Let’s imagine there is a state government agency that, by definition, is operating on taxpayer money. The head of the department is Sam, who seems to be a decent-enough fellow, efficient and all. That is, until an investigation shows that when Sam’s department needs widgets, he sees to it that they’re only bought (at taxpayer expense) from a company that is owned by his brother-in-law, and is done so on a no-bid basis.
One might think that red flags would be going up all over the place, causing concern among taxpayer groups, fiscal conservatives and the appropriate legislative body in charge of overseeing this spending. One might think that, but, alas, in this case, one would be wrong.
As it turns out, right here in Arizona, dozens of publicly funded charter schools are operating those types of operations, and the response, across the board, has been only the sound of crickets. What’s most troubling is that even if a group of legislators wanted to do something about financial irregularities among charter schools, they probably wouldn’t be able to because of the shoddy way the system was initially set up, and the stunning lack of accountability that was built in—all supposedly in the name of cutting down on bureaucracy.
Charter schools were introduced in Arizona as a poorly disguised “screw you” to the public-school teachers’ unions that Republican legislators absolutely despise. (Charter-school teachers aren’t unionized, are paid considerably less and can be fired if they show up at school wearing the wrong color of blouse. Wow, where do I sign up for a gig like that?!)
In the early days of the charter-school “movement,” it was open season for scammers and ne’er-do-wells. Somebody would take out a short-term lease on an abandoned Circle K; fill out some paperwork for the state, making sure to use the words “excellence” and/or “honors” in the name of the (ahem) school; and wait for the dollars to start rolling in. Many, many people took the initial outlay of cash and skipped town.
What’s rather annoying is that nobody knows exactly how many people took advantage of that scheme, because when the legis-haters originally put the charter-school system in place, they conveniently forgot to include anything about oversight or enforcement. No one knows how much money the state lost to scammers and fly-by-night operations. It’s almost certainly in the tens of millions of dollars.
Here’s another interesting tidbit: No one in state government can tell you exactly how many charter schools have come into existence since the law was passed.
What should be the most troubling thing about this entire mess is that, after 20 years, the average charter school (both nationally and in Arizona) still significantly underperforms the nearest public school. Of this, there is no dispute, yet when confronted with this information, charter-school backers repeatedly cite the same handful of success stories. It’s like shoving the pretty girl out front when taking a group photo of knuckleheads.
Now that the blatant scammers have been run off (or have run off voluntarily, with bagfuls of Arizona taxpayers’ loot), a new form of money-grabbing has become widespread in charter schools. It’s at the very least unethical and, in my opinion, should be illegal.
According to a report in The Arizona Republic, “about 40 nonprofit charter schools paid $70 million to companies run by the schools’ board members, executives or their relatives.” It gave as one example the members of the Gaddie family who make up the board for the Happy Valley School in Peoria. In the past three years, Happy Valley has purchased nearly $1 million in books from a company owned by one of the board’s officers.
Likewise, BASIS has somehow managed to set up a for-profit company on the side to handle a lot of the nuts-and-bolts operations of the ostensibly nonprofit school, which effectively hides much of the school’s spending from public scrutiny. When asked about the shady system, BASIS founder Michael Block sniffed in response: “Judge us by our results,” he told The Republic.
What is this, the CIA?! You don’t get to do that. You’re spending public money, and even if you’re doing so in a most-prudent manner, we still have the right to see where every penny is going.
The best thing about this whole situation (for those of you who attended charter schools, that’s sarcasm; I really mean the worst thing about this situation) is that, so far, it appears to be legal. The law says that public and charter schools have to put out bids for purchases over a certain amount. However, the numbskulls in the Legislature put in a loophole for charters that says they can get an exemption as long as they “promise” that what they do will be “in the best interest of the school.” I’m not making this up.
So far, 90 percent of Arizona’s charters have taken advantage of this exemption.
For Arizona’s charter schools, the financial sleight-of-hand du jour is, “We’ll take your money, spend it as we wish, and not tell you where it went. You just have to trust us.”
Sorry, but I don’t.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2012.
All I can say Tom is that the Legislature is having a helluva time getting parochial schools paid for with public school monies. They’ll keep trying, I’m sure. But until this happens they had to have a way to ruin public schools while at the same time further bringing down the overall educational level of all students within the State (Education for Profit, nope that doesn’t work either!). It’s been rough, but they’re finally seeing some success. Too bad Frank A. won’t be there to further ransack the educational coffers. Maybe we could just combine the For-Profit Prison system with the For-Profit Educational system. I’m sure CCA has a business model already lined out.
It is time to expose the scheme of “charter schools” to fleece the State General Fund of monies that should be used for “real” public education in Arizona. Only when the friends of public schools have the courage to lead public discussion and demand charter schools are held accountable to locally elected school boards just as public schools currently are will the taxpayers have any assurance their tax dollars are protected from excesses and fraud.
Education is said to be the key to economic development and employment by most business groups. The Democrat party has endorsed a regressive sales tax to replace state revenues that are going to charter schools rather than fund public schools with those monies. If the state requires two systems of public education then it should be put to a vote of the people to be established by a vote of the people. Calling charter schools public schools and funding them with public tax dollars only makes them wards of the state not publicly controlled or monitored public institutions.
Rose Management Group is one scam of a charter school. I believed they used gov’t money to start a video game business. They need to be checked.
There are administrators in Charter Schools who pay themselves 100s of 1000s of dollars while hiring poor people and firing them at will. Yet, there is not one newspaper in the state of AZ has written one good article investigating what has become a multi-year disgrace. These people are awful for the state, for legit educators and especially the kids.
The charter schools should fall under the Freedom of Information Act or the state of AZ’s version of it (some kind of Sunshine Law or Public Records laws.) The TW should do some investigative reporting and find out what exactly is going on in these schools.
Good article, Tom. Long over due, keep on pushing! Might also want to check some of the relationships the head of Arizona Public Education has with the charter school lobby – not that there is anything illegal about those relationships.
Glad to see people are starting to call BASIS for their abuse of the system – “No we don’t have qualifying exams – now, you may find your child doesn’t feel comfortable with this level of quality education, blah, blah, blah.”
Now, don’t get me wrong (heck, go ahead get me wrong, see what I care), I do believe that children who are dedicated to being exemplary students should have a place where they can go to school and not have to put up with some of the distractions that occur in the public setting, but if charters are pubic schools, there should be public accountability.
Plus, schools like BASIS are important for the parents. It used to be that children were considered a gift from God, but now many parents consider them extensions of their own egos. What better boost to the parents self-esteem than to have a kid who goes to a trophy school like BASIS?
Helicopter parents, you’re cleared for landing!
It shows that you did your homework, NOT. There is a system of checks and balances and there are set guidelines and laws governing charter schools. You should have contacted the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools for your article. Check your sources!
@ A Charter School Employee
Congratulations! It appears that you work at one of the 17% of charter schools that does a better job of educating children than the regular public schools. Now I am sure your school follows the rules and the guidelines, but what is in question is how the state implements their oversight of these rules and guidelines. And, once again, I understand you are in a position to know, because you work for a charter, but I have sat in a meeting with a representative from the state who explained how one creates a charter school and it was clear that the guidelines and laws and the game in Arizona favor the charter school.
Once again, congrats for working for a charter school that does not game the system, however, it is also true that it is difficult for a person to accept certain facts when their wallet depends on believing otherwise. In this case, I give you the benefit of the doubt.
if you have questions about the charter school system, get in touch with the state’s own representative and authority on charter schools, the AZ State Board of Charter Schools or ADE (AZ Dept of Education). Why ask someone that obviously doesn’t know anything? Politicians are just that, politicians (and liars).
I would have to agree (or disagree) with Basis and their abuse of the system and their “entrance” exams.
@ A Charter School Employee
Hmm, we should get in touch with the AZ State Board of Charter Schools for information about charter schools? Now, isn’t it possible they might be just a bit biased?
There is always the alternative source for information – responsible journalism. I suggest Diane Ravitch’s excellent book “The Death and Life of the Great American School System – how testing and choice have undermined education.” She goes into great length about charter schools. Ravitch, the former asst. Secretary of Education for Geo. H.W. Bush at one time was a big fan of high stakes testing and charter schools. She has done a 180 degree turn in both opinions. Last year when she spoke in Tucson, she was asked why she had changed her mind. Her answer, “The evidence.” In her book she carefully lays out the evidence in much more even-handed manner than you will ever get from the Charter School Board or the ADE. Follow the money.
And as for BASIS – as usual the state oversight of this charter is lacking.
If you really want to look into BASIS and unfair practices, look into the fact that they are recipients of the AZCSIP (Charter Starter) Grant that is awarded via the AZ Dept. of Ed year after year. This grant is supposed to give preference to schools who serve inner city, low income, at risk youth. BASIS doesn’t serve a single kid in this catagory…so why do they KEEP getting this grant (we’re talking millions of dollars here) to open more schools?