UC Report: Charter Schools Great At Making Money For Private Businesses, Not Much Else

No, it's not better for you dear, it's better for Mr. Moneybags and his friends.

New report: Charter schools great at making money for private business, not much else

By Walter Einenkel  

Thursday Dec 10, 201

A new study released by a research institute has concluded that the charter school movement is very good at one thing: making profits for a few people.

Charter schools are able to siphon off large quantities of public money for private gain — and only substantial changes to state policies regarding charter schools can stop this, according to the authors of the report from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at University of Colorado Boulder.

A classic charter school scam incentive?

For example, charter schools are sometimes able to purchase publicly owned real estate for their school facilities through a private, third-party entity. The report highlights how charter operators can make these purchases with taxpayer money, thus acquiring formerly public property at public expense. The third-party purchaser pockets overhead costs associated with arranging the sale.

“This particular type of transaction is usually legal and it can be very logical from the perspective of each of the parties involved,” said Rutgers University professor Bruce Baker, one of the report’s authors, in a statement. “But we should be troubled by the public policy that allows and even encourages this to happen.”

The best part? You don’t have to pay those dumb teachers jack squat!

The report also contends that labor costs at charter schools tend to be unusually top-heavy, as EMO executives conserve funds by hiring young, relatively inexpensive staff — and then add the savings to their own salaries.

“Early studies of charter schools in Pennsylvania found charter teacher annual salaries to be on average $18,000 lower than teacher salaries in district schools,” the report said. In contrast, top EMO heads can draw comfortable six-figure salaries, the report said. Eva Moskowitz, a high-profile New York charter advocate and CEO of the city’s Success Academy network of charter schools, was found in the report to earn more than $475,000 annually.

And when you consider that charter schools don’t perform better than increasingly underfunded and unsupported public schools, it’s a perfect study in evil.

 Comments 30 / 30