Welcome login | signup
Language en es fr
OccupyForum

Forum Post: Indiana Charter School Problems

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 10, 2012, 8:03 p.m. EST by GirlFriday (17435)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

The following four articles are from 2009 and they are part of a series. EDUCATION INC. – Part I: Private company skirts public boards in running tax-funded charter schools For-profit makes decisions for tax-funded Imagine

Dan Stockman and Kelly Soderlund | The Journal Gazette FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The local school board was about to spend almost $100,000 of taxpayer money on a busing service for students.

But there was no discussion of bids to ensure taxpayers got the best deal. There were no questions about cost, insurance or alternatives to this contract awarded to a southern Indiana trucking company.

Most importantly, there was no vote.

Despite spending millions of tax dollars a year, the board of this public school votes on almost nothing.

Not the $87,510 a year to operate school buses. Not $114,871 to run a lunch program. Not which teachers are hired or whether to hold summer school, or even whether to borrow more than $1 million for operations.

All those decisions and many more were made by a private company from Virginia, though Internal Revenue Service regulations say tax-exempt organizations such as this one must have independent, local control.

Welcome to Imagine charter schools.

When Imagine board members do make major decisions, they often do so by signing papers outside of public meetings, with no public debate and no public vote. Instead of local control, a Journal Gazette investigation found, executives with the for-profit management company tell the Fort Wayne board members how decisions will be made and how money will be spent.

magine Schools Inc., a for-profit company in Arlington, Va., makes nearly every important decision in Fort Wayne and has even used the local agency’s non-profit status to expand its charter school empire of 73 schools in 12 states.

“Ultimately, for all charities, the board of directors should be the entity that has full oversight and control over the organization,” said Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a national charity-monitoring organization based in Virginia. “The staff reports to the board of directors, not the other way around.”

That might be news to board members, the IRS, state regulators and the Hoosiers whose tax dollars pay for those schools. For the 2007-08 school year, Imagine MASTer Academy received $2.9 million in taxes, plus a $1.24 million low-interest loan from the state. http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091101/LOCAL10/311019878/1216/LOCAL1006


The president of Imagine Schools Inc. sent his employees a memo last fall outlining how he thinks his schools should operate.

In Dennis Bakke's opinion, it shouldn't be local people making decisions about how local tax dollars should be spent; it should be the Imagine executives employed by the for-profit educational management company based in Arlington, Va.

"In none of these cases did the board have a major role in 'starting' the school. They didn't write the charter. They didn't finance the start up of the school or the building. They didn't find the principal or any of the teachers and staff. They didn't design the curriculum. In some cases, they did help recruit students," Bakke wrote. "I do not mind them being grateful to us for starting the school (our school, not theirs), but the gratitude and the humility that goes with it, needs to extend to the operation of the school." Bakke's memo details his ideas for keeping boards under control – make members feel wanted by approaching them not for decisions, but for advice.

"The best way to acknowledge your need for a board member is to keep them informed of what is happening and ask them their advice on ALL significant decisions before the school, including hiring and firing decisions," Bakke wrote. "I believe that most of the problems we have with boards are caused not from taking decision making away from them, but not involving them in the advice process."

And when board members do become a problem by thinking they are in charge, Bakke has an easy answer: Get rid of them.

"Sometimes you can protect yourself from board members that you chose, by getting undated letters of resignation from the start that can be acted on by us at any time would also help," Bakke wrote. "Some states allow 'founding' boards that can be changed once the school starts. That is a good idea if we can control who stays and who goes."

Controlling who stays and who goes is exactly the technique Imagine Schools used to rein in a board for a proposed school in Texas that was asking too many questions about Imagine's contract and Imagine's decision-making power. http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091102/LOCAL10/311029969/1216/LOCAL1006


FORT WAYNE, Ind. – On Feb. 8, 2008, a curious thing happened.

According to Texas Secretary of State records, Imagine Schools of Central Texas Non-Profit LLC of Georgetown, Texas, was established. That in itself was no surprise, because Imagine charter schools have been popping up all over the country.

What was curious was who owns the corporation and its twin, Imagine Schools of North Texas Non-Profit LLC of McKinney, Texas. The sole member of both limited-liability companies is Imagine-Fort Wayne Charter Schools Inc.

And the Texas entities get their tax-exempt status because each is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fort Wayne company.

Imagine-Fort Wayne Charter Schools Inc. is the non-profit corporation that runs Imagine MASTer Academy, a charter school at 2000 N. Wells St. in Fort Wayne. Imagine MASTer Academy is a public school whose $2.9 million cost to operate last year was paid for with state taxes.

So why does a Fort Wayne charter school own two charter school corporations in Texas? http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091103/LOCAL10/311039976/1216/LOCAL1006


Part IV http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091101/LOCAL10/311019871/1216/LOCAL1006


Policymakers pushing charter school expansion ask taxpayers to overlook the business side of the equation, using children and school choice as a distraction from deals that benefit investors at the expense of classroom spending. Allen County tax officials have done Indiana taxpayers a favor in prying open the Imagine real estate playbook. Legislators would be wise to slow their rush to pass a charter bill until ensuring there are safeguards to keep Indiana tax dollars in Indiana schools.

The tangle of leases and subleases, for-profit management organizations, charter school boards and real estate investors involved in some of the state’s existing charter schools begs for transparency before more tax dollars start flowing out of state.

Statewide, a lot of money is spent. Taxpayers will spend more than $3.2 million in rent this year on just four Indiana charter schools. Most of the dollars are flowing to a Kansas City, Mo., real estate company that earned $84.7 million in profits last year. And while the Allen County board is scrutinizing the property tax exemption sought for the company’s property on North Wells Street, Entertainment Properties Trust can’t lose: Its triple net lease agreement makes the tenant – Indiana taxpayers – responsible for maintenance costs, utilities, insurance and taxes. http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110417/EDIT/304179965/1147/EDIT07


And a brilliant piece on their great success Indiana charter schools fail to succeed http://dailycensored.com/2011/01/18/indiana-charter-schools-fail-to-succeed/


Hey, tax payers you are getting ripped off.

24 Comments

24 Comments


Read the Rules
[-] 2 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Problems in Wisconsin too.

Now they take the money and run, leaving the beleaguered public bewildered.

Like they do students.

http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2014/01/15/wi-voucher-school-closes-in-dead-of-night-only-1-student-proficient-in-reading-2012-13/

Ain't the Koch's libe(R)topia grand?

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

NYC looks to "raise the rent" on charter schools.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/01/16/charter-schools-rent-mayor/

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

Good. It's about time that they were taken to task.

Even though, I have a heard time with Ravitch, here is the latest. http://www.lohud.com/article/20140116/NEWS02/301160100/Diane-Ravitch-education-expert-rips-reforms-focus-tests-Bedford-talk-video-

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Ahhh, you've overcome your fear of her.

http://occupywallst.org/forum/education-reform-interview-with-an-apostate/

Some people, really can turn over a new leaf.

I like what she says.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

I don't like her. She knew in advance exactly what the studies showed on poverty before Reagan. I am sure that this is some type of penance and she truly regrets this but when you look at whom she is speaking to........she is preaching to the choir.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Still, it's better than than not preaching at all.

The drive to privatization needs to be stopped, by it's failures laid bare.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

IDK, it's a little too late.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

It's called separation of church and state and public funding. These clowns don't seem to grasp that. They are trying to do the same here.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

With the efforts at privatization, this is exactly what is spreading. Mostly in the deep South.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

You would be surprised at where it is. It's why the voucher program got started. The deep south doesn't take much to move. Privatization is all about stealing the money from the public coffer. That's it. Keep 'em all with one foot in the grave. Child as commodity.

I have friends of mine that are educators. Several have opted for retirement simply because of the idiocy. In our previous conversations, I would maintain that we have a 50/50 responsibility of educating children. But, now it's a 80/20.

I have to work 3 times as hard putting together information or books for this kid to read on top of the school work that he has now. Especially when it comes to Labor history or founding fathers on religion or their lack of it.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago
[-] 0 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 10 years ago

there's always tomorrow

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

Or so they sing

[Removed]

[Removed]

[Removed]

[Removed]

[Removed]

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Charter schools..........

another MAJOR issue that's taken a backseat lately.

So let's play a little catch up.

There's Texas, who is now teaching creationism on a LARGER scale.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_undermining_the_charter_movement.html

I guess dumb is still in season down there.

Ripping off Wisconsin has become a way of life, now that the Koch's own it.

Schools are no exception. The rip off is so sweet there're exporting it to Florida, where pickin's are even easier.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/leaders-of-closed-milwaukee-voucher-school-are-now-in-florida-b99185323z1-240384541.html

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Anything to crush a union.

Nice to know it's the school board who's really dumb though.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

Aren't they usually?

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

Yeah, but in this case, they're even worse than usual.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

This is one area people might want to start paying attention to.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 10 years ago

There's a lot of those.

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 10 years ago

That is a very true statement.

[Removed]

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 12 years ago

Take action. See samples of how below.

183,361 signatures so far for Bernie Sanders petition as of 10:15am central time 01/15/2012

http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100081904.557411.411&gen=1&mailing_linkid=34578

The petition to save abandoned houses has 15 signatures. We picked one up at around 9:50pm 01/13/2012. Were just rolling right along.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Savingpeople-savinghomes-payingdowntheNationaldeficit/

Here is a place where you can directly address change. Take part, it does not hurt and may very well heal/help. Forward the cause of reform and rebirth.

http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Ag8nw/zL2Q/B18Bb

Sierra Club has some good things to take part in as well. Set-up and ready for you to take part in. http://sierraclub.org/

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 12 years ago

Here is a place where you can directly address change. Take part, it does not hurt and may very well heal/help. Forward the cause of reform and rebirth.

http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Ag8nw/zL2Q/B18Bb