Made a big splash about arresting the Atlanta teachers. NOW what about these crooked reformers?

[madfloridian]

Needless to say the teachers should not have cheated. Not even to save their jobs. No excuses.

However let's talk about these guys. There is surely not much about them available in the major media. You have to search for this stuff.

Investigating Charter Schools Fraud In Philadelphia

Corruption And Fraud

At one school, the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, parents raised concerns in 2008 after school administrators told them that there was no money available for special education students.

"The school kept saying 'We don't have money for these students,' " Woodall tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "However, there was money being spent on all kinds of other issues. When parents raised questions at the Board of Trustees meetings, they were basically told, 'We don't want you asking questions.' "

Ultimately, both the founding CEO of Philadelphia Academy Charter School and his successor were charged with stealing almost $1 million from the school's coffers, including money students had collected for a Toys for Tots campaign. The two men — one of whom had only a high school education — also allegedly engaged in questionable real estate deals. As a result, the high school paid rent money for its facilities directly to them.

Or how about these guys?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8537

ALBANY — The former chief financial officer for the Brighter Choice Foundation, which provides funding and support to 10 public charter schools in Albany, has been charged with embezzling $202,837 from the organization.

The arrest Wednesday of Ronald A. Racela marks the second time in four years that Racela has been charged with grand larceny. Two years ago, Racela admitted stealing $53,931 from KeyBank in Albany, where he was employed as a manager in the Community Development Lending Group, court records show.

..."M. Christian Bender, executive director of Brighter Choice Foundation, said Brighter Choice officials were not aware of Racela's criminal history when he was hired as financial director of Brighter Choice Charter Schools in June 2010. Bender said Racela described his separation from KeyBank as "tense" but did not disclose he had been arrested for embezzlement eight months before he was hired by Brighter Choice.

"I knew that it had not been a smooth separation, but obviously I had no idea that it involved criminal activity on his part," Bender said Friday.

Or how about this long list of charter schools wasting taxpayer money?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022205948

Philadelphia Charter School Mogul, Charged With Defrauding $6.5 Million In Tax Dollars

Philadelphia charter school mogul Dorothy June Hairston Brown was charged Tuesday -- along with four colleagues -- with defrauding three charter schools of more than $6.5 million in tax dollars.

More:

FBI agents on Thursday raided the office of Pennsylvania Charter Cyber School founder Nick Trombetta, who is suspected of misusing Pennsylvania tax dollars to fund his out-of-state ventures, KDKA News reports.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, founded in 2000, enrolled more than 11,300 students in the 2011-12 academic year and has an annual budget of more than $100 million. Critics say the $10,000 the school receives for each child far exceeds the cost of educating a student online, and that the excess money has gone to other Trombetta ventures such as the National Network of Digital Schools and the Lincoln Interactive, which develops and markets online curriculum.

And from Florida:

CARROLLWOOD - Dozens of teachers and hundreds of families learned Wednesday afternoon they must find new jobs and a new school for their children to attend because A.T. Jones Academy does not have the finances to open its doors this year.

"I want to stay with my friends," sobbed Delana Kruining, 8, who attended the charter school along with her sister Katie, 6.

Hillsborough County Schools sent trucks to the academy to pick up items purchased with taxpayer money.

.."Parents asked where all the school's money went only to be told all their questions would be addressed in an email sent out Monday. No email was ever sent.

But now they have those Atlanta teachers behind bars. And we must now find a way to protect the citizens from the crooked reformers.

[madfloridian]

1. More stuff reformers are getting away with.

While the teachers are safely behind bars, the reformers remain free to damage public education. The silence of Obama and Duncan and other leading Democrats to me indicates they are in agreement.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8417

The for-profit management company, Accelerated Learning Solutions out of Nashville, Tenn., raised its fee from $1 million in 2010 to nearly $3.2 million in 2011.

And the fee is charged on top of the school’s operating expenses, Brown said.

“It is a real problem, and it is something the public needs to be aware of,” said Orange County School Board chairman Bill Sublette. “We need our legislature to take a good, hard look at charter schools at limiting management fees."

Under current law, finding out how much in tax dollars are going to profit is impossible. ALS will not tell WFTV how much it is profiting off tax dollars, and it doesn’t have to, according to the law.

And more about Florida's corporate tax cut McKay vouchers.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7966|

The DOE has investigated 38 schools suspected of McKay fraud. In 25 cases, the allegations have been substantiated. Of those, five — Muskateer's Academy, Paladin Academy, Choice Preparatory School, Center of Life Academy, and Hope Academy — were in Miami-Dade.

The thieving schools across the state received, or in many cases are still receiving, McKay money totaling $49.3 million

.

[madfloridian]

2. a little kick.

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