PA Charter Schools Caught Gaming the System for $2.5 Million
Should a charter school be reimbursed for a lease to itself?
That’s the question at the center of yet another scandal about the industry.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale found nine Pennsylvania charter schools taking $2.5 million from the state to pay themselves back for properties they already own.
“What we found in some of our audits the same people who own and operate charter schools create separate legal entities to own the buildings and lease them to their charter schools,” DePasquale says. “We keep finding it and supplying the information to the department and they do nothing with it.”
His office found this happening in nearly a third of the 40 charter school audits done since he took office in 2013.
This goes against Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) guidelines adopted 14 years ago, says DePasquale. A charter school is not eligible for lease reimbursement if it owns the building.
PDE spokeswoman Casey Smith agrees. Charter school CEOS “are required to sign a PA Charter Schools Caught Gaming the System for $2.5 Million | gadflyonthewallblog:
