Charters grab between $1 to 2 BILLION in small business rescue funds. Act
now.
Yes, you read that right. Those are actual quotes from the minutes
of Utah Military Academy, which is under investigation for questionable ethical practices. That
charter school received between $1 and 2 million dollars in PPP funds. They
are not alone. Charter schools’ board minutes tell the same story time and
again–we have enough funds, but we will still use our nonprofit status
loophole to take Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) funds intended for small
businesses devastated by the pandemic.
Read our story in The Washington Post here and then share it on social media.
Our NPE team meticulously scoured the SBA database and identified charters,
state by state, that received PPP funds. The amount that we have
identified is staggering. More than 1300 charter schools and their nonprofit
or for-profit management companies secured between $925 million and $2.2
billion through the PPP. We provide a range, not from uncertainty but
because the SBA chose not to report the exact amounts of the forgivable
loans. Even this range is an underestimate. Excluded from our calculations
is the sizeable number of PPP loans below $150,000, which the SBA has not
disclosed. You can find our state by state list of charter schools and
charter management organizations, along with each school’s PPP range on our
website here.
How did this happen?
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) informed its members via email in March that it had successfully lobbied for charter schools to receive PPP funds
and provided instructions on how such funding could be obtained. The blog that contained the contents of that email has been removed,
however, you can find it in the internet archives here. Not only did the amply funded NAPCS encourage its members to apply, but
the organization itself received its own PPP forgivable loan in the range
of $350,000 and $1 million.
Now it’s time to take action.
Tell Congress to make sure these loans are immediately paid back. Employees
of our small businesses desperately need the money. It is time to support
our families, not “flush up” the fund balances of charter schools.
Send your email today by clicking here.
Then share our report in The Washington Post with this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/07/27/charter-schools-their-management-companies-won-least-925-million-federal-coronavirus-funding-data-shows/
