Monday, August 27, 2018

Ohio probes charter school operators accused of defrauding parents, students and taxpayers in Florida

Ohio probes charter school operators accused of defrauding parents, students and taxpayers in Florida

Ohio probes charter school operators accused of defrauding parents, students and taxpayers in Florida


Ohio’s top public accountant is actively investigating the case of two businessmen accused of using charter schools to defraud Florida taxpayers, students and schools — and maybe here, too.
On Friday, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost acknowledged that a probe has been ongoing for a year. Meanwhile, court documents filed this month in Florida indicate 19 Ohio charter schools were overbilled nearly $600,000. Prosecutors and forensic accountants say the money was laundered through 150 bank accounts and shell companies then returned as “rebates” and “kickbacks” to Marcus May, who once ran more than 20 charter schools in Ohio.
In 2012, May used a parent company, Newpoint Education Partners LLC., to open Cambridge Education Group, a charter school operator based in Akron. To grow business in Florida, authorities say he “falsely represented” that his Ohio schools were well managed. By 2016, prosecutors say he allegedly defrauded Florida and its public schools of more than $1 million.
May has repeatedly declined to speak with the Beacon Journal.



The pattern in Florida seems to mirror transactions in Ohio.
One forensic document in the Florida case details how Ohio schools paid $1.1 million to Apex Learning, a Seattle-based company May used to bill the 19 Cambridge schools in Ohio and 15 Newpoint schools in Florida for online and hard-copy curriculum. Russ Edgar, the lead Florida prosecutor in the white collar criminal case against May, has produced invoices that show how Apex inflated pricing for furniture and computers to siphon $229,756.57 from Florida’s education system and $456,551.92 from Ohio schools, including four in Akron.
“After the allegations in Florida came to light, Marcus May was immediately relieved of any managerial duties and later of his equity in Cambridge,” John Stack, co-owner of Cambridge, said in a written statement. He said Cambridge hired a forensic accountant to find out if Apex negatively impacted any Ohio schools. Once the schools were identified, the money was returned.
Of the 18 Cambridge schools still open in Ohio, 13 signed new management contracts this summer with Oakmont Education. Stack founded the company with Marty Erbaugh, an investment banker from Hudson. Oakmont will take over Cambridge’s dropout recovery high schools for struggling teenagers and young adults.
“Oakmont doesn’t believe that any of the schools we manage were negatively affected by Marcus May’s actions or Cambridge’s management,” said Stack, who filed the paperwork to create Oakmont on March 20, four days after a Florida jury convicted one of May’s associates.

Ohio connection
Allegations of self-dealing surfaced in late 2016 when a Cleveland school managed by Cambridge questioned what May was doing with state funds. Boards at the other schools have stuck with Cambridge, or moved to Stack’s Oakmont, through the ordeal.


Prosecutors say bank records show that May spent public funds — some of it provided by parents for student uniforms and lunches — on exotic trips, jet skis, a mansion mortgage, plastic surgery and other personal effects. Court documents in Florida connect some of the money to Ohio land that houses the Cambridge headquarters at 481 N. Cleveland-Masillon Road, a title agency on South Main Street and charter schools in Cleveland and Columbus. The Beacon Journal checked with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to see who’s behind the companies that own these properties. The secretary’s office said Continue reading: Ohio probes charter school operators accused of defrauding parents, students and taxpayers in Florida


From the CTU and President Karen Lewis. – Fred Klonsky

From the CTU and President Karen Lewis. – Fred Klonsky

From the CTU and President Karen Lewis.

This week begins the new school year. May you each find success and new energy as you return to your classrooms and the profession you love.
As our new year begins, it is a time for us to renew our commitment to fighting for the schools our students and teachers deserve. Let us return to our Chicago Public Schools (CPS) classrooms with a renewed strength, laser focus and open hearts as we welcome our colleagues and students in this new season of growth and change.
As you know, I recently retired from CPS and therefore have resigned from my position as president of the Chicago Teachers Union. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve in a leadership capacity and to join each of you on the battlefield for justice and equity in public education.
The decision to end my tenure was one that weighed heavily upon me and was done in consultation with my husband, family, friends and colleagues. Since taking office in 2010, this has been a constant fight against powerful forces and their myriad of allies that seek to destroy collective bargaining and rob our children of their futures. Yet, as great of an enemy as this system has been, I had no way of knowing that all of this was preparing me for the biggest foe of them all.
Yet, I am not afraid.

With any fight, clear vision and bravery are prerequisites of struggle. While I continue to restore my health, I encourage each of you to channel your energy into a collective power that moves our union forward and guarantees the wins we’ve secured—and the campaigns we have started will continue until every child has every resource needed to be successful.
In my fight against brain cancer, I am reminded through my faith that when storms come, the brave do not jump overboard. They do not abandon ship, nor do they panic. Even if the captain is down and storm clouds are gathering, the rest of the crew must steer the ship on its charted course.
As you enter your building, remember: We have a contract fight on our hands—and the racist, misogynistic, homophobic and elitist voices remain strong. Our enemies are banking on this transition in CTU leadership to confuse, conflate and co-opt our union. Do not let them.
Transitions are not meant to be easy. Change never is. However, I have worked side-by-side with Vice President Jesse Sharkey, who has assumed my responsibilities as president as laid out in the CTU Constitution, beginning when I was first diagnosed in 2014. Under his consistent leadership, the CTU will remain a focused, fighting union that protects the interests of its members and those we serve.
Any presidency can only be as strong as the rest of its leadership team. Continuity is important. That is why officers Michael Brunson and Maria Moreno remain valuable in their current roles of recording secretary and financial secretary in this administration. As Jesse’s role as president is formalized, the vice presidency now becomes vacant, and it is my hope that members will value the addition of CTU Political Director Stacy Davis Gates in that role.
Through our organizing, legislative and political efforts, the CTU has restored the pension levy, stopped the spread of non-unionized charter operations, and launched political campaigns that have sent educators Sue Garza, Brandon Johnson and Aaron Ortiz to public office. The CTU worked to reduce CPS’s gaping budget deficit, won back hundreds of millions of dollars from the mayor’s TIF slush fund, and fought off mismanagement and bank deals, charter companies and corruption. We successfully negotiated more than $10 MILLION for sustainable neighborhood public schools. Our political, organizing and communications model has been adopted by other labor organizations across the nation.
Even with these significant wins, there is still much more work to do. Let us channel our victories into renewed campaigns to ensure our careers are not threatened and that Chicago has an elected, representative school board.
Wages, benefits, and safe and collaborative working conditions are important to all of us and central to every contract campaign. But in a city rife with unemployment, poverty, and violence, so is ensuring that every student has access to a librarian, counselor, social worker, nurse, special education professional and the support services they need.
As I focus my attention on this next chapter of my life, I want each of you to remember that the detractors, naysayers and union busters will come. They will seek to take advantage of this moment in order to entice you to act against your own self-interests. However, if their offer does not make us stronger, if it doesn’t unite us, and doesn’t move our cause forward, then we must turn a blind eye to their schemes and keep our eyes on the prize.
CPS may always be a hot mess, but with our due diligence, creativity, expertise and insights we can one day make this the strongest school district in the nation.
Every teacher, paraprofessional and clinician who wears CTU red understands what this is about. Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes said it best when he challenged us in a work he entitled, “Democracy,” in which he states:
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
Thank you all for your well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers. I love you all and I will see you soon.
Karen GJ Lewis, NBCT (Retired)
CTU President Emeritas
From the CTU and President Karen Lewis. – Fred Klonsky