Monday, August 22, 2016
Charter Schools: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
At least we are not Nevada! Ohio gets a special mention!
Profits over students.
Online schools, what a scam!
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Alumni of White Hat Management make the news again.
Cambridge Education Group, an apparent offshoot, now wants to open a new school in Ohio.
Finances are tricky. A charter school cannot make money. They are non-profit. But the management company can make all the money it can by controlling the money and can be quite profitable for the company and its employees.
This would be akin to the school board collecting all the money and then doling out what they believe is necessary to the school while keeping what they can for their services.
More Charters Cut Ties with Newpoint Partners Management Company
Finances are tricky. A charter school cannot make money. They are non-profit. But the management company can make all the money it can by controlling the money and can be quite profitable for the company and its employees.
This would be akin to the school board collecting all the money and then doling out what they believe is necessary to the school while keeping what they can for their services.
More Charters Cut Ties with Newpoint Partners Management Company
3
Last month, a grand jury in Florida indicted employees of Newpoint Education Partners and three other companies for grand theft, money laundering, and other crimes. The company, started by former employees of the White Hat management company in Ohio, lost the charters for several schools that it was running where the alleged crimes occurred.
Now, two more charter schools are cutting their ties with Newport, following an investigation by a local TV news station.
One week after an 8 on Your Side investigation uncovered $235,000 in bogus school loans, two charter schools funded with state tax dollars in Jacksonville have decided to sever ties with a for-profit management company we’ve been investigating for months because of the financial chaos it helped create in Pinellas charter schools.
The Jacksonville charter school loans by Newpoint Education Partners which are cited in a 2015 financial audit do not exist, something that caught even the treasurer of San Jose Preparatory High School and Academy by surprise after 8 on Your Side uncovered and reported it.
Are there any law enforcement officials in Jacksonville, or is it left to the media to investigate criminal activity?
Now, two more charter schools are cutting their ties with Newport, following an investigation by a local TV news station.
One week after an 8 on Your Side investigation uncovered $235,000 in bogus school loans, two charter schools funded with state tax dollars in Jacksonville have decided to sever ties with a for-profit management company we’ve been investigating for months because of the financial chaos it helped create in Pinellas charter schools.
The Jacksonville charter school loans by Newpoint Education Partners which are cited in a 2015 financial audit do not exist, something that caught even the treasurer of San Jose Preparatory High School and Academy by surprise after 8 on Your Side uncovered and reported it.
Are there any law enforcement officials in Jacksonville, or is it left to the media to investigate criminal activity?
Monday, June 13, 2016
Ecot Exposed
https://ecotexposed.org/
Wow, a whole website devoted to one e-school.
Shameful that this school exists!
The others are trying hard to catch up and grab a piece of this action. Like pigs to a trough.
When I lived with a charter school administrator, they were always trying to catch up to ECOT. Why can't Connections Academy produce the same kind of enrollment was the question being asked from the home office in Baltimore.
Wow, a whole website devoted to one e-school.
Shameful that this school exists!
The others are trying hard to catch up and grab a piece of this action. Like pigs to a trough.
When I lived with a charter school administrator, they were always trying to catch up to ECOT. Why can't Connections Academy produce the same kind of enrollment was the question being asked from the home office in Baltimore.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Another E-School Investigation
A great expose on K-12 in California. From The Mercury News:
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_29780959/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter
This the playbook for the Ohio E-Schools
Some key findings:
Teachers employed by K12 Inc.'s charter schools may be asked to inflate attendance and enrollment records used to determine taxpayer funding.
Fewer than half of the students who start the online high schools earn diplomas, and almost none of them are qualified to attend the state's public universities.
Check out the report cards for the Ohio E-Schools. Dismal at best.
K12's heavily marketed online model has helped the company reap more than $310 million in state funding over the past 12 years.
Market! market! market! Where do they get the money for the radio and TV ads? SOme interesting accounting. Make sure the school never makes a profit and write off the loss.
Students who spend as little as one minute during a school day logged in to K12's school software may be counted as present in records used to calculate the amount of funding the schools get from the state.
About half of the schools' students are not proficient in reading, and only a third are proficient in math -- levels that fall far below statewide averages.
School districts that are supposed to oversee the company's schools have a strong financial incentive to turn a blind eye to problems: They get a cut of the academies' revenue, which largely comes from state coffers.
Also note the governance issue. K-12 sets up and loads the boards. Same as they do in Ohio
I like pictures
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_29780959/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter
This the playbook for the Ohio E-Schools
Some key findings:
Ohio E-School Charters are fighting this accountability issue right now.
Check out the report cards for the Ohio E-Schools. Dismal at best.
Market! market! market! Where do they get the money for the radio and TV ads? SOme interesting accounting. Make sure the school never makes a profit and write off the loss.
Also note the governance issue. K-12 sets up and loads the boards. Same as they do in Ohio
I like pictures
Monday, April 18, 2016
10th Period: Ohio Teacher Data: Charters Flooded with First-Yea...
10th Period: Ohio Teacher Data: Charters Flooded with First-Yea...: One of the signs of a healthy charter school sector is whether teachers want to teach in the schools. Teachers are like the canary in a coal...
Charter schools have driven down teacher pay. The best and the brightest do not stay there at least not in Ohio.
Charter schools have driven down teacher pay. The best and the brightest do not stay there at least not in Ohio.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Unjust Enrichment
Trying to avoid accountability.
"When the Ohio Department of Education dug into the attendance reporting of Provost Academy Ohio, a small, Columbus-based online charter school, it found that the school was being paid far more than it should have received based on the actual time students spent logged into school-related activities.
Some wonder what would happen if the same scrutiny was applied to online charter schools that are five to 90 times larger than Provost. As lawmakers crafted new charter-school reforms, questions arose about the accuracy of e-school attendance"
What would happen is that they would see that the attendance is grossly inflated, probably fabricated and that the schools are receiving improper funding. I would bet big on this, thus the push back.
"Hanna would not say specifically what would cause problems for e-schools. “We all want to be accountable. We just need to find a way to meet their requirements within the systems that exist now.”"
I call bullshit on that statement. They do not want visibility or accountability.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/03/01/lax-attendance-tracking-allows-800000-state-overpayment-to-online-charter-school.html
"According to its five-year forecast, Provost will repay the state up to $850,000 in “overfunded foundation payments” over the next three years.
As a result, the school’s operator, Edison Learning, needs to contribute to operations or defer management fees during these years, the report said. The management company is paid $250,000 a year to handle administrative and other duties.
The Ohio Council of Community Schools is paid 3 percent of the school’s state aid for a sponsorship fee. The report does not mention deferring or waiving sponsorship fees."
Pretty soon you are talking about real money!
"When the Ohio Department of Education dug into the attendance reporting of Provost Academy Ohio, a small, Columbus-based online charter school, it found that the school was being paid far more than it should have received based on the actual time students spent logged into school-related activities.
Some wonder what would happen if the same scrutiny was applied to online charter schools that are five to 90 times larger than Provost. As lawmakers crafted new charter-school reforms, questions arose about the accuracy of e-school attendance"
What would happen is that they would see that the attendance is grossly inflated, probably fabricated and that the schools are receiving improper funding. I would bet big on this, thus the push back.
"Hanna would not say specifically what would cause problems for e-schools. “We all want to be accountable. We just need to find a way to meet their requirements within the systems that exist now.”"
I call bullshit on that statement. They do not want visibility or accountability.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/03/01/lax-attendance-tracking-allows-800000-state-overpayment-to-online-charter-school.html
"According to its five-year forecast, Provost will repay the state up to $850,000 in “overfunded foundation payments” over the next three years.
As a result, the school’s operator, Edison Learning, needs to contribute to operations or defer management fees during these years, the report said. The management company is paid $250,000 a year to handle administrative and other duties.
The Ohio Council of Community Schools is paid 3 percent of the school’s state aid for a sponsorship fee. The report does not mention deferring or waiving sponsorship fees."
Pretty soon you are talking about real money!
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