A For-Profit College Tries The Charter School Market

Not in Ohio, yet.....

Sounds like another company wants to get into the drop out recovery business.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/14/369925385/a-for-profit-college-tries-the-charter-school-market

In each city, a charter school called Early Career Academy planned to offer students the chance to earn associate degrees, either in network systems administration or software development, alongside their high school diplomas. Students were offered laptops to work on and ebooks to use. All for free.

"It fits the pattern of big, for-profit companies looking to diversify beyond that Title IV-based revenue model," says Kevin Kinser. Title IV refers to federal student aid such as loans and Pell Grants, which are the primary source of income for most large for-profit colleges.

"As their traditional higher education provider business has declined, they need to find other avenues to make up the revenue lost," he explained. "They also want to avoid the regulatory burden that running a college entails. So you see ITT look to the charter schools. You see Apollo [University of Phoenix] look to invest capital in start-ups. Kaplan has international plans. All of these strike me as strategies to offset the declining prospects of growing enrollment ... and the regulatory and financial problems that they have been facing."

Most recently, in February of this year, ITT became the first for-profit college to be sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency. The complaint says ITT used "aggressive" tactics to market a high-interest private loan to students between July and December 2011 and that as a practice, ITT overcharges students and misrepresents their job prospects.

10th Period: Ohio CREDO study: Charters' Generally Negative Imp...

10th Period: Ohio CREDO study: Charters' Generally Negative Imp...: The quadrennial CREDO study from Stanford has become a sort of gold standard for charter-public school comparisons. They use sophisticated ...

Profitship! Cashing In On Public Schools

CURMUDGUCATION: Charters Make Money. So What? $100 hookers

$100 hookers.... Great analogy.



Too bad most of the Ohio Schools are lacking the results



CURMUDGUCATION: Charters Make Money. So What?: It's a response that comes frequently to the charge that modern charter schools have become all about grabbing large piles of money for ...

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/

CURMUDGUCATION: PA Cyber Charters Failing

CURMUDGUCATION: PA Cyber Charters Failing: Let me be clear up front-- I reject the use of standardized tests to measure the education of students, the effectiveness of teachers, and t...

The worm is turning

The charter school industry has had a big advantage in marketing  and presenting a positive reform minded message to the consumers and voters of Ohio.

Although the schools themselves may be non-profits, the  for profit parent companies are very profitable.  The K-12s and White Hats, Pearsons,  can lobby politicians, buy TV and radio ads, and push the freedom of choice message.  The message is loud, attractive and professional.  Combined, they can spend millions and massage their message.

What the message fails to convey are  the actual results of the schools and the cost of this transfer from public to private.

My sense is that the worm is turning.  I now see letters to the editors concerning the transfer of dollars to charters from concerned parents and taxpayers.  I see grass root organizations of parents pushing back.  I see websites like knowyourcharter.com providing information.  I see Facebook pages like cashing in on kids.  I see blogs covering education issues.  I see the press asking why politicians are taking trips to Turkey.  I see investigations and indictments.  I see questions on where the money is going and what we are getting for that money.  I see proposals for reform and accountability. 

I did not see this push back for several years.   I saw only positive spin on the charter school saviors coming to help.  They left out some important details, like results.  The devil is in the details.