Explosion of Private Contracting in Education Created Climate for Chicago Scandal | janresseger

Explosion of Private Contracting in Education Created Climate for Chicago Scandal | janresseger:

Explosion of Private Contracting in Education Created Climate for Chicago Scandal

Sarah Karp, until recently a distinguished reporter for Catalyst Chicago, a publication whose logo says it’s mission is “independent reporting on urban schools,” originally broke the story on the role of Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Chicago’s schools CEO, in securing a huge no-bid contract for school leadership training for her former employer in Chicago, a private contractor, SUPES Academy.

Byrd-Bennett served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools for thee years before she was accused of having illegally secured a lucrative contract for SUPES.  On Tuesday, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty “to a single felony count of wire fraud for steering multimillion-dollar, no-bid contracts to a former employer in exchange for the promise of up to $2.3 million in kickbacks.”  Byrd-Bennett never received the bulk of the kick-backs.  Money had been promised as a “signing-bonus” if she returned to SUPES after her tenure at the Chicago Public Schools ended.

Karp, the reporter who persistently investigated a story others ignored, has left Catalyst to join the investigative team at the Better Government Association, and this week she comments on what she believes is the serious issue in the Barbara Byrd-Bennett scandal: the danger posed by today’s vast expansion of private contracting in education.  Speaking of Byrd-Bennett’s fall, Karp writes: “The increasing presence of private money in public education—and the fierce competition to get at that money—made such a scenario almost inevitable.”

Has private contracting increased?  Here is how Karp describes the expansion of contracting Explosion of Private Contracting in Education Created Climate for Chicago Scandal | janresseger: