DOES @EDUCATIONNEXT STILL GET IT WRONG ON GÜLEN CHARTERS?
I am glad that Harvard’s EducationNext changed the original language in this piece about the Gulen charter schools and Turkey that incorrectly argued that the NAACP had rescinded its call for a charter school moratorium by stating that it had not been “renewed.” They have now taken that language out of the article online, but they still have not issued a public correction for the misinformation (For more see also: Breaking News: California NAACP calls for investigation of ALL Gülen charters). However, Mark Hall, Director of the Killing Ed film, has several other issues that he feels it’s important to raise with the piece. Are more corrections necessary?
I feel compelled to respond to the inaccuracies and the omission of facts in a recent article in EducationNext which may lead your readers to a false conclusion.The article, “Turkey’s Fight Against U.S. Charters,” discusses the network of taxpayer financed charter schools operated by the Gülen Movement, a transnational religious cult originally from Turkey. The title of the article itself is misleading – suggesting that the Government of Turkey is somehow against charter schools in general in the United States. This is untrue; the only schools Turkey is interested in are those founded by members of the Gülen Movement. Many of the established facts about this relatively new and mysterious cult are outlined in my documentary film, “Killing Ed: Charter Schools, Corruption and the Gülen Movement in America” which was released in March, 2016 and independently produced. I first learned of the Gülen Movement in 2005 after witnessing the group’s intense influence on politicians in Texas. When I began production on the film in 2011, not much had been pieced together about how the Gülenists operated in America. However, enough research and factual evidence now exists to connect the cult’s religious and political goals to the lucrative operation of its charter schools in the USA.Here are the facts: the Gülen Movement operates over 173 taxpayer financed charter schools that enroll 83,000 students in locations in 26 states. Several new schools are opened each year. This makes the group the second largest charter school operator in the nation. In 2017, these schools received an estimated $729,000,000 in tax funds. Additionally, in Texas where the lack of funds for traditional public schools is currently being debated, over $645,000,000 has been issued in state-guaranteed bonds for the 63 charter schools identified as Gülen-affiliated. A significant portion of the funds the Gülen Movement receives are diverted through various means (bid rigging, inflated lease backs, ‘consulting fees,’ mandatory tithing by Turkish H1-B hires, etc.) to the non-educational, political goals of the cult. Followers who have left the Gülen Movement have outlined how significant amount of these tax dollars are kicked back through various methods to Fethullah Gülen and others leaders of the Gülen Movement at its headquarters in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.These funds are used for the group’s well-financed operations to influence U.S. political leaders, academics and journalists often through the activities of the Gülen Movement’s many non-profits (e.g, Raindrop Turkish Houses, interfaith dialogue groups, sister cities programs, political awards events, ‘free’ trips for influential members of a community, etc.). The schools also support many ancillary businesses in catering, curriculum development, after school care, and transportation. One identifying feature for the Gülen charters is that CONTINUE READING:Does @EducationNext still get it WRONG on Gülen charters? | Cloaking Inequity
