Chartered for Profit II: Pandemic Profiteering
In this follow-up to our 2021 report, we again focus on the world of charter schools run for profit, a world both hidden and misunderstood. We focus on how for-profit operators expanded their reach and enrollment during the Pandemic years so that one in every five charter school students attends a school controlled by a for-profit corporation.
We pull back the veil on tactics and practices designed to reap as many public dollars as possible from charter schools while hiding behind laws designed to keep profit-making hidden from the public’s eyes. We also explain in detail how both large and small for-profit companies evade state laws by using related entities and a nonprofit facade to reap maximum financial advantage. From sweetheart deals to sweeps contracts to real estate bonanzas, our report explains the inner workings of the world of charters that put profits, not children, first.
You can view and read the report by clicking the image below.
LittleSis map in the report
Arizona entrepreneur and charter school founder Raena Janes is the founder of Apex Schools, a for-profit EMO that manages nine schools that were also founded by Janes. The LittleSis map shows how not only Janes but also board members and employees of the schools have profited from contracts that include real estate, advertising, construction, transportation, and maintenance agreements. Since the 2010-11 school year, public documents show that Janes and her colleagues have extracted nearly $33 million taxpayer dollars from the charter schools.
Click on the image below to view the full, interactive LittleSis map.
Apex Schools: Designed to Enrich
In the Media
The Role Of Real Estate In The For-Profit Charter School Grift
It would be easy to assume that charter schools are in the education business, but in fact, many charter school companies appear to be in the real estate business instead.
In its new report, “Chartered for Profit II,” the Network for Public Education lays out the techniques for running a charter for profit, even if it is nominally non-profit, including the use of real estate deals.
To read the full story in the Bucks County Beacon, click here.
Report: Virtual Charter Schools Run For Profit Grew During Pandemic
The Network for Public Education has released a new report, Chartered For Profit II: Pandemic Profiteering, that looks at how charters run for profit fared during the previous pandemic years, including insights into how virtual charters, also known as cyber-schools, enjoyed a huge uptick in enrollment.
How can a charter be run for profit when virtually all states have outlawed for-profit charter schools? There are ways.
To read the full story in Forbes, click here.
Running a Charter School for Profit Should Be Illegal
From insider deals to real estate flips, the problems with charter schools run by for-profit corporations can’t be ignored. And growth in this sector is accelerating as operators use lax regulations and complicated corporate schemes to harvest public dollars from publicly-funded charter schools.
To read the Progressive, click here.