Q: Who profits from for-profit charter schools in Florida?
A: Not taxpayers. Not teachers. And not students.
Right after posting my last article on Florida conservatives' exploitation of parents' desire for "school choice," a concerned reader sent me some information I didn't have yet concerning for-profits running taxpayer-funded schools in Florida. (Thanks, Karen.) Unfortunately, what she clued me in on is far from reassuring.
For-profit charter schools--or at least, charters run by for-profit corporations--are alive and kicking in Florida. Imagine Schools, the country's largest charter school operator headquartered in Virginia, already runs 18 charter schools in the state. On November 12, 2008, the company withdrew applications for 15 new charter schools in the face of recommendations for denial--though they plan on pursuing them later.
In the state of Florida, charter schools have more than one way of getting authorization. They first seek approval from the local school board. If their request is denied, they can appeal to the Florida Department of Education Charter School Appeal Commission, where they often have better luck. Before, if that still didn't work, they could get approval from Jeb Bush's 2006 brainchild, the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, which had the authority (and a seemingly unquenchable desire) to authorize charter schools in most state school districts. In December of 2008, the First Florida District Court of Appeal struck down the statute authorizing the commission as unconstitutional, so for the moment, that recourse is no longer available.
A recently-released 2009 Stanford CREDO (Center for Research on Education Outcomes) study reports that there is a direct statistical correlation between academic success rates in charter schools and how many ways charters could be authorized according to state law. Consequently, charter schools in Florida, along with other states providing charter operators multiple means of gaining authorization, have academic success rates inferior to those of traditional public schools.
Still, thanks to Jeb Bush and a largely Republican state legislature's efforts, Florida is one of the easiest states for charter school operators to get authorization, making it a prime target of Imagine Schools' plans for expansion. Imagine Schools was founded in 2004 by billionaire global power company CEO Dennis Bakke and his wife as a for-profit chain of charter school operators, and are currently among the largest of its kind, running dozens of schools in 12 states. In order to increase its capacity to expand, it claims to have registered as a nonprofit organization in Virginia in 2005; however, it has not yet received tax-exempt status from the IRS.
There have been objections to Imagine Schools charter schools in several counties in Florida on many grounds, including that they are run by the parent company in Virginia (rather than locally), that they do not qualify for nonprofit status, that they are not financially viable, and that their curricula do not meet state standards or do not offer any new or innovative teaching methods or course offerings. But in the end, what local school boards thought mattered less in the great scheme of things than what the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission thought, and they seemed to be quite infatuated with the Bakke billionaires' new industry--even though the National Association of Charter School Authorizers report that the majority of Imagine charter schools score C or lower on state accountability grades. Now that the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission is defunct, Imagine is scaling back its grand schemes of Floridian expansion.
But it is not only in Florida that there have been objections to, and problems with, Imagine Schools. In Texas and Nevada, concerns have been raised about Imagine Schools' finances and complex real estate deals that have led to the charters spending up to 40% of their entire publicly funded budget on rent to for-profit companies, including Imagine's real estate arm, Schoolhouse Finance, leaving them with tight budgets for necessary materials like textbooks. In the interest of comparison, many other charter schools spend in the neighborhood of 14% of their public funding on building rent. The real estate deals, where the charter run by Imagine leases the building from Schoolhouse Finance, who then sells the property to a real estate investment trust who then leases it back to Schoolhouse at a lower rate than what the charter pays, have proven very lucrative for owners and investors in the two companies. Former Imagine School principals who inquired into the real estate expenditures were subsequently fired. But, naturally, they have also drawn sharp criticism from boards of education.
Could it be that Imagine Schools is applying for nonprofit tax-exempt status by shuffling the profits (from public funding, of course) into its real estate business? Given what has already transpired in Nevada and Texas, this seems very likely.
In Florida, this doesn't seem to pose much of a problem, where the paradox of taxpayer-funded corporate profits seems to be lost on conservative politicians. Former state representative, Republican Frank Attkisson (who pushed through property tax legislation to provide exemptions that would personally benefit him) became the executive director of the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission, and said that he did not expect the delay to kill Imagine's applications. He is quoted as saying, "My job this year is probably to sit down with Imagine and get a better idea of who they are." Now that the FSEC is no longer, he may not have any say in whether Imagine (with their less-than-stellar academic record, shady real estate deals and dubious nonprofit status) will get to set up more shops and siphon away still more money from already strapped public schools.
But where there are corporate profits to be made, there are always friendly politicians ready to lend a hand.
Unfortunately, in this state, there are always friendly politicians ready to hand over our tax dollars as well.
Comments
I hear from my own former students about the horrors of charter school all the time -- how they don't receive their books until sometimes as late as December, how their teachers aren't always certified, and how they don't feel they are receiving an education comparable to the one they received in public school. Rather than spend tax payers' money on what is clearly an unsuccessful business gamble, Florida should focus their time and energy on not leaving students -- and teachers -- behind.
While I am sure that the for-profit schools mat have problems, they also may SOMETIMES have more efficient operations. School systems can be horribly inefficient as are many government agencies. In TN we also have charter schools that come under the umbrella of the public school system; the teachers, administration, etc. must meet the standards for the school system. The charter schools are encouraged to seek innovative teaching methods or specialize in a specific area, much as magnet schools do. Some of our charter schools are successful; those that have less planning and structure are not. I agree that magnet schools or other "schools within a school" may be a better way to go. However, the magnet schools often siphon off the better students leaving their home schools to struggle with the less capable or prepared students. What is the answer? I don't know.
TN teacher has a point:pub. school systems can be ineffieience and therefor smoother running organizations may be able to do the job while collecting a profit.
For profit Education Management Organizations (EMO) is not be everyone's cup of tea. If someone does an equal or better job and there is enough money left over to collect a profit, there will be controversy.
An EMO (not to be confused with the non-profit CMO or homegrown charter schools) may not a hold a charter. The charter belongs to a non-profit entity. Less than 9% of our nation's charter schools involve an EMO or CMO.
Teachers may benefit from working for a charter school (EMO operated or otherwise) due to fewer regulations and parental involvement. Tax payers benefit since charter schools on average costs 28% less than traditional schools (even when an EMO is involved). Students definitely benefit as many charter schools ARE high quality and offer alternatives in public education. See CREDO report www.publiccharters.or
By the way, Karin, I actually linked the CREDO report to this article and the last one. It is inconclusive as to whether charter schools are better/same/worse than public schools IN GENERAL, but it DOES show that in the state of Florida, as in other states offering multiple agencies granting charters, academic outcomes in charters are actually LOWER than in public schools. I really did not see anything in that report to substantiate a claim that charters are generally a better alternative to public schools, and particularly in the state of Florida, it would appear that, on the whole, they are an inferior choice, at least as it stands right now. I am not quite sure why you are referencing that report, as it does not justify your claims, at least as regards the state of Florida...?
Corporate Imagine has tainted the country for charter schools. How do the rich get richer in America? They gather together their buddies from AES, exploit the move of privatization of public schools. Write a book called "Joy at Work". Mandate it as reading for all employess. Use words like "transparancy", "integrity" and "shared values" to sell a "new and innovative" approach to education. Save money by not supplying text books in classes (explain that it's an innovative and new way of teaching). Hire 1st year teachers straight out of college. Give them no guidance or instruction. Offer them no true curriculum. Offer them no contracts or even job discriptions(if they ask questions, get rid of them). Replace questioning principals with 25 year old, non-licensed 2nd year teachers who are thrilled to be promoted to administration and will smile and nod at anything the regional director says. Put up as many schools as possible throughout the country before people catch on..cash in!
Jennie: I really enjoyed your July 6, article on Imagine Schools. I was generally well done and pointed out many of the concerns that Florida's charter school sponsors have regarding Imagine Schools including their management structure and the percentage of the each school's revenue that flow (in one way, shape or form) to the parent company.
There were a couple of inaccuracies in your article, however, that I would like to being to your attention. Your statement that the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission was "infatuated" with Imagine Schools is not supported by the facts since all 15 Imagine School Applications submitted to the FSEC were in fact denied during the 2008-09 application cycle. In fact, the only Imagine applications approved during that application cycle were the one's approved by school districts.
Again, great article. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the corrections, Mike McHugh. While it may be true that applications were denied, the director of the FSEC before it was dissolved, did take a favorable position toward Imagine and said he expected their charters to be approved once certain modifications were made. Unfortunately, the fact is that there is a lot of Republican leadership in Florida that is in favor of pretty much anything that amounts to the privatization of public education (or public anything, as evidenced by their desire--at great expense to taxpayers and resulting in quite a bit of inefficiency--to privatize prison management, too). While the money is not being raised or budgeted to really help schools right now, I am slightly more hopeful than I was a few days ago that there is less of an effort now to sabotage public education, as more focus is placed on accelerated offerings rather than strictly bare-minimums imposed by the FCAT.
I have had my son in several public schools they keep telling me he is basically unteachable, no matter how many books they have, they want more, they are always broke and begging no matter how high my taxes go, and I have gotten nothing in the last 7 years as far as an education goes for my son, but I taught him to read, and his math. I am done paying them, if the Republicans can fix it with my tax money I'll pay them, the democrats here have had their chances, for nearly 20 years now and our reading percents are 69% and math is 49%, half of them can't add and they have assemblies all the time for community stuff they are unwilling to explain to us the parents, we need to give 24 hours notice to see our kids in school here. All I can say is if you liberals and dems are tearing at Imagine Schools it must be the right place for me to enroll my son. You had your chance and now I want a private education for my son, its American to have a choice and thank god there is one now.
Re C Martinez's comment: Do you live in Florida? If so, you know that the Republicans, not the Democrats, have had control of this state for quite some time--so I'm not sure where you are coming up with the "Democrats for 20 years" figure. I'm sympathetic to your frustrations in your experiences with the schools, and agree that there is a lot of reform that needs to be done. However, so far charter schools have had very mixed, inconclusive results, and in Florida in particular (as well as other states where it is easy to get a charter authorized) students in charter schools have so far fared WORSE than their public-school peers on the FCAT. I don't see how spending tax money on something that so far has proven less effective than what it claims to be "competing" with, and meanwhile making profits for subsidiaries of the management company, is a sustainable choice that will benefit you or your son. Reforms are necessary, but charter schools are not real reform. It's a gimmick.
There is an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal today (Sept 5) about charter schools in Memphis. They are not for profit and seem to offer a viable alternative for parents who want different opportunities for their children without having to pay for a private school. This site will not let me put a link in this comment, but you can go to commercialappeal.com and put in charter school and find the story from Sept. 5.
Dear Ms. Smith:
Re: Computerized testing, you wrote:
"I would be interested to know if other schools experienced similar problems that the district is now denying."
At least one school closed its library the entire 4th quarter for testing.
"Students have access to their virtual classes at all hours, and I have heard too many stories to count from my students about cheating going on. "
At least 2 MDCPS students told me that virtual school teachers only evaluate 1/10 of assignments, allowing them to just fill in most work with random typing.
Also, I would be interested in your feedback on my tongue-in-cheek piece regarding the state of Florida schools:
http://chiplopper.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/scott_schools/
Thank you for your work.
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