Congress Confronts Betsy DeVos With $1 Billion Charter School Fraud in US Educ. Dept.

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Tue Apr 23, 2019, 11:50 AM - Edit history (2)

'Things Didn’t Go Well When Betsy DeVos Was Confronted With Her Department’s Charter School Fraud.' One billion awarded by the federal government’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) went to charter schools that never opened or opened for only brief periods. By Jeff Bryant, Common Dreams, April 22, 2019.

During a series of recent congressional hearings in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had to respond to a recent report finding the U.S. Department of Education has been scammed for hundreds of millions of dollars by fraudulent or mismanaged charter schools. Her responses reveal not only her inability to counter legitimate concerns over the spread of charter schools but also the charter school industry’s resistance to honestly address a chronic problem with its schools.



The report, which I co-authored with Network for Public Education Executive Director Carol Burris, found that up to $1 billion awarded by the federal government’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) went to charter schools that never opened or opened for only brief periods before being shut down for mismanagement, poor performance, lack of enrollment, and fraud. Our calculation was that a least a third of the $4.1 billion spent by the CSP was wasted.

Members of Congress repeatedly referred to these findings when questioning the secretary’s management of charter school grants and her proposal to increase funding for the program to $500 million annually. In response, DeVos first attempted to deny the problem, saying, “You are always going to have schools that don’t make it.” When Democratic representatives continued their questions, DeVos then tried to distract attention from the problem, arguing there was a need for “more” charters, “not less.”

In the most recent exchange, DeVos pivoted to attacking the report authors personally rather than disproving their findings, saying, “The study was really funded by and promoted by those who have a political agenda against charter schools.” That final exchange in particular raised the hackles of my coauthor Burris, who quickly delved deeper into the data to find that incidents of financial fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the charter school grant program are likely worse than our first estimate...
Read More, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/22/things-didnt-go-well-when-betsy-devos-was-confronted-her-departments-charter-school
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Also, Forbes, "Report: The Dept. of Education Has Spent $1 Billion On Charter School Waste and Fraud," March 29, 2019
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/03/29/report-the-department-of-education-has-spent-1-billion-on-charter-school-waste-and-fraud/#1219b57227b6, -> In California, the state with the highest number of charter schools, between 2004 and 2014, 306 schools that received direct or indirect federal funding closed or never opened. One hundred and eleven closed within a year. Seventy-five never opened at all. The cost to taxpayers-- over $108 million.

Even though they are private schools, charter schools are expected to be open to all students. The report finds that many charters funded by CPS use "policies and practices that discourage or deny enrollment by certain types of students." Some charters don't provide transportation and require parents to make financial contributions to the school, boxing out low-income families. Some charters strongly discourage or even turn away special needs students. A 2016 report by the ACLU of So. CA found illegal or exclusionary practices used by over 200 CA charter schools.

[BigmanPigman]

1. As a teacher I would never teach at a Charter School after hearing

from friends who left public school to teach there. It was an overall terrible experience for most of them and they each left after less than 5 years at their site.

[appalachiablue]

2. Glad to know this. It's a foul rip off scam but very successful so far.

Hopefully more people will begin to wise up fast to this racket destroying one of the most important institutions we have. From FORBES:

In California, the state with the highest number of charter schools, between 2004 and 2014, 306 schools that received direct or indirect federal funding closed or never opened. One hundred and eleven closed within a year. Seventy-five never opened at all. The cost to taxpayers-- over $108 million.

Even though they are private schools, charter schools are expected to be open to all students. The report finds that many charters funded by CPS use "policies and practices that discourage or deny enrollment by certain types of students."

Some charters don't provide transportation and require parents to make financial contributions to the school, boxing out low-income families. Some charters strongly discourage or even turn away special needs student. A 2016 report by the ACLU of So. CA found illegal or exclusionary practices used by over 200 CA charter schools.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. It is a well coordinated scam to drain tax money from public schools.

If I recall correctly DeVos and family have ties to the charter school industry. They are using the system to enable elitist, white, right-wing religious indoctrination facilities (the US equivalent to Hitler Youth)...Along with scamming the tax money into the right wing machinery to keep electing right-wing candidates.

She is not asleep at the wheel. She knows exactly what is going on, where the money went and what it is being used for. She is a central player in the plan to remake American culture along Neo-Fascist "Christian" ideological lines through subverting and undermining the public school system.

She is not alone either. Many in the GOP have enabled this agenda.

[2naSalit]

4. +1

[lagomorph777]

5. Cruella DeVos sees that as a feature, not a bug.

She's there to help her anti-education cronies steal money from children. It's going great so far.