Loosely regulated, charter schools pose fiscal risk (by Jonathan Pelto)
This article was first published in The Hill newspaper of Washington D.C. You can read and comment on the article at: http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/303815-loosely-regulated-charter-schools-pose-fiscal-risk?amp
While the subprime mortgage crisis remains the epitome of what occurs when greed and corruption go unchecked, a growing number of experts and observers are warning that a new economic scandal is taking shape in the United States.
In an article published earlier this month, Business Insider observed:
“We just got even more evidence supporting the theory that charter schools are America’s new subprime mortgages.”
The magazine wrote:
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released the results of a damning audit of the charter school industry which found that charter schools’ relationships with their management organizations pose a significant risk to the aim of the Department of Education.The findings in the audit, specifically in regard to charter school relationships with CMOs, echo the findings of a 2015 study that warned of an impending bubble similar to that of the subprime-mortgage crisis one of the authors, Preston C. Green III, told Business Insider.
With more than 6,700 charter schools spread across 42 states and the District of Columbia, fraudulent activities associated with the publicly funded, but privately owned, charter school industry have become the fodder for almost daily news stories.
According to an October 2015 investigation conducted by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the federal government has spent more than $3.3 billion over the past two decades on the creation and maintenance of the charter school industry. CMD noted:
“The Department of Education is pushing for an unprecedented expansion of charterLoosely regulated, charter schools pose fiscal risk (by Jonathan Pelto) - Wait What?:
