#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
Audit fallout: Highlands entire board resigns, state requests $180 million back
Entire Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools (HCCTS) board resigns after audit finds legal violations, nepotism, and misuse of funds. State demands $180M in repayment.
School with one of N.J.’s highest paid superintendents fighting state to stay open
The school and its founder, Leigh Byron, were the subject of a 2024 NJ Advance Media investigation into excessive salaries funded by taxpayers paid to top officials at some of the state’s charter schools.
Midlands charter school principal paid more than local superintendents. Why?
Aside from the noticeable disparity between Newsome’s salary and other area principals and superintendents, he’s in charge of fewer students than other superintendents in the area.
Warrington Prep earns D grade again. Charter school at risk of closure
The 2024-25 school grades are out and Warrington Preparatory Academy received a “D” for a second consecutive year, putting its charter at risk.
CEO of Pa.’s largest cyber school made $700K on the side from its bank
The leader of Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school earned more than $700,000 from his side job as a bank director from 2016 through 2024.
Tiny Indiana district with online school worth millions ordered to close
State legislators say they have put Union on the chopping block because of poor performance.
Mass. performing arts charter school sullied by troubling events, some families say
A sought-after charter school for students with a passion for the arts was beset by controversy as the academic year closed, prompting some concerned parents to yank their children from the rolls.
Displaced from the Start: Race, Housing, and Childhood Inequality in New Orleans
Worse still, New Orleans families have lost local control over public education. Most charter boards are unelected, unaccountable, and operate behind closed doors. In a majority-Black city, this is not just undemocratic—it’s a continuation of the paternalism that has defined so many post-Katrina “recovery” efforts.
Public Money, Private Control: Inside New Orleans’ Charter School Overhaul
In the end, the question isn’t just whether charter schools work, but who they work for. Are they serving all students equitably, or sorting and skimming to protect metrics? Are they empowering communities, or replacing them? And if public schools are no longer publicly governed, publicly accountable, or universally accessible, can they still be called public at all?
Wenham all-girls prep school closes its doors amid low enrollment
The Academy at Penguin Hall announced its immediate closure on June 13, citing declining enrollment and low funding.
One St. Cloud charter school closes, another takes over its building and absorbs many staff, students
STRIDE Academy will move grades 5-8 to the nearby site of former Athlos, which closed this year.
Tiny Indiana District With Online School Worth Millions Ordered To Close
Legislators blame poor test scores while district says the fight is really over big e-school money.
Philadelphia Board of Education indicates it will not renew 2 charter schools
Board members said they were concerned about the academic performance of both schools, which have test scores far below the district average and have not shown significant improvement in recent years.
Explore Academy shuts high school with little notice
On Friday, June 20, the board voted unanimously to shutter the high school but keep grades kindergarten through 8th grade running. The immediate closure will cancel the upcoming school year that was due to start on July 28. “We are crushed,” Janelle Vasquez, mother of one student, said.
Pinellas charter school Plato Academy closes Largo site
Citing difficulties securing a new lease on its Largo site since 2010, Plato Academy has shut down the location that served 305 children this year.