov, "through online banking access, transferred funds to and from the charter school and other affiliated entities," the audit said. "Most of these transfers were not recorded in the books of the charter school."
It is now 2010, and they are just being charged.
It is not unique in the misuse of public funds. Florida has been having trouble with Imagine Charters since 2005....yet they are still opening schools in the state.
Despite Debt, School Firm Aims to Open More Charters With its 12 Florida schools already combining for more than $8.3 million in debt, one of the largest charter school companies in the country is looking to open at least nine more in the state this year, including one each in Palm Beach and Martin counties.
"There are times when you need to push for development, and now is one of those times," said Rod Sasse, director of development for Imagine Schools Inc. "Some of our schools that have been with us for a while are going out on their own now. And we just have to continue our development stream."
In Florida, only two charter schools managed by Imagine Schools have gone "out on their own" in the past three years, according to state and local records. The Central Florida town of Oakland took over Oakland Avenue Charter on Oct. 1 after the school received a D from the state this year. The North Tampa Alternative Charter was turned over to the school district in 2003 after several years of financial troubles.
Nationally, however, two dozen Imagine-managed schools have either shut down or cut ties with the company, according to an annual Arizona State University report. Just one other charter school company has lost more during that time.
"We've got a whole list of questions for them," said Hank Salzler, Martin assistant schools superintendent. "Their finances are going to be a big deal for us."
But guess what. Nothing has been learned from the past. A St. Pete Imagine Charter is now one million in debt to their parent company...and taxpayers will pick up the tab.
That harms public education rather than helping it.
Imagine charter one million in debtNot only that, it is an F school.
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.
Why did an audit of the L. A. Charter school take 3 years?
Why is Imagine still opening schools in Florida and other states?
Where are the cries for accountability?
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