The charter school scandals just keep pouring in: A charter school that closed but continued to take $2 million in tax dollars; charters steering money away from instruction to management salaries and land deals; operators embezzling funds and using tax dollars to illegally support other, non-educational businesses; charters taking public dollars for services they didn’t provide; charters inflating their enrollment numbers to boost revenues; and charters putting children in potential danger by foregoing safety regulations or withholding services. The FBI is now investigating charter schools, and a report last summer concluded,Fraudulent charter operators in 15 states are responsible for losing, misusing, or wasting over $100 million in taxpayer money.” Back when I was elected in 2012, folks used to roll their eyes (and some still do, even on my own board) when I argued against the charter movement. But now that its gotten harder to view arguments against the charter movement as ridiculous, these same folks have begun to claim that the Nashville charter school market is different than every other place in the US- that we are the one and only shining example of a system that works. (I used to hear these same claims about NOLA before their school system fell apart and fraud was exposed there.) So HOW are we different? We have had to close schools here for fraud and gaming of numbers, and frankly, I feel Nashvilles charter schools are pretty well protected by the powerful. Its hard to get a straight answer about whats really going on behind the scenes, so Im not sure whom to trust. When Ive tried to report problems, theres been no independent investigation, and state law even prevents independent audits of charter schools. How much money from taxpayers are these schools spending on recruiting and marketing- money that should be going into the classroom? What sorts of disciplinary tactics are being used on vulnerable children? Are scarce resources actually reaching the students- or are libraries, arts programs and other necessities just being cut to send more money to management and investors? And do we really think our tax dollars should go to fund the investor real estate deals run by folks like Andre Agassi? Wouldnt it be best to ensure our tax dollars benefit children and the city? The real answer is that Nashville is NO different from any other market. Not only are we lacking regulations to protect against the sort of malfeasance detailed in this article, but Ive also seen a ongoing, well-funded push at the TN legislature to keep the industry as deregulated as possible. Wake up, everyone. This is important.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:22:28 +0000
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