Ragin' Grannies v. For Profit Charter Operator

One of the founders of Speak Up South Jersey (yes, you heard that right, Speak Up Highland Park is branching out…) posted a link to a YouTube video on their Facebook page that, I'm not ashamed to admit, literally brought me to tears:

I say we take the Ragin' Grannies on tour.  Their fight in Chapel Hill is in many ways the same as the fight in Cherry Hill.  What sets their fight apart however is the inclusion of a for-profit entity, in this case National Heritage Academy, which prides itself on it's "mandatory and extensive" use of testing data to "inform and adjust teaching."

But it's only a matter of time before New Jersey is confronted with a massive for-profit invasion.

As I've detailed previously, Imagine Schools, the nation's largest and perhaps most controversial for-profit charter operator with huge problems in Florida, Washington DC and Indiana just to name a few, has already been behind four applications in New Jersey.   Last October the Star Ledger reported:

Among the proposals were some with ties to out-of-state charter school networks, like Imagine Schools, which helped local residents write applications in Jersey City, Newark, Camden, Trenton.

Imagine serves 40,000 students in 72 schools in 12 states, according to its website. "New Jersey is an area that is favorable for (education) alternatives," Samuel Howard, Imagine School’s executive vice president, said.

Christie has said he hoped to attract charter networks to New Jersey, but out-of-state companies face a roundabout process. A local group must first win approval for a charter then, if it wants to outsource the operation, must ask for bids. (emphasis mine)

Meanwhile, in St. Louis Missouri Imagine schools are an unmitigated disaster:

Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro advised Jim French, chairman of the university's education division, to announce "immediately" the closure of the underperforming schools after this school year.

Nicastro's recommendation comes days after French said the university needed more support and direction from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as it scrutinizes the charter schools operated by Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc.

The six schools, which enroll about 3,800 students, fared worse on standardized tests this year than nearly all traditional and charter schools in St. Louis. French said the university is not getting the direction it needs from the education department or from state statutes to ensure the schools are living up to their charters.

Nicastro wrote that it is the sponsor's role, not the state's, to regulate charter schools.

So with Imagine's abysmal track record across the nation, clearly New Jersey should be wary of for-profit operators.  And since a university authorized and oversaw Imagine in St. Louis, and then seemed not to know what to do with the ensuing disaster, clearly we should also be careful about who we select as authorizers.


What's that Governor?


Earlier this week in his State of the State speech, Governor Christie urged the legislature to make much needed changes to the state’s charter school law through bill A-4167 introduced last June.  Sweeping changes to New Jersey’s charter school laws are needed to remove barriers and roadblocks to the growth of high-quality charter schools. The current laws and rules governing charter schools act as a deterrent to growth instead of fostering expansion. It is time to aggressively encourage some of the nation’s most-respected and successful charter school operators to come to New Jersey while making it possible to implement the same model of innovation and results in other new and existing charter schools. (emphasis mine)


Guess the Governor got tired of that "round about process."  So, what is added to, and taken away from, the charter school law in bill A-4167 to make it easier for for-profits to step in?


10.  Section 4 of P.L.1995, c.426 (C.18A:36A-4) is amended to read as follows:

     4.  a. A charter school may be established by:

     (1) teaching staff members[, parents with children attending the schools of the district, or a combination of teaching staff members and parents.  A charter school may also be established by an institution of higher education or a private entity located within the State in conjunction with teaching staff members and parents of children attending the schools of the district] who either reside or are employed in the State;

     (2) community residents who reside in the State;

     (3)  a public institution of higher education, except that a charter school authorizer which is an institution of higher education shall be prohibited from reviewing and approving a charter application submitted by that same institution of higher education;

     (4)  a private entity that is either for-profit or not-for-profit;

     (5)  a charter school that is currently operating in the State; or

     (6)  a combination of any of the above. (emphasis mine, and for damn good reason, too)

Here's your lesson for the day on how to read a proposed bill, if you don't already know that is.  Everything not underlined is the original legislation, and everything underlined is new and what's in [brackets] comes out.  


In the original law, an eligible applicant had to either teach in the district they wanted to serve or have kids in the PUBLIC schools of that district.  But even with this supposed limited pool of eligible applicants, who were supposed to represent the needs of the community, the charter school movement in New Jersey easily managed to subvert the intent of the law and to override local wishes.   


Bill A-4167 will REMOVE the part about being a public school parent or teacher ENTIRELY, and will open the door to everybody and anybody, unless you are the actual authorizer.  That sure does make it easier, now doesn't it?  


So who is going to do the authorizing?  The bill will allow public institutions of higher education in New Jersey to be authorizers.  


The fact that the Imagine Schools in St. Louis were authorized by Missouri Baptist University doesn't lend much credence to the fact that adding universities as authorizers will increase accountability.  Did you notice that when the Imagine Schools blew up in their face MBU looked to the state and said, "What should we do?" 


The bill does however say that the local school board may be an authorizer…


NOW we're getting somewhere.  Until districts and/or voters have local control over their schools, I think we can expect many more disasters like Imagine schools in St. Louis.  


And with the Christie administration behind legislation that will open the door to non-profits, we NEED local control more than ever.  Keep up with Save Our Schools NJ to help fight for legislation that will work for students, not for-profits.  


Take it grannies:


Let's say no to charter schools
They don't follow any rules


NHA will rip us off
For-profit at a very high cost


What to do, oh, what to do
Support Carrboro and Public Schools


Great, now I'm crying again...

Imagine there's no conspiracy? It's easy only if you're Tom Moran...

Tom Moran's editorial today is preposterous.   I am not an investigative journalist, but with just a bit of careful reading it's pretty easy to see the handwriting on the wall.  Allow me to illustrate.


Last month I noticed a story out of St. Lois, MO about Imagine Schools, the largest for profit charter management chain in the country.  


Imagine Schools operates 75 schools in 12 states and the District of Columbia.  As a full-service charter school operator, Imagine is basically a multi-state “school district” educating approximately 40,000 students (about the same size as the Newark public school system, while larger than Cincinnati, Minneapolis, or Buffalo).


Their St. Lois schools are failing - big time.  So much so the mayor called for every single school they operate in his city to be shut down.  Imagine not only operates the schools, they also make a killing buying, selling and leasing the facilities that their charters occupy.  They have a whole separate arm of their business that handles these transactions called Schoolhouse Finance.  Such an innocuous sounding name, isn't it?  Conjures up images of a little red schoolhouse in the middle of a prairie.  


Except for this:

The charter school operator Imagine Schools has placed a top executive on administrative leave and has received a stern warning from the sponsor of its St. Louis schools, following revelations about the company's financial dealings.

Top officials at Missouri Baptist University met this week with Dennis Bakke, chief executive of Imagine Schools, for a "candid and honest discussion" about the university's relationship with the company, said university spokesman Bryce Chapman.

Findings about Imagine's St. Louis real estate and contractor dealings in recent days are 'serious" and "need to be investigated." Chapman said.

Bakke has been in town this week giving Imagine's six underperforming charter schools in the city extra attention and support after a Post-Dispatch series showed them to be entangled in complex real estate dealings that have contributed to high rent payments while classrooms lacked basics such as textbooks.

The company has placed Sam Howard, executive vice president, on administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation. Imagine spokeswoman Lori Waters said. The Post-Dispatch reported that a contracting firm that renovated Imagine school buildings had made $32,000 in payments to a "Sam Howard." Howard had no explanation for the payments.  (emphasis mine)

And guess where Sam Howard is from?  NEW JERSEY!  A quick google search on Mr. Howard revealed this, from last October after the list of fast-track charter school applications were reported by Mr. Moran's own paper:

Among the proposals were some with ties to out-of-state charter school networks, like Imagine Schools, which helped local residents write applications in Jersey City, Newark, Camden, Trenton.

Imagine serves 40,000 students in 72 schools in 12 states, according to its website. "New Jersey is an area that is favorable for (education) alternatives," Samuel Howard, Imagine School’s executive vice president, said.

Christie has said he hoped to attract charter networks to New Jersey, but out-of-state companies face a roundabout process. A local group must first win approval for a charter then, if it wants to outsource the operation, must ask for bids. (emphasis mine)

Gee, Rice is looking less and less like a conspiracy theorist now… here is proof from the Star Ledger that the largest for-profit charter operator in the country has already helped write and submit four applications in urban districts, one of which is Rice's.   


Notice who the quote is from?  Yup, our buddy Samuel Howard who has been placed on leave for allegedly taking kickbacks in Imagine's real estate dealings in St. Louis.  Interesting that Imagine is finding New Jersey "favorable for (education) alternatives."  


By the way, Imagine also takes money right of the top of a school's operations as well.  Check this out from the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, IN.  The article is aptly titled: EDUCATION INC. – Part I: Private company skirts public boards in running tax-funded charter schools; For-profit makes decisions for tax-funded Imagine


In April 2006, when Willis announced he wanted to start a charter school, Imagine Schools Inc. was already on site and involved – a year before the board would have its first meeting. In September of that year, Imagine-Fort Wayne Charter School Inc. was formed, allegedly the local organization that would start the school and contract with Imagine Schools Inc. of Virginia to run it. 


But the contact person for the non-profit Imagine-Fort Wayne Charter School was Imagine Schools Inc.’s executive vice president, Jason Bryant, and the corporation’s address was Bryant’s house in Fort Wayne. The incorporator was Imagine Schools’ attorney, Joseph Miller, of Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis. 


Two months later, the local non-profit filed for tax-exempt status with the IRS – the paperwork was again handled by Miller – and signed a contract with Imagine Schools Inc. 


The contract was signed by Willis; board members never publicly discussed it or voted on it, as it would be five months before their first meeting. Instead, they signed a resolution that claims it has the same authority as if it had been approved unanimously by the board at a public meeting. 


Indiana Public Access Counselor Andrew Kossack said there is no provision in the state’s Open Meetings Act that would allow such action. State law requires all public bodies to take all official action during public meetings.

That contract gave away the board’s power to make decisions on issues such as busing, hiring and the name of the school itself. It also gave Imagine Schools Inc. 12 percent of every penny the school took in. (emphasis mine)

Mr. Moran, I ask you to look into whether any of the four Imagine backed applications made it through last October's round of applications.  Like I said, I am not an investigative journalist, just a nosy mom trying to protect her kid's schools.  Unlike Governor Christie and Acting Commissioner Cerf, I do not want to see for profit charter networks that are unaccountable to taxpayers "outsource the operation" of ANY kid's school, thank you very much.