200 Charter School Failures and Counting

A thorough article on the waste of taxpayers dollars in this community school experiment.

It points out the lack of appropriate supervision by sponsors.  They have a conflict as there fees depend on the existence of the school, not the results.

It points out the lack of qualified disinterested school boards.  Ohio lets the managment company pick the boards and then presents a contract with the terms the managment company writes in that contract. 

“I wonder why people sit on Boards? Is it a cheap self esteem boost?”

“ I often think the many Boards I have seen are lead around by the nose anyway.”

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/news/ray_lambert_school_leader.aspx

"In Ohio, for-profit companies run most charter schools, according to a 2014 Beacon Journal analysis. Some of the largest are out of state. Contracts allow many of the operators to hire employees and negotiate vendor and landlord contracts without seeking approval of the school board. In many cases, contracts are with parties related to the for-profit operator."

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/blame-and-ignorance-follow-200th-charter-school-flop-in-ohio-1.625609#.VgAYW9DsFP0.mailto

No question the education education system needs help.  This points some of the many flaws.

A personal fiefdom that ended badly.

Five years probation, repayment of $75,000 and four months in lockdown.  Fair? Probably.  The loss of her license will keep her out this business.  The treasurer has also apparently pled guilty.

Another hand picked school board,not doing their job.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

Hamm founded the school in 1999 and worked to get $7 million in state and federal money per year for the charter school. Charter schools are independently operated public schools that can receive state and federal public money to operate.

Much of that money was used to educate the students, but hundreds of thousands of it was spent by Hamm taking 22 taxpayer-funded trips and attending concerts, often with her friends and co-workers, also paid for with tax dollars. Hamm "treated the CCPA treasury as a personal slush fund in order to enhance her personal lifestyle," Assistant Prosecutor Bill Anderson said.

While her intentions initially may have been benevolent, Anderson said, Hamm created the school and made sure everyone knew she was going to run it as she wanted. "Miss Hamm came down with a case of 'founder-itis,' " Anderson said. 

"Miss Hamm ruled CCPA with an iron fist," he said. "She founded the school. She ran the school, and she was going to do whatever the hell she wanted with this money."

Another hand picked board,not doing their job.  A comment from the board.  Too little, too late.

"Gore admitted the CCPA board wasn't as diligent as it should have been in monitoring Hamm's spending. "The school has lost in excess of half a million dollars," he said."

In exchange for Hamm's plea, prosecutors dropped 23 other charges against her. She will report Jan. 7 to West to begin serving her 120-day time behind bars.

Stephanie Millard also has agreed to plead guilty in the case, court documents note.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/11/24/lisa-hamm-convicted-charter-school-crimes/19483309/

Another Charter Administrator Convicted. A personal Fiefdom

A personal fiefdom.  It is good to be queen until it isn't.

Where was the oversight, a weak handpicked board and part time treasurer to rubber stamp.

I suspect that getting involved in these charter schools was a very bad career move.  Leaves  Stephanie Millard in a pretty bad position.  Not sure how many other charters she was acting treasurer for but I suspect any and know for sure that one of them was Ohio Connections Academy.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/17/former-charter-school-leader-gets-plea-deal/17438269/

A former superintendent accused of using her charter school as her "personal feifdom" is now a convicted felon, marking the latest blemish for charter schools in this region and statewide.

Lisa Hamm, who ran the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy, the region's largest charter school, cut a deal with prosecutors last week. She pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to three of 26 felony counts against her. The remaining charges, including multiple counts of theft in office and tampering with evidence, were dismissed.

Hamm, who court documents claim ran the school as her "personal fiefdom," could get up to 18 months in prison on the charges of unauthorized use of property. Probation is also an option. She agreed to repay $75,000 to the school. She's scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 24 by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John West.

Hamm of Fairfield, and former treasurer Stephanie Millard, of Walnut Hills, were accused of stealing or misusing $148,000 in taxpayer money that should have gone to educating the 950 students at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy. The court documents allege Hamm instead used the money to pay for extravagant trips, plays, concerts, luggage, spa visits, jewelry veterinary care and other personal uses.

The charges in the Oct. 8 plea agreement involved a trip to San Diego that ended up costing more than $20,000, and trips to Orlando and to see Oprah Winfrey. Hamm had said the trips were school-related.

Charter schools are public schools that are independently run. There are about three dozen in Southwest Ohio. Some are high-performing and well-run. But as a group they're often criticized for lax accountability and mediocre academics. Several local charter schools have closed over the years due to financial problems and academic issues. Some cases resulted in criminal charges.

The state has been cracking down on charter schools via stringent audits and increased scrutiny of their sponsoring organizations. Charter school accountability has become a political issue, as Democrats accuse Republican leadership of not doing enough to improve it.

In the most recent example the Concept chain of charter schools, which includes the Horizon Science Academy in Bond Hill, came under investigation by the FBI and the Ohio Department of Education after a string of allegations including improper use of technology money and testing irregularities.

Analysis on outsourcing, Ohio included

Another article about outsourcing.  Follow the money.  Is this the best we can do for Ohio?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/c/c9/Outsourcing_Report_Oct_2014.pdf


Some analysis on school boards. 

From a prior post:  Traditional school districts, in most cases, employ qualified professionals to manage finances, develop curriculum and ensure that applicable laws are followed. Charter schools are, by philosophy, less traditionally structured.

Ohio could do a lot to head off charter-school problems by reforming the process by which they are created.

A key weakness has been the lack of any way to hold accountable those charter-school sponsors who don’t act as watchdogs over the schools they sponsor. Weak Ohio law allows blatant conflicts of interest — for example, nothing bars sponsors, the supposed watchdogs, from selling services to the schools they are supposed to be holding accountable"

“All control and direction for the school comes on high from corporate, and such constructs as school governing boards and local governance amount to distractions. Clearly, local control is an oxymoron to the Dennis Bakkes of the charter school industry.

The memo also makes it clear that no autonomy is expected of the boards which are chosen mostly by the company’s regional managers. While the best of our nation’s schools usually feature a collaborative model where teams of teachers work with school administrators, privatization of public schools that are operated by national chains seems to come only with a top-down approach, and any semblance of a governing board to provide guidance and oversight for the school’s operations is not to be tolerated in Bakke’s world.

In Ohio, the Revised Code treats a charter school as a school district, with its own treasurer, chief administrative officer, and governing board. But state law also allows great latitude regarding the operation and governance of the school, and current law requires that each school have a minimum of five board members, with no other qualifications stated in the law.”

Raymond Lambert School Leader of the Year by the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) once had this to say about boards.

“I wonder why people sit on Boards? Is it a cheap self esteem boost?”

“ I often think the many Boards I have seen are lead around by the nose anyway.”

"Ohio’s charter schools, which are publicly funded, are

supposed to be subject to periodic state audits and held to

performance standards by the sponsoring organizations

that contract with operators.

 

But governing boards may not be as independent as they

ought to be, as a 2014 investigation by the Akron Beacon

Journal found. White Hat shares legal representation with

 

the boards of many of the charter schools it has contracts

with.

149 And a number of board members have admitted

that they were recruited by White Hat, a clear conflict of

interest.

In a revealing statement, Maggie Ford, chief academic

officer at White Hat, told the

Beacon Journal, “Sometimes

we have one or two people that would like to start a school,

and they don’t have enough for an entire board. So they

want to, they talk to, other board members or ask us to

help recruit board, um, recommend board members.”

 

In effect, the boards at many “nonprofit” charter schools

were hand-picked by White Hat, which contracted with

those same boards to operate the schools."

Combine a couple of hand-picked board members and combine that with a couple of well-meaning but unqualified parent board members and you have a serious but profitable governance situation. Again, where is the independence?

Keep in mind that a billion dollars has been transferred out of the public schools to charter schools in Ohio.
I  note that the folks who set up Connections Academy board are former White Hat employees.  I suspect that many of the same management people take what they learn to set up a new charter that primarily benefits their interests.  I would submit that the boards are handpicked rubber stamps with little actual power.

 

Another example of profits over students, what a profitable scam

Note the incestuous management team.  My prediction, another failed school but profits for the Charter company.  Not if, but when the failure will occur.  Do they really expect more students based on their track record?  Do they care? Self preservation is a powerful motivator.

 

New school board seeking lower lease payments, more money for kids

COLUMBUS — A scrappy new school board overseeing the Imagine Columbus Primary Academy wants to re-negotiate the school’s lease.
And what a lease it is: The Imagine academy pays an Imagine subsidiary $700,000 per year to rent a school with just 155 students. The rent consumes more than half of the struggling school’s annual budget, leaving little for classroom instruction.
And when a plumbing problem sent sewage flowing though classrooms on the first day of school, the tenant—not the landlord—was responsible for the repair.
Board Chair Melonia Bennett said she knows the five-year lease is valid. “But I’m kind of hoping that if we point out some of the issues – like the school might not be viable in five years because of how high our costs are – that at least the parties would be willing to discuss the issue.’’
Bennett made her comments at last week’s school board meeting where she convinced her fellow board members to form a subcommittee charged with trying to lower the rental payments and free up more money for teachers and kids.

• Hidden Video Available Online Here
• Copy of the Imagination Budget Online Here

As expected, Imagine representatives who attended the meeting appeared hostile to the idea, repeatedly advising the school to bring in more money by enrolling more students.
ProgressOhio Executive Director Brian Rothenberg, whose organization secretly videotaped the meeting, showed part of the tape at a Columbus news conference Tuesday and said he hopes it inspires other charter school boards to fight back, too.
“It’s clear that Gov. Kasich and the lawmakers won’t fix the system so I am calling on charter school board members to fight from within,” he said. “Shine a spot light on these abusive financial arrangements. Work to get money in the classrooms where it matters the most.”
Board members made the same point, arguing that the school’s low test scores could be raised with more interventions and more experienced teachers but low salaries lead to high teacher turnover. The school received an F on the latest state report card.
The Imagine academy is a charter school paid for with public money and operated by Imagine Schools Inc., a Virginia-based company.
In a 2010 report on Imagine Schools, the think tank, Policy Matters Ohio, found it has a poor record of performance in Ohio and a business model that includes elaborate real estate transactions, high management fees, overlapping business relationships, low spending on classroom instruction, and tight control of school finances and board relationships.
Four years later, the same troubling pattern is evident at the Columbus academy, Rothenberg said.
Until last year, the school’s building off of Morse Road housed another Imagine school but it was forced to close after a nine-year run of poor academic results. So Imagine opened a new elementary school with a new principal in the same building under a new name.
The school can hold 500 students but competition from other schools and low test scores has today’s enrollment about 155.
In addition to paying $700,000 to lease the building, the school pays Imagine about $10,000 per month in “indirect costs” it pays to Imagine for sponsor services, according to its balance statement. The money is to pay for lawyers and salaries for corporate and regional staff such as Jennifer Keller, director of Imagine’s Ohio regional team.
Keller is the sister of Amy Butte, Imagine Executive Vice President for Ohio and Indiana. Amy’s husband, Chris, is business manager of the Ohio Regional Team.
Keller attended the board meeting and defended the $700,000 per year lease.
“Until we start to get our enrollment up the lease is going to be a substantial cost. So we have to figure out, 1: How do we increase enrollment.” The more students the school has the more state money it collects – and the more it must pay in those “indirect’’ fees to Imagine.
Despite high turnover from teachers and staff and a principal who joined the school last February, there has been some consistency: Keller and Amy Butte served as the regional leaders for several leaders, including years when Imagine operated the school that eventually was forced to close.
Also attending the board meeting, and defending the lease, was Imagine attorney Amy Borman.

Oversight Needed

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2014/07/18/oversight-is-needed.html

Some highlights:

Conflicts of interests
Weak Boards
Unqualified professionals
Accountability

"The allegations shed light on just how many things can go wrong in Ohio’s poorly structured and largely unmonitored charter-school system. If they prove true, that will be one more argument for overhauling the way charter schools are created and allowed to operate.

But traditional district schools typically operate under the scrutiny of taxpaying residents and publicly elected school-board members. The widespread data-tampering scheme that developed at the highest levels of Columbus City Schools is atypical; generally, if serious misconduct occurs in a district school, somebody is watching and will blow the whistle. Charter schools don’t have the same oversight.

Traditional school districts, in most cases, employ qualified professionals to manage finances, develop curriculum and ensure that applicable laws are followed. Charter schools are, by philosophy, less traditionally structured.

Ohio could do a lot to head off charter-school problems by reforming the process by which they are created.

A key weakness has been the lack of any way to hold accountable those charter-school sponsors who don’t act as watchdogs over the schools they sponsor. Weak Ohio law allows blatant conflicts of interest — for example, nothing bars sponsors, the supposed watchdogs, from selling services to the schools they are supposed to be holding accountable"

Always a potential conflict when you have poor structure and oversight with the potential for profits at the expense of results.

The sub priming of American education

Where there is profit to be made....

Good analogy!

Pretty soon you are talking about real money

As one senator used to say, pretty soon you are talking about real money.  With a little foresight and the right business plan you can become a millionaire.  That was pretty hard in the public schools with taxpayer elected school boards.

 

From William Phillis:

 

Ohio charter industry: $7.4 billion and counting

The second system of education, which feeds off the public common school system, started as a "harmless" $11 million experiment. This new system has parasitically extracted a total of $7.4 from the Ohio public common school system in 15 years as follows:

 

Deduction	Fiscal Year
$     10,985,021.93	1999
$     51,658,903.14	2000
$     91,199,488.07	2001
$   127,943,077.03	2002
$   203,733,491.59	2003
$   301,139,479.91	2004
$   421,736,138.00	2005
$   481,559,416.48	2006
$   530,582,458.73	2007
$   584,929,196.33	2008
$   646,504,550.76	2009
$   679,872,827.10	2010
$   721,951,119.83	2011
$   774,404,507.49	2012
$   824,032,968.42	2013
$   900,500,252.70	2014
$ 7,352,732,897.51	Total

 

 

Between 40 and 50 percent of the $7.4 billion is local tax money passed by local communities for the support of their local school districts. State officials attempt to argue that no local funds are involved in charter school operations. The fact is that charter school funds are taken from school district budgets via state deductions. On the average, nearly twice as much per pupil funding is deducted from school districts for charter schools as the districts receive in per pupil state funds. The difference does not magically appear.

 

William Phillis
Ohio E & A   

Why not use Ohio Ethics laws in cases of corruption of charter schools?  It is my understanding that this applies to school officials. Surely a job and or a green card has some value. 

(D) No public official or employee shall use or authorize the use of the authority or influence of office or employment to secure anything of value or the promise or offer of anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.
(E) No public official or employee shall solicit or accept anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.
(F) No person shall promise or give to a public official or employee anything of value that is of such a character as to manifest a substantial and improper influence upon the public official or employee with respect to that person's duties.

II. Conflict of Interest

Violations of R.C. sections 102.03, 102.04 and 102.07 are first-degree misdemeanor criminal offenses, punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and/or a maximum of 6 months in jail. See R.C. sections 102.99(B); 2929.21.

 

Secret to a good school? School boards?

Cui Bono (who profits)

A recent article indicates that a good school board make the difference in performance.

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1350/The-secret-to-good-schools-might-surprise-you.html#kmFZI51zT3Df3rPj.03

"The report also found that when board members were professionalized, underwent professional training and in some cases even earned a salary, students performed better. "

It suggests that the timing of elections matter.  "It matters, for example, when elections are held. Holding elections at the same time as state and national-level elections, the authors found, correlates to standardized student proficiency test scores 2.4 points higher than a comparable district that has off-cycle elections."

Compare this to the system now employed by Ohio charter schools.  Who appoints the boards?  The sponsor or the charter school.  There are no elections!  Simplifies your board selection and business model.

What is the main focus of the board?  I would suggest that it is selected for self-preservation of the school management and the jobs and profits it generates for its management.  It is an unpaid job.  The charter schools can and do act like a personal, but funded by taxpayers, business.

SO how does this work in practice?  A recent prime example of this in action.  The Horizon and Noble academies were recently raided by the FBI.  Who selected the board?

"A chain of 19 publicly funded Ohio charter schools, founded by Turkish immigrants, is taking the position that the United States lacks a qualified pool of math and science teachers and is importing perhaps hundreds of Turks to fill the void.

The schools are run almost exclusively by persons of Turkish heritage, some of whom are not U.S. citizens — a new twist in Ohio’s controversial charter-school movement.

In addition, the Horizon and Noble academies, run by Chicago-based Concept Schools, are related through membership, fundraisers and political giving to the nonprofit Niagara Foundation, which provides trips to Turkey for state, local and federal lawmakers.

Among those touring Turkey has been State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, a Clarksville Republican on the powerful finance and appropriations committee and considered to be a leading candidate for House speaker next year. He was joined on the trip by at least four other state legislators and local government leaders from his area in southwest Ohio.

There have been other trips from Ohio, and in Illinois, there are allegations that state officials who took trips showed favoritism in disbursing public dollars to Concept schools.

Public records show that since late 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor has allowed 19 of these schools in Ohio to hire 325 educators almost exclusively from Turkey.

However, as early as 2002, state audits found thousands of public dollars “illegally expended” to finance the U.S. citizenship process for Turkish employees — some fresh out of college with no classroom experience and broken English. Help with legal and immigration fees also extended to their children and families, including the spouses of directors.

The auditor also cited suspect wire transfers, totaling $36,000, and checks made out to “cash” to repay personal loans issued by individuals in Istanbul, Turkey."

Complete article here:

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-taxpayers-provide-jobs-to-turkish-immigrants-through-charter-schools-1.501940?localLinksEnabled=false#.U7ngdZ1rYfM.facebook

Quote from Denis Smith from an earlier blog post.
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/25/denis-smith-of-ohio-who-governs-charter-schools/


“All control and direction for the school comes on high from corporate, and such constructs as school governing boards and local governance amount to distractions. Clearly, local control is an oxymoron to the Dennis Bakkes of the charter school industry.

The memo also makes it clear that no autonomy is expected of the boards which are chosen mostly by the company’s regional managers. While the best of our nation’s schools usually feature a collaborative model where teams of teachers work with school administrators, privatization of public schools that are operated by national chains seems to come only with a top-down approach, and any semblance of a governing board to provide guidance and oversight for the school’s operations is not to be tolerated in Bakke’s world.

In Ohio, the Revised Code treats a charter school as a school district, with its own treasurer, chief administrative officer, and governing board. But state law also allows great latitude regarding the operation and governance of the school, and current law requires that each school have a minimum of five board members, with no other qualifications stated in the law.”

Raymond Lambert School Leader of the Year by the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS)  and now with Ohio Connections Academy, formerly with WhiteHat once had this to say about boards. 

“I wonder why people sit on Boards? Is it a cheap self esteem boost?”

“ I often think the many Boards I have seen are lead around by the nose anyway.”

This is an expensive experiment.

Follow the money... Weak boards result in $420,000 loss and indictments

Cui Bono (who profits)

I wonder who set up this board?  I wonder who was the treasurer?

By Laura A. Bischoff and Mark Gokavi  Dayton Daily News

Columbus bureau

Columbus —

A federal grand jury indicted four people connected to Arise! Academy, a Dayton area charter school, alleging that they were involved in a bribery and kickback scheme.
Indicted were:
Shane K. Floyd, 42, of Strongsville, who served as Arise! superintendent;
Carl L. Robinson, 47, of Durham, N.C., who operated Global Educational Consultants;
Christopher D. Martin, 44, of Springfield, who served as an Arise! board member; and
Kristal N. Screven, 38, of Dayton, who was also a board member.
Federal authorities charge that Floyd, Martin and Screven solicited and accepted bribes from Robinson in exchange for a lucrative, unbid contract for Global Educational Consultants.
Arise! paid Global $420,919 over 12 months, starting in October 2008 at a time when the charter school had trouble paying its bills and staff, according to federal investigators. In exchange, Robinson paid $5,000 in cash to Floyd and gave cash and a trip to Las Vegas to Martin and he bribed Screven with cash and payments to a security services company that Screven owned with her husband, authorities allege.
All four are charged with conspiracy and aiding and abetting federal program bribery. Floyd, Screven and Martin also are charged with making false statements. And Screven is charged with witness tampering for allegedly telling a witness to lie to the grand jury.
If convicted, they could face years in prison and may have to pay back $420,919.
Floyd, Martin and Robinson will be summoned to federal court but Screven was arrested by FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification agents on Tuesday.
A grand jury indictment is an allegation that crimes were committed. The government still has to prove its case against the defendants, who are considered innocent until proven guilty.

David vs. Goliath, your tax dollars at work

A grassroots movement is afoot to try to educate the public.  You might think that traditional schools would have an advantage.  This is not the case.  Please see the excellent appeal from Mr. Nottke below.  The competition is for hearts and minds is not in favor of those without multimillion dollar advertising and marketing budgets. The competition is fierce.

"The USA TODAY analysis finds that 10 of the largest for-profit operators have spent an estimated $94.4 million on ads since 2007. The largest, Virginia-based K12 Inc., has spent about $21.5 million in just the first eight months of 2012."

Keep in mind this is just one of many E-schools and charter schools.  Ohio taxpayers are funding this advertising campaign.  I think most taxpayers would be extremely annoyed if they found their local school district was spending any significant money on marketing.

No one should be afraid of improvements and innovation.  However, the school results speak for themselves.  There is an inherent conflict of interest of profits versus student achievement.

An excellent appeal from Bruce Nottke.  I would encourage everyone to sign up for the emails.

Fellow Educators,
My name is Bruce Nottke and I am a board member for the Athens City Schools. I am writing to you in regards to my growing concerns about charter schools. My concerns rest not only with the loss of dollars to public schools, but more importantly with the poor quality of education our students receive from many of the charter schools currently operating in Ohio. The businesses that operate most of the charter school programs clearly have little interest in student achievement, with their primary focus being to make a profit.
I strongly believe that while school administrators understand the dire situation, the typical Ohio taxpayer does not know about or does not fully understand how private businesses are operating charter schools for monetary gain while offering what is often a sub-par educational experience to our children. I believe we, as representatives of the children of Ohio, must make a greater effort to inform the citizens in each of our communities about the issue of charter schools, how their existence drains money from the local public schools, and the fact that charter schools are often less effective in educating our children.
The purpose of this letter is that I would like to encourage each Superintendent and Board Member to sign up for the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy mailing list by sending a request to the following e-mail address: ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net The E&A provides frequent, well written pieces that are intended to inform school personnel and local citizens about issues related to school funding, including the specific concerns with the charter school movement. After signing up for the E&A Listserv, please forward the e-mail notices to your respective local newspapers and members of your communities so that taxpayers can see how our tax money is being wasted on continuing to fund the failed experiment of charter schools. I strongly believe that if more taxpayers know the truth about charter schools in Ohio, they may be motivated to join together to change the conversation at the Statehouse as it relates to charter school legislation.
I am hopeful that every Superintendent and Board Member in Ohio will be willing to band together so we can make a change for the better for public education. Please accept my invitation to clearly communicate about this important issue to members of your community. Thank you in advance for considering my request.
Sincerely,
Bruce Nottke
Athens City School Board

E-Schools, Charter Schools and Governance

The E-schools themselves are set up as nonprofits.  The nonprofits are run by an unelected board.  The K-12’s and Connection Academy’s of the world set up the board. The board agrees to contracts with K-12,  OHDELA or Connections Academy without competitive bidding.

The structure encourages malfeasance and the siphoning of profits to the parent companies.  For all intents and purposes the E-Schools run the boards.  The boards depend on the E-schools for the information to manage the school.  The board members are not paid.

An excellent article by Denis Smith here :

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/26/ohio-denis-smith-on-charter-school-governance-part-2-who-owns-charter-schools/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=28843&relatedposts_position=2

“All control and direction for the school comes on high from corporate, and such constructs as school governing boards and local governance amount to distractions. Clearly, local control is an oxymoron to the Dennis Bakkes of the charter school industry.

The memo also makes it clear that no autonomy is expected of the boards which are chosen mostly by the company’s regional managers. While the best of our nation’s schools usually feature a collaborative model where teams of teachers work with school administrators, privatization of public schools that are operated by national chains seems to come only with a top-down approach, and any semblance of a governing board to provide guidance and oversight for the school’s operations is not to be tolerated in Bakke’s world.

In Ohio, the Revised Code treats a charter school as a school district, with its own treasurer, chief administrative officer, and governing board. But state law also allows great latitude regarding the operation and governance of the school, and current law requires that each school have a minimum of five board members, with no other qualifications stated in the law.”

Denis Smith was a consultant with the Ohio Department of Education and reviewed Ohio Charter schools.  His commentary is available through Diane Ravitch's Blog.  http://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/25/denis-smith-of-ohio-who-governs-charter-schools/

Raymond Lambert of Connections Academy once had this to say about boards.  I understand that he has set up many boards in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

“I wonder why people sit on Boards? Is it a cheap self esteem boost?”

 

 “ I often think the many Boards I have seen are lead around by the nose anyway.”

 

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/news/ray_lambert_school_leader.aspx

I know that the superintendent of Ohio Connections Academy, Marie C. Hanna, recruited her close friend and former neighbor, Pamela S. Bowers, to sit on her board.  Independent?  Objective?

 

Combine a couple of hand-picked board members and combine that with a couple of well-meaning but unqualified parent board members and you have a serious but profitable governance situation.  Again, where is the independence?

Keep in mind that a billion dollars has been transferred out of the public schools to charter schools in Ohio.