2017 Financials of the Koch’s Dark Money Network

2017 Financials of the Koch’s Dark Money Network

2017 Financials of the Koch’s Dark Money Network
The Koch network: as powerful as ever

Charles and David Koch maintain an extensive, powerful network of nonprofit organizations to further their libertarian and conservative ideological values.

Four nonprofits at the crux of the network — the Charles Koch Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Freedom Partners — bring in millions each year to further the Koch brothers’ agendas.

The brothers, who own Koch Industries, are known for supporting conservative policies, such as President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax policy overhaul and environmental regulation rollbacks.

Aside from the Charles Koch Institute, these groups made and spent less money last year compared to 2016, according to new tax returns obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Despite prohibitions from making politics their primary purpose, many politically active 501(c) nonprofit organizations’ spending follows a pattern of jumping during election years and dropping precipitously during off-years — giving the appearance of being political organizations without ever having to disclose who is funding their activities.

Charles Koch Institute

The Charles Koch Institute, the arm of the Koch network that funds educational and research programs, experienced a massive increase in revenue between 2016 and 2017. The Institute got a cash infusion of $55 million in 2017, more than triple the $16.9 million it made in 2016.

Even though the Institute is a public charity, it is behaving more like a private foundation relying on the whims of one donor or a small pool of donors and doesn’t solicit donations from the public, said Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor from Ohio State University.

It also means that as a 501(c)(3) public charity, the Institute’s spending is more restricted compared to the Koch’s other 501(c)s. The organization needs to focus on Continue reading: 2017 Financials of the Koch’s Dark Money Network

The Charter School Shell Game | Inweekly

The Charter School Shell Game | Inweekly

The Charter School Shell Game

By Duwayne Escobedo

Marcus May’s greed had no limits. Two 45-foot yachts. Jet ski. Maserati and Triumph cars. Multiple houses for himself and a house for his mother. Exotic trips. Rolex watch and other jewelry.

In the end, May, the founder of Newpoint Education Partners charter school, robbed the school districts of Escambia, Bay, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for a grand total of $5,216,856.15, according to court documents.

For his scheme to defraud school systems and support his celebrity-like lifestyle, May was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay back all the money he stole as well as $93,357.73 in court costs.

May wore handcuffs and an orange Escambia County Jail jumpsuit and showed no emotion throughout the court proceeding and during his fingerprinting. His Orlando defense attorney, Joseph Flynn, raised no objections.

Escambia County Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar Jr. admonished the 56-year-old May for jilting funds from children and taxpayers.

“The education of our young shouldn’t be taken away for pure greed,” Edgar said in the courtroom.

Escambia County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Dannheisser took his comments a step further during the sentencing. The judge blamed Continue reading: The Charter School Shell Game | Inweekly

21st-Century Education Policy Enters Its Afternoon Rerun Stage - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week

21st-Century Education Policy Enters Its Afternoon Rerun Stage - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week

21st-Century Education Policy Enters Its Afternoon Rerun Stage

It's good to be back. While I was on blog break, talking about my new Bush-Obama School Reformvolume and reading the post-election education policy punditry, I was struck by something: 21st-century education policy has staggered into its afternoon rerun stage.

This reference would've made intuitive sense a few years ago but may feel a bit dated today, so I'll explain. Traditionally, hit television shows went through a few stages: The early excitement when they offered fresh plots, developed a fan base, and caught fire. The hit years, when the storylines were gripping, new episodes a big deal, and the stars omnipresent. The slow decline, as ratings sagged, the narrative got stale, and fans tuned out increasingly desperate plot twists.

And then, finally, there was the afternoon rerun stage—when a once-beloved show wound up in syndication on TBS, its intro and closing sequences compressed to allow for more commercials, the naughtier bits trimmed out, and episodes often aired out of sequence. Of course, by this point, the scarred episodes and scrambled plotting wouldn't much matter, because the whole thing was mostly wallpaper—something to have in the background while tapping away on a laptop or waiting in an auto repair shop.

Well, after years of prime-time play with Oprah, "Education Nation" glitz, State of the Union applause lines, and political relevance, 21st-century education policy has reached its rerun stage. How can we tell?

The magazine-cover names have left the show, and the stand-ins simply don't draw the attention or adulation that greeted the heyday cast. (Heck, Washington, D.C., can't find anyone who wants to be superintendent.) After more than 15 years of "meh" results, viewers have tuned out. Most tellingly, Continue reading: 21st-Century Education Policy Enters Its Afternoon Rerun Stage - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week

New York Times Exposes Louisiana School’s 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Lie, and More | deutsch29

New York Times Exposes Louisiana School’s 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Lie, and More | deutsch29

New York Times Exposes Louisiana School’s 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Lie, and More

If you read about a school with a 100-percent college acceptance rate for its grads, keep in mind that one of the surest ways to achieve such astounding results is to lie– to whip up fictitious student success stories that include a horrid home life and a string of glowing achievements that shows that these students Beat the Odds.

Such is apparently the tack of the husband and wife leadership at a Louisiana private school, T.M. Landry, an unaccredited (i.e., the state does not recognize the diplomas) private school held in a warehouse-styled building with an interior that is little more than an unfinished, open area with some white boards and a scattering of tables and chairs.

T.M. Landry is unaccredited, but what does that matter if its graduates are accepted into top-tier postsecondary institutions, right?

Well.

One of the problems with publicizing false success is that such Beat the Odds stories draw the attention of the media– media like the New York Times.

Either the story holds up– the school produces miraculous results (quite a story)– or the story falls apart and is shown to be fraud on fraud (also quite a story).

Unfortunately, the T.M. Landry fraud also includes evidence of physical and emotional abuse.

From the November 30, 2018, New York Times:

BREAUX BRIDGE, La. — Bryson Sassau’s application would inspire any college admissions officer.

A founder of T.M. Landry College Preparatory School described him as a “bright, energetic, compassionate and genuinely well-rounded” student whose alcoholic father had beaten him and his mother and had denied them money for food and shelter. His transcript “speaks for itself,” the Continue reading: New York Times Exposes Louisiana School’s 100-Percent-College-Acceptance Lie, and More | deutsch29