Florida Dem legislator wants funding for large charter school rally investigated.

[madfloridian]

Charter Schools USA paid to bus 2000 teachers and other school administrators and employees from all over the state to a daylong rally in Orlando. Needless to say with public schools having to cut back so drastically, some were not happy about a rally to celebrate charter schools.

The spokesperson for the Charter group said the company paid for the rally, not the schools. But the schools received about 140 million in state public funding...and that means an investigation is in order.

They are not telling the cost of the rally at which Michelle Rhee spoke. Rick Scott was there also, and he dismissed the question of the funding.

Michelle Rhee speaks at Charter Schools USA rally

A ranking Democratic member of the House Education Committee is demanding that the state Department of Education investigate the costs of a charter school rally held in Orlando this week.

Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said in a letter Friday to Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson that he wants "to guarantee that no entity receiving Florida taxpayers' dollars be allowed to ever spend those dollars in similar fashion."

Charter Schools USA, a for-profit company that manages 25 Florida charter schools receiving an estimated $140 million in state funding, bused about 2,000 teachers, administrators and other employees from across the state on Thursday to a daylong rally at the upscale Rosen Plaza Hotel on International Drive. The event, to kick off the new school year, was attended by Gov. Rick Scott, an ardent charter school supporter.

If you get public money you must held accountable for the expenditures.

Colleen Reynolds, spokesman for Charter Schools USA, said the rally expenses were paid by the company and not from charter school budgets. She declined to disclose the cost.

However, Bullard and other critics point out that Charter Schools USA gets its money from management fees it charges the schools. Fees vary, but the P.M. Wells Charter Academy in Osceola County, for example, pays a 15 percent management fee, or about $822,000 this year.

Did I read that right? One of their schools paid about $822,000 in management fees this year? That is a lot, an almost unbelievable amount. Then with the 140 million funding from the state...that non-profit group is making a heck of a profit.

And further, where did the school get the $822,000 if not from the public coffers?

Investigate for sure.

[Starry Messenger]

1. k&r

[madfloridian]

11. And more about the spending from FCIR. Seems the fees to the charter company are from taxpayers.

http://fcir.org/2011/08/22/florida-charter-schools-spend-public-money-without-public-scrutiny/

"“Any of the extra events that Charter Schools USA puts on come out of their own budget,” said spokesman Colleen Reynolds. “It does not affect the schools at all.”

Charter Schools USA makes its money by charging a management fee to run the schools. That money is a percentage of the $150 million in tax money that the state pays the company to run its 25 Florida schools. At just one school in Osceola County, Charter Schools USA picked up $822,182 in administrative fees this year.

And the tax money seems to be increasing for charter schools even as it decreases for public schools.

As state Rep. Dwight Bullard of Orlando pointed out in a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson, “Adding insult to injury, the Legislature even had the gall to give no money for capital improvements and maintenance to the nearly 3,000 traditional public schools, yet gave the state’s 350 charter schools $55 million.”

[Lasher]

2. "the Charter group said the company paid for the rally, not the schools"

But with charter schools, there's no difference. The company is the schools.

:wtf:

[madfloridian]

3. Yes, there is too much overlapping with public money.

It needs investigating for sure.

[Lasher]

5. See, that's one big problem with privatization gone wild.

Corporations are accustomed to private jets and such for their senior executives and they don't appreciate getting questioned about their expenditures.

[madfloridian]

10. Exactly right. They want no questioning.

They just barrel on ahead.

[rucky]

9. There IS a difference...

when it's convenient.

[Angry Dragon]

4. rhee should be investigated for fraud

she obtained her job in DC by lying ...... that is fraud ........
she should have to return her pay, be fined, and thrown in prison for 45 years ....... just to set an example for other liars

[madfloridian]

6. Just remember these words...

accountability is only for public school teachers. :-)

[Plucketeer]

12. Judged by who???

SCOTUS Clarence Thomas??? The whole thing is rigged. Of course - let you or I pass a bad check for a bag of groceries!

[madfloridian]

7. "a 15 percent management fee, or about $822,000 this year."

"However, Bullard and other critics point out that Charter Schools USA gets its money from management fees it charges the schools. Fees vary, but the P.M. Wells Charter Academy in Osceola County, for example, pays a 15 percent management fee, or about $822,000 this year."

That's simply unreal.

And many of these schools have recruiting fees for teachers from TFA, etc. as well.

How can they call themselves non-profit?

[madfloridian]

8. Rick Scott tells schools to spend as they wish.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2011/08/spend-as-you-wish-gov-scott-tells-schools.html

"“Leave it to the local educators to decide how to best spend their money,” he said Thursday, standing not three feet away from me at a press conference.

Was is a hallelujah moment? Will local school officials be freed from the bonds of Scott and the state Legislature and the Florida Department of Education telling them how to spend their money – as is the case today? Probably not.

That’s because Scott was talking about his baby, charter schools. And the rules are different for charter schools.

At issue was criticism that Charter Schools USA, a for-profit company that manages 25 Florida charter schools, held a costly rally at the Rosen Plaza on I-Drive. Regular public schools can’t afford such fiscal foolishness in these tough economic times when public schools are scratching for cash, critics say."