Deals offered to educators convicted in cheating scandal
Donald Bullock, left, former Usher-Collier Heights Elementary testing coordinator in Atlanta, reacts April 1, 2015, as a jury finds him guilty in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial. (Photo: Kent D. Johnson, AP)
ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has offered convicted Atlanta Public Schools educators last-minute deals that would keep them out of prison.
The sentencing hearing for 10 of 11 convictedAtlanta Public Schools educators is happening now. The educators have been in jail since they were convicted on racketeering charges April 1.
One witness, Cynthia May, called defendant Sharon Davis Williams, found guilty of racketeering but not guilty of two counts of false statements, a woman with a strong faith in God. May pleaded with the judge to show mercy when she is sentenced.
Relatives of other former educators also are testifying.
Under the deal, teachers would avoid prison and instead would serve home confinement, a lawyer for one defendants said. They would waive their right to appeal, apologize and pay a fine, believed to be around $5,000. They would not be considered first-time offenders.
Convicted administrators were offered a similar deal, but they were not offered home confinement. Instead, they would serve a year in jail, rather than prison.
It's not yet known if Judge Jerry Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court has approved the deal, or whether any of the defendants plan to accept them.
Community activists have been pushing for leniency. They've requested no jail time and an alternative sentence.
Baxter has the authority to sentence them to probation or prison. The maximum penalty on the racketeering charge is 20 years, and many educators were convicted of multiple charges.
One defendant, who was pregnant when she was convicted, will be sentenced later. One of the 12 defendants was acquitted of all charges.
The case is one of the nation's largest cheating scandals of its kind.
The former educators were accused of falsifying test results to collect bonuses or keep their jobs in Atlanta Public Schools. In all, 35 educators were indicted in 2013 on charges including racketeering, making false statements and theft. Many pleaded guilty and some testified at the trial.
Philip Holloway, a criminal defense lawyer in Marietta, Ga. and WXIA-TV 's legal analyst, said the deal benefits all sides.
"Any post-trial deal makes great sense because it would save taxpayers countless thousands of dollars," Holloway said. "With a trial that complicated and lengthy, there's a good chance that there may be reversible error, and it would be in the state's interest to eliminate the risk of having some or all of the convictions overturned. It would also be in the interests of the defendants because it takes the 'unknown' out of the equation."
A state investigation found that as far back as 2005, educators fed answers to students or erased and changed answers on tests after they were turned in. Evidence of cheating was found in 44 schools with nearly 180 educators involved, and teachers who tried to report it were threatened with retaliation.
Former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall was among those charged but never went to trial, saying she was too sick. She died a month ago of breast cancer.
Hall insisted she was innocent. But educators said she was among higher-ups pressuring them to inflate test scores to show gains in achievement and meet federal benchmarks that would mean extra funding.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Click here to Go to GEORGIA CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS
State audit finds evidence of fraud, conflicts of interest by Oakland charter school operator
Ben Chavis, founder of the American Indian Public Charter School, listens to the deliberations of the Oakland Unified School District Board, as they reached a decision to renew the school's charter, on conditions, for another two years, at the conclusion of a special meeting Wednesday, April 4, 2012 in Oakland, Calif. Chavis had been accused of financial malfeasance and the school of having teachers without proper credentials. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff Archives)
State audit finds evidence of fraud, conflicts of interest by Oakland charter school operator
Risking Public Money: California Charter School Fraud
Executive Summary
In 1992, California became the second state in the nation to pass legislation authorizing the creation of charter schools. Since the law’s passage, which originally authorized 100 charter schools, the number of charter schools in California has grown rapidly. Today, California is home to the largest number of charter schools in the country, with over 1100 schools providing instruction to over half a million students. In the 2013-14 school year, California charter schools received more than $3 billion in public funding.
Despite the tremendous investment of public dollars and the size of its charter school population, California has failed to implement a system that proactively monitors charters for fraud, waste and mismanagement. While charter schools are subject to significant reporting requirements and monitoring by oversight bodies, including chartering entities, county superintendents and the State Controller, no oversight body regularly conducts audits.
In 2006, California took a step in the right direction by amending the Charter Schools Act to permit county superintendents who suspect fraud or mismanagement at charter schools to request an “extraordinary audit” from the Financial Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), a state agency charged with helping local educational agencies fulfill their financial and management responsibilities. Although FCMAT only conducts an audit when requested to do so, its findings reveal internal control deficiencies and various forms of mismanagement ranging in severity and form—from inappropriate self-dealing by charter school staff to the spending of thousands of public dollars without documentation. Even after 2006, charter schools in California continue to operate year in and year out without regulator-level audits that are designed specifically to determine whether the public dollars funding these privately managed schools are being spent properly. This lack of appropriate government audits is a problem, especially given the findings of FCMAT’s audits.
The number of instances of serious fraud uncovered by whistleblowers and the FCMAT suggests that the fraud problem is likely not isolated to the charter operators that have been caught. In fact, California’s charter oversight system’s deficiencies suggest that the $81,400,000 in fraud, waste and abuse by charter operators that has been uncovered to date is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Based on conservative estimates, California stands to lose more than $100 million to charter school fraud in 2015. The vast majority of this fraud perpetrated by charter officials will go undetected because California lacks the oversight necessary to identify the fraud. In this report we describe three fundamental flaws with California’s oversight of charter schools:
To address these serious deficiencies in California’s system, we recommend the following reforms:
Mandate Audits Designed to Detect and Prevent Fraud
Increase Transparency & Accountability
Given the rapid and continuing expansion of the charter school industry and the tremendous investment of public dollars, California must act now to reform its oversight system. Without reform, California stands to lose millions of dollars as a result of charter school fraud, waste, and mismanagement.