#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
I Will Work Every Day To Defeat It’: Andy Beshear Comes Out Swinging Against Charter School Bill
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) held a press briefing on Thursday where he spoke about HB2 a constitutional amendment on charter schools.
Boone County superintendents oppose charter schools as bill heads to House
Baumstark said charter schools are not held to the same accountability, performance or financial standards as public school districts but both would be funded with taxpayer dollars. She said nearly half of charter schools in Missouri have closed because of poor academic performance or financial issues.
Pullman’s Troubled Charter School Might Become The First In Washington To Be Closed By State Regulators
According to a recent article in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News about 30 Montessori families have asked for new leadership at the school which operates in The Gladish. Their concerns involve several issues including communications and transparency. The PCM Board held a town hall in January when the families asked that the Head of School Laylah Bewick be removed. Other issues reported by the Daily News include high staff turnover, student bullying, exposed pipes in classrooms and limited bathroom availability.
State Charter Schools Review Board declines to renew charter for Gaston County school
The school opened in 2019, but only has two full years of academic data due to pandemic-related disruptions. It failed to meet academic growth in each of the two years. Ridgeview was an ‘F’ school under the state’s school accountability model and has not posted academic outcomes comparable to the local school district. Ridgeview trailed the local school district’s academic performance by 36.4-percentage points at the conclusion the 2021-2022 academic year and 35.2-percentage points after the 2022-2023 school year.
State Legislatures Are Waging War on Public Schools
A new report ranks US states in terms of how well their legislatures are protecting public schools and the students who attend them. From expanding charters to launching illiberal attacks on kids and families, a worrying number of states failed the test.
Texas places state’s largest charter school network under conservatorship
Texas’ largest charter school network has been placed under conservatorship by the Texas Education Agency after a years-long investigation into improper spending within the system of 143 schools. The arrangement, announced Wednesday, is part of a settlement agreement between IDEA Public Schools and the TEA. IDEA had been under investigation since 2021 following numerous allegations of financial and operational misconduct.
Fort Worth charter school for arts facing financial trouble and possible shutdown
AVPA informed parents and students about the financial challenges they’re facing on Wednesday afternoon. But now the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts is in trouble. Their budget for the school year has a $2 million budget hole to fill now.
The Casual Death of Education: Publicly funded private schools
Publicly funded charter schools are immune from most regulations and often don’t require regular audits, public meetings or even disclosure of public records. While most states require charter schools to be nonprofits, many entities bypass those regulations by creating shell nonprofit organizations that then license the right to run the schools back to a for-profit company.
Financially troubled charter permanently closing
The K-8 school is unable to meet its financial obligations, according to an annual performance report by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. The K-8 school was financially compliant one time during its previous five-year charter term.
New federal trial begins for 2 former Universal Companies execs, acquitted last year of bribing City Council member
This time, a co-defendant has pleaded guilty and will testify against the former charter school officials. Co-founders of charter school face a tougher case this time, standing trial on separate charges of tax fraud, embezzlement and bribing a Milwaukee school official.
A former charter school has gone private after the state ordered it closed
Weeks before the Charter School Review Board revoked SABA’s charter citing enrollment concerns, Toomer filed a “notice of intent to establish a private school” with the state Division of Non-Public Education. The agency registers and monitors private schools and home schools in North Carolina.
ConVal officials, residents cite concern over charter schools
Opponents of the district’s reconfiguration plan have also cited charter schools as a reason for their opposition. During a reconfiguration hearing in February, former state legislator Gordon Allen of Antrim said, “We have a concerted and well-funded effort in this state, and around the country, to destroy public education. If you want to see a downward spiral of public education, [closing elementary schools] is providing a great opportunity for that to happen.”
Former accountant for Hmong charter school receives two years of probation for 2022 theft
Michael Pocrnich pleaded guilty to stealing $42,500 from Noble Academy in a theft that rippled through Minnesota’s charter schools.
Pennsylvania state senator says cyber charter schools underperform at the cost of the taxpayer
A local state senator says Pennsylvania’s 13 cyber charter schools consistently underperform, yet at Sto-Rox, the superintendent says she’s still spending $8 million of her budget to fund them. “You see all the advertisements: ‘this is free.’ Well, it’s not free. It’s taxpayer dollars and they’re underperforming for students,” state Sen. Lindsey Williams said.
Stealth attempt at ensuring ‘transparency’ for Colorado charter school authorizers
Colorado Sens. James Coleman and Paul Lundeen are sponsoring a charter schools bill that pretends to provide “transparency” on charters. However, upon a closer read, this bill is not about transparency for charter schools, but instead it seems to be designed to monitor the decisions that local school boards make regarding charter schools. Under the guise of transparency, the bill would establish a new complicated reporting requirement for local school districts to provide information on charter school data to the state Department of Education.