IRS Examining Charter Schools
A reader sent the following article about IRS scrutiny of the financial management of charters, especially for-profit management companies.
Alert: Increased IRS Scrutiny of Charter Schools Operated by For-Profit Management Companies
In some cases, charter schools are managed by for-profit entities (referred to in this article as “management companies”). The management agreements documenting these relationships range from agreements to provide general administrative support to agreements to provide virtually every service to be offered by the charter school, including curriculum, payroll, compliance reporting, providing teachers and staff through employee leasing, and the purchase and leasing of facilities.
Oklahoma Is Not OK
I recently printed a blog about the Oklahoma Department of Education’s outrageous decision to publish personal information about some two dozen students who got waivers and did not take the state tests. This seemed like permission to publish their vital statistics on the department’s website, an outrageous and unprofessional action.
Now we hear from a teacher in Oklahoma:
Oklahoma is NOT OK…we’ve had the misfortune to elect a public-school-hating dentist as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state…she’s in Jeb Bush’s back pocket, so all we have to do is look to Florida to see what’s coming at us. In less than two years she’s begun dismantling our schools.
She recently published the names, personal information, IEP status of students who appealed for graduation
Now we hear from a teacher in Oklahoma:
Oklahoma is NOT OK…we’ve had the misfortune to elect a public-school-hating dentist as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state…she’s in Jeb Bush’s back pocket, so all we have to do is look to Florida to see what’s coming at us. In less than two years she’s begun dismantling our schools.
She recently published the names, personal information, IEP status of students who appealed for graduation
Is Rhode Island the Worst State?
Teachers in Rhode Island frequently write me to tell me that the state is rapidly deteriorating in its commitment to public education, especially after winning $75 million from the Race to the Top. Commissioner Deborah Gist is enamored of evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, and she fought hard to increase the number of charter schools in the state, over the determined opposition of parents. The parents in Cranston actually defeated the state’s efforts to bring in the charter chain Achievement First, which now is bound for Providence. Commissioner Gist is a member of the rightwing group called Chiefs for Change, which is affiliated somehow with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and is religiously devoted to data, testing, accountability, grading, ranking, rating, and other means of turning children and teachers into data points. Chiefs for Change sent out a press release congratulating Louisiana on the passage of Jindal’s legislation to dismantle public
Is Ohio the Worst State?
As we scour the nation to identify the state that has reached the zenith in its efforts to destroy our public education system and to discourage its teachers, our eyes must necessarily turn to Ohio. Here a Tea Party Governor, John Kasich, is working in tandem with a Republican-dominated legislature to do their level best to achieve the dubious distinction of creating the most toxic school reforms in the nation. Readers may recall the battle last year when Kasich’s SB 5–which banned collective bargaining–was rejected by 61% of the voters in a referendum. Some observers thought he made a mistake by including police and firefighters along with teachers. That created a united front against SB 5. Of course, that was a minor detail in the ongoing effort to reduce the status of teachers and their ability to have a say in what happens in the schools of Ohio. Ohio is incredibly welcoming to for-profit charters and for-profit cybercharters.
Here are some readers’ comments:
Ohio is beginning the same idiotic system this coming school year, only 50 percent of our evaluation will be based on student test scores. I hope none of my students have an ear infection, are hungry,had their grammy
Here are some readers’ comments:
Ohio is beginning the same idiotic system this coming school year, only 50 percent of our evaluation will be based on student test scores. I hope none of my students have an ear infection, are hungry,had their grammy
A Letter from Jill Biden to You
Some readers received an email signed by Jill Biden. They asked what I thought of her message. They asked me how I would respond if I were in their place.
The letter says:
The letter says:
Dear – I’ve been a teacher in public schools and community colleges for more than 30 years. Being an educator is about more than teaching — it’s about instilling confidence. There is no better moment than when I see a student realize that she can do whatever she sets her mind to do. I’m sure you know that feeling, too. President Obama knows what that’s like, too. He understands that improving the education system takes all of us, and that teachers are absolutely critical to those efforts. He listens when teachers explain the challenges they face in overcrowded and underfunded classrooms. And he knows that education is key to a healthy economy and a strong country. That’s why he’s working so hard to improve our schools. You are receiving this email because you have told the campaign you also work in education. Today, I’m proud to invite you to join me as a member of Educators for Obama, a new group of supporters de Vouchers in New York State?Legislation was introduced on June 15 proposing to repeal the Blaine Amendment in the New York State constitution. Enacted by many states in the nineteenth century, the Blaine amendment prohibits the allocation of public money to religious schools. The proposed legislation would clear the way for vouchers for religious schools. This is an opportune time for the repeal effort by supporters of religious schools. The proliferation of charter schools has dimmed the bright line that separates public and private schools. Many charter schools are private schools that operate with public funds. They are not open to all. They are free to write their own rules and to kick out kids who don’t live by their rules. They operate with minimal oversight. Most have wealthy directors, usually hedge fund managers, who supply extra funds. Most have a smaller proportion of students with disabilities and A Sickening Feeling in PhiladelphiaI wrote a blog about the press for privatization in Philadelphia, and someone sent me the following email. For a minute, I felt as helpless as he does, then I took a deep breath, redoubled my resolve, and determined to fight back. We can’t let the elites take away what belongs to all of us. He wrote: I read your recent article about privatization in Philly. Thanks for the support. We need it. You likened it to the nineteenth century when we were dependent on the largesse of the wealthy. The current threat is even worse. Organized money is picking over the carcass of public education. Taxpayers pay taxes to enrich the already wealthy who have bought Update on New Jersey’s Bad IdeaEarlier today, I posted a blog about a bill in the New Jersey legislature that would remove seniority and tenure from teachers in that state and require that they be fired after two consecutive negative evaluations.. I just received the latest report from a reader in New Jersey. You will notice two bad things about this “victory”: 1. Teachers and school boards have been pitted against each other. This is wrong. They should be working together. 2. Teachers have been pushed so far into a corner defending due process and seniority that they have acceded to demands to be evaluated by test scores. Interesting that the US will be the only nation to accept this untried, |