A report that detailed up to $1 billion in wasted federal funds on bad charter schools may have underestimated the problem
In March, I published a post about a report detailing up to $1 billion in federal funds wasted on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons. The report — titled “Asleep at the Wheel” and published by the Network for Public Education, a group that advocates for public schools — also said that the U.S. Education Department does not adequately monitor how money it uses for grants in its Charter Schools Program is spent.
A few days later, the report was raised at a House subcommittee hearing by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), who asked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about it. DeVos, a big supporter of charter schools, said that schools that don’t “make it” should be closed. The full House recently passed a spending bill that would provide more funding than ever for the Education Department, though charter school funding would be cut by nearly 10 percent.
Now, one of the authors of “Asleep at the Wheel,” Carol Burris, is back with an update. Her conclusion: The waste and fraud may be worse than the original report stated, as she explains in the following piece. Burris is executive director of the Network for Public Education and a former award-winning principal in New York.
It is worth noting that the original report said that the Education Department in Republican and Democratic administrations has “largely ignored or not sufficiently addressed” recommendations to improve the Charter Schools Programs made by the department’s own inspector general.
By Carol Burris
A few weeks ago, 11 people connected to online charter schools in California were indicted on criminal charges of grand theft, conspiracy, personal use of public money and financial conflict of interest. More than $50 million was stolen by the alleged conspirators. The nonprofit charter management company at the center of the scandal is known as Academic, Arts and Action Charter Academies, popularly known as A3 Education. CONTINUE READING: A report that detailed up to $1 billion in wasted federal funds on bad charter schools may have underestimated the problem - The Washington Post
