Public Schools, Private Budgets: How Do Charter Schools Spend Their Money?

Chicago Reader:

In his first months in office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been sending and resending the message that he wants his administration to be a model of transparency and openness. "During the campaign I promised to have the most open, accountable, and transparent government that the city of Chicago has ever seen," Emanuel said at a June 8 press conference where he announced he was putting the names, positions, and salaries of all city employees online.

Read the whole story: Chicago Reader

Comments

[jal6641]

03:00 PM on 07/23/2011

Seems like they are hiding something. There is a lot of documented evidence that people involved with Charter Schools make a lot of money. (see Diane Ravitch's review of "Waiting for Superman") I don't trust these schools. They kick out students who are difficult to teach, and they have a huge teacher turnover rate-much higher than public schools.What is interesting is that last year Charters did not do as well on the state standardized tests as the public schools in Los Angeles Unified. Most teachers that I know, including myself, would never work for a Charter School.

[eceresa]

11:58 AM on 07/24/2011

Sure you would... if you had no other option. And you'd do your best there, like most of the teachers working in charter schools are doing right now. But your best wouldn't be as good as it is in a public school, because charters are a less effective model.

[dadw5boys]

02:13 AM on 07/25/2011

Go to Guidestar.org open a free account and then you can read their 990 tax forms -- they are Non Profits. you just need the name

[eric14]

02:13 PM on 07/23/2011

From the article:

In other words, UNO gets to spend public dollars—the aforementioned $27 million a year—but the public doesn't have a right to know how.

Actually, the state's charter school law says just the opposite: "The governing body of a charter school shall be subject to the Freedom of Information Act."

And what does the state office that oversees freedom of information law think of this?

According to Natalie Bauer, communications director for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the law is clear: UNO has to respond.

Good luck getting them to do it. Over the years, researchers, parents, school activists, and other reporters throughout the state have fought, mostly without success, to try to get the charters to release things like the names of donors and financial records.
-----------------------------------
Problem of contemparory late modern society in a nutshell: failure to enforce

IF THE LAW IS NOT ENFORCED, IT DOES NOT EXIST

[stopnlisten]

12:33 PM on 07/23/2011

As soon as they take taxpayer's money they need to share information, fall under the unreasonable guidelines of No Child Left Behind, and not be able to dismiss underachieving kids back to public schools. We have just handed private business governement money and contracts with NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

[collettethehedgehog]

05:26 AM on 07/24/2011

It's the "job Creators" new America. LIke it?

[dadw5boys]

02:14 AM on 07/25/2011

read thier 990 tax forms on Guidestar

[tultican]

12:30 PM on 07/23/2011

Public schools which must respond to all education code still have a never ending fight against corruption. If private entities receive that money while exempted from education code and accountability rules is there any doubt what will happen? A thirty year campaign kicked off by the spurious “Nation at Risk” in 1983 has been waged to undermine public schools for the express purpose of privatizing our nation’s schools. The rate at which our public school systems have already been privatized is staggering. More and more education dollars are going to private business and less and less is going to the student in the classroom. A great lie has been told over and over again that our schools are failing and that our teachers are substandard. As more and more private entities get their hands on public education money, this great lie will become prophecy.

[collettethehedgehog]

05:26 AM on 07/24/2011

Fanned.

[blood1]

11:47 AM on 07/23/2011

Wanna see how this works? ALECEXPOSED.org has a very interesting document written by Corporate America that wants private charters AND wants them exempt from public policies.

http://alecexposed.org/w/images/5/57/2D4-Next_Generation_Charter_Schools_Act_Exposed.pdf

Will this wake anyone up to exactly how Corporate America wants to educate - very outside the public scrutiny!

[gsmp]

03:09 PM on 07/23/2011

Yipes! I've been hearing more and more about this shadowy organization and am very grateful for the link. People need to see this, blood1. By the way, I, too, have a baggercritter and you are absolutely right about the mailings being nothing but pushpolls. Thank goodness both my senators and my gov are dems.

[tultican]

10:41 AM on 07/24/2011

This is an important piece of information. Thanks. ALEC is also the driving force in almost all of the anti-union laws that are being enacted. They literally right the law and the local state legislature passes it.

[docallen001]

09:54 AM on 07/23/2011

Simple. Chicago needs to pass a law that requires an annual report of public funds collected and how expended by each charter school. I am willing to let them keep the use of their own funds private at least initially.

[Retrofuturistic]

01:11 AM on 07/23/2011

Speaking of charter schools and the motives behind them:

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/07/15/video-kasich-urges-public-school-graduating-class-to-serve-the-creator/

[gsmp]

03:31 PM on 07/23/2011

After viewing that, I shudder to think were our society is being driven, Retro.

[Retrofuturistic]

03:35 PM on 07/25/2011

Me too. It's VERY shudder inducing.

Have you ever seen this?
http://nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

[gsmp]

03:51 PM on 07/25/2011

Thanks for the link and fanned! As an amateur history buff, the run-up to WWII has been of special interest. I find some interesting corrrelations between the 'then' and 'now' re: the manipulation by and the surnames of some of the 'players'.