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eridani

(51,907 posts)
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 03:10 AM Oct 2015

Landmark Look at US Charter System Reveals Waste, Fraud, 'Ghost Schools'

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/21/landmark-look-us-charter-system-reveals-waste-fraud-ghost-schools

"What is even more troubling is how difficult it is to find essential information on how some charters have spent federal and state tax dollars, even as governments continue to increase funding for charters while slashing funds for traditional public schools," reads the report. "Unlike truly public schools that have to account for prospective and past spending in public budgets provided to democratically elected school boards, charter spending of tax monies is too often a black hole."

The study attributes this lack of accountability "to the way the charter industry has been built by proponents, favoring 'flexibility' over rules."

"That flexibility has allowed an epidemic of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that would not be tolerated in public schools," CMD states, noting that charters "are often policed—if they are really policed at all—by charter proponents, both within government agencies and within private entities tasked with oversight."

In fact, that oversight is so spotty that CMD's investigation turned up dozens of "ghost" schools, where federal grants were awarded to charters that never even opened.


"The bottom-line is taxpayers know far too little about how much their federal tax dollars are being used to fund charters," said CMD executive director Lisa Graves on Wednesday, "and there is far too little information provided by states about how tax monies are being spent by charters or by for-profit firms they are tied to."

Noting that "neither the federal government nor the states require charters to publish that information on their websites and neither the federal or state governments we examined publish that information themselves," Graves continued: "Even aside from serious questions about academic performance by charters—especially online charters—the lack of real accountability remains a real problem for kids and families, as more and more people and corporations have sought to get a piece of the pie, a revenue stream from taxpayer money, to operate or assist charters."
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Landmark Look at US Charter System Reveals Waste, Fraud, 'Ghost Schools' (Original Post) eridani Oct 2015 OP
Oh come on, we dont want uneducated ghosts, do we? DJ13 Oct 2015 #1
When I first went to California I said everything was too new to be haunted.... Spitfire of ATJ Oct 2015 #2
... shenmue Oct 2015 #3
Charter schools allowing students to focus their strengths (science, music, etc.) sounds good. tecelote Oct 2015 #4
Focus on their strengths, neglect their weaknesses ? eppur_se_muova Oct 2015 #8
It was never about education; it was about plundering the education budgets. Scuba Oct 2015 #5
ditto barbtries Oct 2015 #6
You. Nailed. It. Enthusiast Oct 2015 #7
 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
2. When I first went to California I said everything was too new to be haunted....
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 04:25 AM
Oct 2015

(Keeping in mind that I had just come from a place with a cemetery with dates going back to the early 1800s.)

I mused, "What would a ghost sound like here?"

"Booooo, Duuuude."

tecelote

(5,122 posts)
4. Charter schools allowing students to focus their strengths (science, music, etc.) sounds good.
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 05:30 AM
Oct 2015

But, on top of the lack of oversight and regulation, it bothers me that they take funds away from public schools in their area.

Public education needs help and it has gone downhill for decades. They need more help financially and less regulation.

Standardized tests and required curriculum are diminishing the number of great teachers our children have access to. They have taken the fun out of teaching and with continually lower wages and benefits, what else is there but desire? Those that love to teach should be valued, not discarded for lower non-union recent grads with minimal experience.

On a broader note, teachers, policeman and other government employees should be paid well enough that people fight for those jobs. Better jobs attract better people.

We're privatizing our way to the bottom.

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
8. Focus on their strengths, neglect their weaknesses ?
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 10:32 AM
Oct 2015

A lot of what you need to learn is what you least enjoy learning.

barbtries

(28,702 posts)
6. ditto
Thu Oct 22, 2015, 06:01 AM
Oct 2015

this reality is hard for many to grasp because the schools are sold in various ways to parents and students and the public.

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