CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

California Charter Academy (10,000 students / 60 sites)

MORE DELAYS IN CHARTER ACADEMY TRIAL / Former mayor's next court datealmost four years after original indictment; April 14, 2011; Hesperia Star (CA)

If former mayor Tad Honeycutt and Steven Cox are to ever have their day in court, it won’t be any time soon.

The two men, who between them face 117 felony charges related to the financial transactions connected to the defunct California Charter Academy, were originally indicted in Sept. 2007…

At the time of its collapse in Aug. 2004, CCA was the largest charter school in California, with 36 schools around the state. An audit, commissioned by the California Department of Education, and released in April 2005, accused CCA founder Cox, Honeycutt and others of misappropriating $23 million in state and federal taxpayer funds. The charges ultimately filed against Cox and Honeycutt center on an alleged $5.5 million in illegal transactions between the CCA and a for-profit subsidiary run by Honeycutt.

Honeycutt is charged with 15 counts of Misappropriation of Public Funds, 15 counts of Grand Theft, three counts of failure to file a state tax return and a single count filing a false tax return. If convicted, Honeycutt could face 20 years in prison.

Phelan resident Cox is charged with 56 counts of Misappropriation of Public Funds, 56 counts of Grand Theft and a single count of failing to file a tax return. If convicted, Cox faces up to 64 years in prison…

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CHARTER SCHOOL NETWORK FOUNDER INDICTED; September 4, 2007; The Washington Post,

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- The founder of one of California's largest charter school networks was indicted Tuesday on 113 felony counts and accused of siphoning millions in public school funds, prosecutors said.

C. Steven Cox, founder of the now-defunct California Charter Academy, was indicted on 56 counts of misappropriation of public funds and 56 counts of grand theft, said Michael Fermin, a supervising deputy district attorney. Cox was also accused of failing to file a state tax return, he said.

The grand jury also indicted Tad Theron Honeycutt, a Hesperia city councilman, on 15 counts of misappropriation of funds, 15 counts of grand theft, three counts of failure to file a state tax return and one count of filing a false tax return...

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CHARTER SCHOOLS' FOUNDER INDICTED: CHARLES STEVEN COX IS CHARGED WITH THEFT OF NEARLY $5.5 MILLION. A HESPERIA COUNCILMAN IS ALSO ARRESTED ON GRAND THEFT CHARGES; September 05, 2007; Los Angeles Times (CA)

A San Bernardino County grand jury on Tuesday indicted the founder of a charter school network that was once the largest in California, charging him with grand theft and misappropriation of public school funds. A Hesperia city councilman was also indicted.

Charles Steven Cox, 59, who built California Charter Academy into a statewide string of 60 campuses serving more than 10,000 students from Yuba City to Chula Vista, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with more than 100 counts of misappropriation of charter school funds and theft of nearly $5.5 million.

A 2005 state audit alleged that Cox, as head of the charter academy and also owner of a for-profit company that provided management services to the schools, misused millions of dollars in charter school funds to lavishly pay himself, friends and family and to buy luxuries such as spa services and concert tickets.

Dist. Atty. Michael A. Ramos said he launched the investigation after reading the state audit, which he said "turned my stomach a little bit." He said the "true victims" were the 4,500 students who scrambled to find new schools when the charter schools abruptly closed their doors in August 2004…

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PAIR INDICTED IN CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL INVESTIGATION (Investigative Report from the Office of Inspector General, September 4, 2007)

San Bernardino, CA — Today, a special criminal grand jury presented an indictment to the Presiding Judge of San Bernardino County. The indictment charges Charles Steven Cox, 59, of Phelan and Tad Theron Honeycutt, 44, of Hesperia with 117 felony counts ― 56 counts of Misappropriation of Public Funds, in violation of Penal Code Section 424, and 56 counts of Grand Theft, in violation of Penal Code Section 487 (a). The dollar amount loss is in excess of $5,000,000.00. Cox is accused in all 112 counts of Misappropriation of Public Funds and Grand Theft. Honeycutt is accused in 30 of those 112 counts.

Cox is also accused of failing to file a tax return, in violation of Revenue and Taxation Code Section 18706. Honeycutt is accused in three counts of failing to file a tax return in violation of the above-mentioned code, as well as being accused in one count of filing a false tax return, in violation of Revenue and Taxation Code Section 18705.

As a result of the indictment and arrest warrants issued, the defendants were arrested and arraigned in Superior Court in Victorville this morning before Judge Margaret Powers. Both defendants entered not guilty pleas. Bail is set at $1 million for Cox and $500,000 for Honeycutt. The next hearing is scheduled for September 7, 2007, in Superior Court in Victorville for Confirmation of Counsel and further proceedings.

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TWO CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE SHUT IN COUNTY; OPERATOR CLOSES 60 CAMPUSES IN STATE; August 12, 2004; San Diego Union-Tribune (CA)

Amid a widening investigation into its finances and management practices, the state's largest charter school operator has shut down all its campuses, including two in San Diego County.

Nearly 10,000 students will need to find new schools. The two satellite campuses in San Diego County are in Vista and Chula Vista and served more than 200 students.

Until its demise, the California Charter Academy operated a network of 60 campuses and nearly 10,000 students. Its headquarters were in Victorville, but school sites were scattered across California, from San Diego to Gridley in Butte County…

The academy's schools in Vista and Chula Vista were among six operated in the state under a charter from the Orange Unified School District. District trustees revoked the organization's charter on Monday.

The Vista site, which leased classrooms from the North County Tabernacle of Praise for three years, served about 100 students. The Chula Vista site, which leased space from Hilltop Tabernacle for 2½ years, served 130 to 150 students, according to people familiar with the schools…

The charter school operator drew the attention of state and local officials, who questioned the nonprofit organization's finances and the dual role of C. Steven Cox as CEO of the academy and CEO of a private firm, Educational Administrative Services Corp. It managed the schools in exchange for 8.5 percent of the $35 million in state funding provided to Charter Academy last year.

The California Charter Academy has received more than $100 million in state money since 1999.

California Department of Education officials last week subpoenaed academic and financial records from the Charter Academy as part of an investigation into a potential conflict of interest and other alleged violations of the law…
Orange Unified School District officials, who began investigating the organization last August, said there has been an exodus of high-level staff members from the Charter Academy in recent months.

State and Orange Unified officials were scrambling to inform students, parents and school districts about the charter closures.

Orange Unified is developing a Web page to inform students of their enrollment options in their home districts. It will post notices at former charter sites and send letters to local superintendents to tell them to expect an influx of displaced students.

At its peak, California Charter Academy enrolled more than 11,000 students at some 60 sites in 20 counties.

Many of its campuses were far away from the school districts that sponsored them and thus did not have close scrutiny…

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Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH KILLING ED, Mark Hall's feature-length documentary about charter schools, corruption and the rise of the Gulen Movement in America
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

Remainders

1. Bruce Baker's excellent analysis of whether charter schools are public or private.

2. Jim Horn's Top 10 reasons for why 1%ers support urban charter schools.

3. What reporters covering charter schools need to know about miracle schools, vouchers and all that educational flim-flam (i.e. be skeptical and always follow the money).

4. As of May 2013, only eight states do not have a charter school law: Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.

5. Balkanize: "to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units" (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

6. *Phrase coined by John Thompson: "educational civil war"

7. "A system that allows school operators to donate to the officials that regulate them is pretty sorry." h/t "X"

8. Re the Gulen movement. Two important psychological principals of which to be aware: the Backfire Effect and the Black Swan Theory.

Pleas for charter school oversight

AS U.S. AID GROWS, OVERSIGHT IS URGED FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS; February 24, 2010; New York Times

…The president of one influential charter group told the House Education and Labor Committee that the federal government had spent $2 billion since the mid-1990s to finance new charter schools but less than $2 million, about one-tenth of 1 percent, to ensure that they were held to high standards.
“It’s as if the federal government had spent billions for new highway construction, but nothing to put up guardrails along the sides of those highways,” said Greg Richmond, president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers…

CHARTER BACKER SAYS HOUSE PROPOSAL WEAKENS OVERSIGHT; April 30, 2011; Columbus Dispatch (OH)

A leading school-choice supporter says the sweeping changes proposed by House Republicans would weaken oversight of charter schools severely and threaten to turn Ohio into a "laughingstock of the nation's charter-school programs.

"It's hard for me to say that," said Terry Ryan, vice president of Ohio programs and policy for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which sponsors seven charter schools in the state, including two in Columbus...

It was just last year that Mr. Ryan said, "The charter movement must police itself."
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"The idea of regulating charter schools makes no sense because deregulation is the justification for the policy." -- Jim M., retired teacher

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Perhaps it's finally dawning on some charter school supporters that the whole business is a huge can of worms.

Message to readers

With the systematic privatization of public education being conducted via the rapid expansion of charter schools, I regularly receive messages from teachers and parents who have charter school horror stories they want to share, and/or are in need of advice about a charter school situation in their community (e.g., "The charter school I attended has been closed. Do you know how I can get a copy of my transcript?). I also hear from journalists who are seeking information.

Just so you know, this site is a one-woman volunteer operation. Sorry folks, I'm DEFINITELY NOT union-sponsored.

Welcome

Charter School Scandals (CSS) was launched on May 14, 2010 to provide the public with a source of independently collected information about U.S. charter schools.

For instance, compare what you learn from my entry for the 3,500 student CATO School of Reason to the information provided by the pro-charter Center for Education Reform in their compilation: "Closed Charter Schools by State: National Data 2009" (63 page pdf). In the CER's document, the closure reason is "Management" explained as "Inadequate record keeping, suspect relations with private and sectarian schools," but the true story is much bigger and dirtier than that.

CSS is a non-billionaire funded (and un-bought off!), non-union affiliated (!), one-person operation in the name of transparency and public service to our democracy. I post the information as quickly as I can, but have a massive backlog due to the sheer number of stories. Please check back periodically for new additions.

And as you scroll through these stories, be sure to keep a running tally of the estimated legal costs.

Gulen Movement MUST READS!

Under the radar of the American public, the Gulen movement has been quietly advancing its presence in the U.S. via the establishment of charter schools, "cultural centers", and "interfaith dialogue" centers. Politicians, reporters, academics, community leaders, and charter school families have been strategically targeted, influenced, and given gifts, as the Gulenists have steadily built up their political cover. But how many of these Americans have an understanding of the controversies which surround this secretive movement and its worldwide political ambitions? And how would the public respond to finding out that such a movement is opening more and more charter schools, supported by their tax dollars as part of the GM's primary global project, without being willing to admit the connection?

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LEARN MORE

1. Read about the federal investigation into the Gulen Movement's charter schools.

2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Islam, Secularism and the Battle for Turkey's Future, 23 August 2010, STRATFOR Global Intelligence

3. Video of Joshua Hendrick of the U. of OR and Y. Alp Aslandogan discussing the Gulen Movement. Here are the first 24 pages of Hendrick's 2009 thesis.

4. Charter School Watchdog

5. Gulen Charter Schools (don't miss the entry HERE.)

6. A Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities in the U.S.

7. Gulen in the International Press

8. "Turkey's survival of the fittest: The Islamic anti-Darwinism movement in Turkey is being helped by an unlikely source - US Christian conservatives," 12 March 2008, ISN Security Watch)

9. "Religious movements in Turkey," 20 December 2010, OpenDemocracy

10. "First Class Revolution: From Medina to Mecca" and "Fethullah Gulen's Missionary Charter Schools Coming under Increasing Scrutiny in the United States and around the World," 24 January 2011 & 26 February 2011, Kurdish Aspect

11. "Turkey: Politics of Identity and Power," 13 August 2010, Congressional Research Service

12. "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade," July 1998, Le Monde diplomatique (more background info)

13. EXTRA CREDIT: Check out the animated Imperial History of the Middle East and this Middle East geography game.

Bad apples, tips of icebergs, and cans of worms

In 2000, the Center for Education Reform wrote:
"A few bad apples shouldn't sour the public on the promising charter school movement, but when a bad apple does turn up, critics of charter schools pounce on it. Charter opponents are quick to claim that "more than a few" schools have closed and even quicker to characterize the movement as one that invites unscrupulous, fly-by-night operators to set up shop.Those mean ol' charter opponents. Isn't it curious how the reformers don't have any problem at all with building up a few negative public school stories into an anti-public teacher-bashing movement of national proportions in order to destroy teacher unions and public schools as a whole?"

But are charter schools really so innocent?

- In 2009, 83 percent of 145 Minnesota charter schools were found to have at least one financial irregularity in their audit.

- In February 2009, a New Mexico state audit found financial problems with 36 of the 44 charter schools in Albuquerque.

- Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz (April 2010): "The fact that there were significant issues at 13 out of 13 [schools] raises the likelihood you would see many of these same issues found in a much larger sampling of the schools.By May 2010, his probe had widened to 18 charter schools."

Relationships terminated

Charter school promoters live in an abstract world where it's perfectly fine to shutter a school when the "need" arises. This reveals a profound detachment and utter disregard for the emotional lives of the children and families who, as a result, end up being subjected to tremendous disruption, stress, termination of meaningful relationships, loss and grief. Kids need security and dependability.

A school going "out of business" takes a very different emotional toll on families and children than when their local gas station or Denny's restaurant does.

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The demise and death of our institutions of social support:

Family............check!
Church............check!
Neighborhoods............check!
Schools............check!

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"It comes down to what ultimately is in the best public interest here -- supporting the growth of charters or not. Does that support ultimately weaken the rest of the school district? You bet it does." (Fred LeBrun, Albany, NY)

Observations

There is no doubt but that an increasing number of inspectors, auditors, investigators, prosecutors and court rooms (and a lot of time and money) will be needed as more state charter caps are lifted.

Part of the problem is that too many people running charter schools see them as their own little fiefdoms. After all the effort and money put into setting up their schools -- and with political leaders and the mainstream media shining their bright spotlights on charter schools -- the stakes are inordinately high for them to be able to show "success."

Another problem I've discovered by doing this research is that the unmonitored access to millions of public education dollars is drawing unscrupulous people into the "business." At other times, new-found access to funds is proving to be too tempting for some people who were perhaps less criminally-minded.

Additionally, I've now discovered that, in this era of high-stakes testing, the education security business is booming. As one company put it, "Cheating on tests isn't the exception anymore; it has almost become the rule."

On competition

From "Deregulation and Charter School Swindles" by Gary Clabaugh (Educational Horizons, Winter 2009):

Two main ideas inform the charter school movement. The first is that competition is an essential ingredient in school improvement. Charters are said to provide that.

The trouble with this argument is that competition doesn't select the best, only the most popular. McDonald's doesn't produce the best-tasting or most-nutritious food, for instance, but its heart attack specials certainly are popular. A second-rate school might prove similarly competitive if it provides a tawdry but reassuring education to the children of the low-information crowd. Fearful your kids will discover you are an ignoramus? Send them to Alpha Charter where they will never learn to doubt.

Dedication

This Web site is dedicated to Eli Broad, Bill Gates, the Walton family, Arne Duncan, Whitney Tilson, Joe Williams, Reed Hastings, Ted Mitchell, Jack O'Connell, Tom Vander Ark, George Miller, Joanne Weiss, Randy Ward, Arnold Swarzenegger, all Milton Friedman-lovers, and any other free-market, pro-school choice, minimally-regulate-what-goes-on-in-charter school supporters who are also proud self-stated "DISRUPTORS" of public school communities, who have almost never, EVER been part of a public school community or local neighborhood, or who rejected being part of any public school community or local neighborhood long, long ago -- but have ended up deciding to help tear apart the tapestry of basic local human connections anyway.

Visitors

A variety of people have been looking at my blog, probably because of the great Gulen charter school information I've posted. This site is regularly visited by readers from Turkey. I get periodic visits from dhs.gov, doj.gov and ed.gov. I've had visits from house.gov and ed.gov, and at least one visit from someone at eop.gov (? Executive Office of the President). I've had a few visits from a couple of mystery IPs that are supposedly associated with the State Department, specifically the CIA. Hmmmmm...

Pages

California Charter Academy (10,000 students / 60 sites)

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