Biden promised to end federal funding of for-profit charter schools. A new report explains how they operate. - The Washington Post

Biden promised to end federal funding of for-profit charter schools. A new report explains how they operate. - The Washington Post

Biden promised to end federal funding of for-profit charter schools. A new report explains how they operate

President Biden said while running for the White House that he would bar for-profit charter schools from receiving federal funding, and the 2020 Democratic platform explained why:

Charter schools were originally intended to be publicly funded schools with increased flexibility in program design and operations. Democrats believe that education is a public good and should not be saddled with a private profit motive, which is why we will ban for-profit private charter businesses from receiving federal funding.

Now a new report, titled “Chartered For Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain,” details how many for-profit management companies (referred to as EMOs) evade state laws banning for-profit charters.

They set up nonprofit schools and then direct the schools’ business operations to related corporations. For example, it says, one of the largest EMOs, National Heritage Academies, “locks schools in with a ‘sweeps contract’ where virtually all revenue is passed to the for-profit management corporation, NHA, that runs the school.”

“In other cases, the EMO recommends their own related companies for services that include leasing, personnel services, and curriculum,” it says

The report was produced by the Network for Public Education, an education advocacy group that opposes charter schools. It was written by Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education and a former award-winning New York principal, and Darcie Cimarusti, the network’s communications director.

The authors wrote that despite “strict regulations against the disbursement of funds from the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) to charter schools operated by for-profit entities,” they identified more than 440 charter schools operated for profit that received grants totaling approximately $158 million between 2006 and 2017.

They also found that fewer disadvantaged students, proportionally, attend charters run for profit than CONTINUE READING: Biden promised to end federal funding of for-profit charter schools. A new report explains how they operate. - The Washington Post