When do “not-for-profit” and “for-profit” mean the same thing? Welcome to Michigan’s dystopian charter schools
Michigan, allegedly, does not permit for-profit charter schools.
And yet one of the largest for-profit charter management corporations, National Heritage Academies (NHA), is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And they take the “for profit” part seriously:
NHA funds itself partly by charging its schools high rates. For example, the New York Daily News reported that NHA owned property in Brooklyn and charged one of its charter schools there $2.3 million to rent the property, which is $1 million over market rate. This means that the extra $1 million dollars goes to NHA instead of the individual charter schools.
So, how does a school claim to be a “non-profit” operation when they are diverting public tax dollars to a “for-profit” enterprise like NHA?
While only one state, Arizona, currently allows for-profit charter schools to operate in their state (California just passed a law against for-profit charters on July 1, 2019), in the upside-down world of corporate education reform the differences between for-profit and not-for-profit charter schools are so negligible as to be nonexistent.
How could this be?
Because not-for-profit charter schools in many states, including Michigan, are free to contract with for-profit charter management companies for HR services, custodial services, and a number of other personnel and facilities needs.
Taking full advantage of this seeming “loophole” in funding arrangements, NHA operates 50 charter schools in Michigan, with many of these schools claiming “not-for-profit” status even as CONTINUE READING: When do "not-for-profit" and "for-profit" mean the same thing? Welcome to Michigan's dystopian charter schools | Eclectablog
