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.
KAROLYN BELCHER, the forceful young principal of the John A. Reisenbach Charter School, sat in her office on a recent Thursday, sniffling slightly.
''I think I'm officially bitter,'' she said with a catch in her voice as she worked her way through a pile of red eighth-grade diplomas, flipping each one over, signing it, and laying it on a second stack. ''It's hard to see five years come to this. At least the kids are graduating.''
These eighth graders are the last class at Reisenbach, a charter school on West 117th Street in Harlem that Ms. Belcher has guided since its founding in 1999. Charter schools, state-financed, privately run alternatives to traditional public schools, have unusual freedom to operate, but they must submit to periodic and grueling review. In New York, the toughest review comes every five years, when a state evaluator, in this case the State University of New York Board of Trustees, must decide whether to renew the school charter.
Last February, the board decided not to do so for Reisenbach, influenced in part by low test scores its students received in 2003. Two weeks ago, amid calls for a reprieve based on new, higher scores, and after a nerve-racking period of flux, the board affirmed its earlier decision…
This intense parental loyalty makes closing charter schools very difficult. ''There's a huge sympathy factor to parents who look you in the eye and say, 'My child loves this school, and I'm not sending them away,''' said Peter Murphy, formerly a vice president of the Charter Schools Institute, an expert body that advises the SUNY board. ''It grips your soul. Nobody wants to tell these parents, 'Sorry, we've got to go by the book here.''' But, he added: ''What are charters supposed to be about? They're supposed to be about unemotional issues.''
By ''unemotional issues,'' Mr. Murphy means measurable indices of a school's performance: how well its curriculum is designed, whether there are provisions for self-review and -- most important -- how the students test. The Charter Schools Institute found Reisenbach had fallen short in all of these respects…
The directors of a troubled, year-old charter school hit by financial woes, a deteriorating governing board and infighting closed the school Monday night.
TerraNova Academy in West Palm Beach had too many problems to remain open, said Chuck Shaw, charter schools chief for the Palm Beach County School District. The charter school's governing board voted during a special meeting Monday night to close the school.
"The school's debt is now approaching around $100,000," said Shaw. "Having to pay off that debt it almost makes it impossible to open. They gave it a shot, and it doesn't look like they can pull it off."
Shaw said he wanted to give the school a chance to close itself or the district would be forced to close it. TerraNova parents may be able to reopen the school "once they get it together," Shaw said. His office is scrambling to place as many as 200 students in other schools before school starts in two weeks.
Shaw said he couldn't allow the charter school to open because teachers are headed back to school next week and the school doesn't have a building that is up to code for classroom space. Last year, the school held classes at Tabernacle of Love in Palm Springs.
Meanwhile, the school's founder and former principal, Leo Cardona, claims he is a victim of the School District and a handful of board members out to destroy his vision to educate Hispanic children. Cardona also founded Spanish Academy in Boca Raton.
He said he knows the school might not reopen. "At this point I don't really care. I don't want to be part of that show any more," he said.
TerraNova, like all charter schools, was publicly funded but privately managed. It opened with promise in August. Parents hoped the school would offer a quality bilingual education for their youngsters. But by the end of the school year too much had been revealed and too much had gone wrong. Although the school received more than $500,000 in public funds to teach English as a second language, the school's language program was not effective.
The school's finances appeared to be on an upswing last month when the board removed Cardona from his $65,000 executive director position and eliminated a $30,000 TerraNova job held by Cardona's son, David.
But the school's original board resigned about three weeks ago amid chaos and the board's inability to make decisions. A new board of mostly parents tried to save the school during the past two weeks, but even that new board disintegrated amid confusion.
TerraNova charter school's governing board disintegrated this week with four of five members resigning following months of infighting and confusion over leadership at the West Palm Beach school.
A fifth board member, Jay Steele, who was absent from a meeting Tuesday night, said Wednesday that running the public school was a "nuisance" but did not say whether he planned to resign also.
"I didn't really wish to be on this board to begin with," Steele said.
New board members are scheduled to be nominated and elected at a July 13 meeting - less than a month before the first day of school.
Founding board member Laurel Cherwin-Salmon said she resigned to give parents a chance to serve on the board, but also because she was frustrated by the inability of the board to get information from Leo Cardona, who served as principal last school year.
"If you keep everyone in a state of confusion, then nothing gets accomplished," she said…
TerraNova has been under scrutiny for months after district officials realized its administration was not following basic rules for public charter schools.
Chuck Shaw, director of charter schools for the school district, said the school has been operating without approved contracts or job descriptions for employees, has never turned in board minutes to his office, and does not have an appropriate budget.
The school also has moved into a new facility without a lease, and it's unclear whether a new principal has been hired or not. According to minutes from a June 1 meeting, Cardona hired a new principal on May 12 without a draft budget outlining her salary, or approval from the board…
The Sojourner Truth Learning Academy, a charter school under scrutiny for alleged financial improprieties, closed for the school year yesterday and will not reopen.
The San Diego Unified School District board voted 4-1 this week to deny the school's application for a five-year charter renewal after being told by district staffers that Sojourner, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus, faces a $200,000 deficit…
MALDEN - Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll will ask the Board of Education to vote next week to immediately suspend and revoke the charter granted in 2002 to the Roxbury Charter High School for Business, Finance and Entrepreneurship (RCHS). If approved, the school will shut its doors at the start of the winter break next week and will not reopen after the new year.
A letter was sent to leaders of RCHS late Monday to notify them of Driscoll’s recommendation.
“This is not a decision that I take lightly, but closing this school down is absolutely the right thing to do,” Driscoll said. “We as educators have a responsibility to our children, and it is unacceptable to me to leave students in that school any longer than necessary. This school has been in a downward spiral both financially and administratively for some time, and while we have tried to give them time to resolve their issues, the obstacles they face now are too big to overcome. Closing their doors is the best option for everyone.”
This recommendation is based on evidence that the school is not financially viable and does not have a strong enough governance and administrative structure to provide sufficient oversight to the operations of the school. As a result, Driscoll said he fears the 107 students enrolled at the school are simply not getting the education they deserve.
If approved, this would be the first time the Board of Education will have voted an emergency revocation and suspension of an operating school’s charter since the state’s charter school movement began in 1993.
The school received a Commonwealth charter in 2002 and opened in September, 2003. Their curriculum focus is on business, finance and entrepreneurship, and was chartered for grades 9 through 12, with a maximum of 400 students. It is currently in its second year, with an enrollment of 107, rather than the 175 projected on the school’s original growth plan.
Driscoll said his decision was based on several issues:
The school is experiencing significant cash flow problems, due in large part to the school not reaching its enrollment projections. Currently, the school is projecting a deficit of $113,000 for the current year, which could result in the school being forced to close its doors on its own accord later in the current school year.
The school has no viable financial plan for addressing its facility needs. The school is currently leasing a former parochial school; the lease expires at the end of next year. If the school remains at this location, it will need to address significant ADA compliance issues as well as expand the facility to accommodate its planned enrollment.
The school has had serious governance problems, leading DOE officials to conclude that the school’s Board of Trustees has not provided effective oversight to properly address the major issues facing the school.
The school has failed to implement required procedures and programs relating to special education and English language immersion.
The school is not complying with state and federal requirements regarding student record keeping and documentation of Title I eligibility.
DOE officials have been in contact with the Boston Public Schools, and have been assured that seats will be made available after the new year for any RCHS students who choose to enroll in Boston.
“I know that this may be a difficult transition for some, but what matters most to me that our students get the best possible education in our schools," Driscoll said. "This is what’s best for these kids.”
EDISON SETTLES PHILADELPHIA LAWSUIT OVER STUDENT ASSAULT; July 1, 2008; American School & University (Online Exclusive)
Days after arguing in court that it was not responsible for the safety of its pupils, Edison Schools Inc. has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy raped in one of its Philadelphia schools. In 2004, a 12-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by an 11-year-old classmate in Stetson Middle School. The boy's family contended in a lawsuit that Edison was responsible for the assault, a notion the for-profit manager of 16 public schools rejected. Edison contended that the terms of its contract with the Philadelphia School District called only for it to provide educational programs and training. The family has confirmed that the lawsuit has been settled, but would not discuss details.
PHILADELPHIA -- An outraged mother says that her 12-year-old son was raped by an 11-year-old classmate at John B. Stetson Middle School in Philadelphia.
The 11-year-old has been charged with involuntary deviate sexual behavior.
The 12-year-old said it all started with a fight over a ball on Tuesday. Minutes later, the boy claimed, he was being sexually attacked…
"I'm upset with the school. They couldn't see two children fighting and somehow they get into the fire escape. How did that happen? How do you go in there without nobody noticing? No alarm systems, no cameras," the boy's mother said…
Late Wednesday afternoon, Edison Schools spokesman Richard Barth said there are no cameras where the alleged rape occurred.
"We are -- Edison Schools and the school district of Philadelphia, which are partners working at Stetson Middle School -- are conducting an internal investigation," Barth said…
The alleged victim has been allowed to transfer to another school. The boy accused of the attack has been expelled. Crisis counseling has been offered to both families.
After several years of poor performance and financial mismanagement, Walter French Academy's charter was revoked in July 2004 and the school was closed. State Senator Virg Bernero called Walter French Academy "the poster child for the abuse that is possible under the current [charter school] structure — or lack thereof."…
A kindergarten class wasn't in the plan when Walter French Academic opened in 1996.
The academy was Lansing's first fling into the new world of junior and senior high charter schools. Applicants typically were at least 11 years old, and computer literacy was preferred. After all, Walter French was billed as a high-tech alternative to Lansing's traditional public schools.
But today, 5-year-old frolic with crayons and counting beads. And the school this year dropped "Business and Technology" from its title. The changes have helped the school nearly erase a $3 million deficit caused by startup problems in 1996.
When schools close for the summer in a few weeks, Michigan's charter school industry completes its first five years. Many of those schools, including Walter French, have altered course since debuting as an alternative to traditional public districts…
But some parents say the schools wind up with the same problems as traditional districts. They view the schools as strapped for cash and faced with too many diverse needs to be as effective as promised.
"The concept is good, but I wonder if it's working," said Brenda Petite-el, a Lansing woman who recently pulled her son out of Walter French Academy. "It's not from a lack of effort. But there have been struggles."…
Walter French is a dramatic and somewhat extreme example. The school ran up a $3 million deficit mainly because of opening a week late in 1996. Key equipment had not arrived in time for the scheduled start of classes.
Enrollment plummeted from 650 on opening day to about 400 at the end of the school year. As students left, state financial aid vanished…
Walter French's initial mission was to have all its students geared toward computer technology and business applications. The school still has an internship program with General Motors Corp., and is developing programs to match students with their potential careers as early as seventh grade.
The school has 230 computers for its 600 students, and started a certification program for Microsoft technology in 1998-99. The program was suggested and largely run by the students -- a freedom 1999 Walter French graduate Paul Curtis doubts he would have had at a traditional school.
"Teachers didn't take us for granted," said Curtis, now a Spring Arbor College freshman. "It was a very trusting, open environment."
But just 56 percent of Walter French students took computer technology classes in 1998-99. Some students aren't interested in the subject; others are not academically prepared for it…
A former student launched a petition drive at the school in late February, protesting enforcement of the school's dress code and the school's limited extracurricular offerings. The letter, sent to the Lansing City Council in March, was signed by more than 70 students.
"I definitely think improvements are being made," said Noemi Delgado, a Walter French sophomore. "But there is too much emphasis on the dress code, and not enough on the extracurriculars."
School officials counter that charters don't have the money and weren't designed to offer as many extracurricular activities as traditional schools. They say most of the students didn't know what they were signing, and most didn't know the petition was headed for City Council.
But the incident, sparked by student defections and suspensions for fighting and dress-code violations, reflects that Walter French still has issues. Enrollment has fallen from 641 at the start of this school year to about 600 in April.
Some parents discover their children aren't any happier at charters than they were at traditional schools. Others grow resentful of the dress code or other disciplinary measures.
"Some parents can't hack it, and some kids can't hack it," said Magdalena Renderos, who has four children enrolled at Walter French. "You are going to have your problems like at any other school."…
TOO MUCH LIBERTY AT LIBERTY? Allegations of fiscal mismanagement at Nampa charter school; February 17, 2004; Boise Weekly (ID)
Last week a group of parents went to Liberty Charter School in Nampa to gain access to financial records after filing a public records request in January. June Blackhurst, Jennifer Taylor, Laurie Boechel and Jennifer Taylor handed over their findings to the state attorney general and the governor's office and asked the agencies to review what they described as "questionable bookkeeping practices." Both offices have agreed to look into the situation.
"It (the bookkeeping) made the Mayor Coles thing look like pennies," Blackhurst said.
The group of parents claim that officials at Liberty Charter School watched their every move while they were making copies of the public school's financial records, in addition the school charged the group $195 dollars for its public records request. Under Idaho law agencies may establish a fee to recover labor costs for voluminous or complex requests. The group also says it has learned Liberty Charter School paid $13,000 in IRS penalty fees. They also claim to have found numerous bills without proper documentation including an $1,800 American Express bill allegedly incurred by Principal Becky Stallcop and a $42,000 check to Chips, a computer company for technology work.
"In the public school system, anything over $20,000 is supposed to be bid out," Blackhurst said.
One of the most controversial and complicated aspects of the group's findings was the information learned about the Harbor Method, the method of teaching used by the school. The Harbor Method has been copyrighted and incorporated as nonprofit organization by Stallcop, KTVB news anchor Dee Sarton, her husband Terry Bower and Liberty teacher Machel Stimpson. There were numerous checks written to Bower and a number of trips that Bower took that were poorly documented, including a $3,000 tour that Bower and Sarton took to Washington D.C. last year for a national charter school conference…
A Big Island charter school will re-examine its disciplinary policies and train its faculty on when it is appropriate to search students to settle a lawsuit accusing the principal and his secretary of illegally strip-searching a 15-year-old girl.
The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in May 2003 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i against Steve Hirakami, principal of the Hawai'i Academy of Arts and Sciences charter school in Pahoa, and his secretary, Andrea Irvine…
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of the student identified as "Jane Doe," and her mother, who said her daughter was forced to remove her clothes after she and two other students — one male, one female — were accused of stealing $30 from a school van driver on Jan. 30, 2003.
According to the lawsuit, Hirakami and Hawai'i County police questioned the students and searched their belongings, but no cash turned up.
Hirakami then ordered Irvine to conduct strip-searches of the two girls, the lawsuit said…
SPONSOR REVOKES CHARTER FOR FORT WAYNE, IND., SCHOOL, July 20, 2004, The Indianapolis Star
A charter school plagued by low enrollment and financial problems will be shut down this month -- the first time one of the alternative public schools has been ordered closed in Indiana.
Urban Brightest Community Academy in Fort Wayne lost the support of its sponsor, Ball State University, on Monday. A hearing panel upheld the decision of acting university President Beverley Pitts to revoke the elementary school's charter.
"The violations were so broad and so deep, we didn't feel it was in the best interests of those enrolled in the school to begin the next school year," said Marty Dezelan, Ball State's director of charter schools…
The Fort Wayne school enrolled 93 students in Grades K-5 last school year but had about 30 withdraw during the year. Only 42 intended to enroll again; 35 others applied.
In addition to low enrollment, the school had problems with management, curriculum and money, university officials said.
It will close with $649,000 in unpaid bills and debt -- including a $300,000 loan from a state fund supported by taxpayers and available to all charters…
Dezelan said Urban Brightest officials did not address Ball State's concerns after an April 2003 visit or take up the university's offer to help.
The school did not teach the curriculum it had described, nor did it give adequate training to teachers.
It also did not submit reports to the Indiana Department of Education on time and did not offer proper services to special education students, he added…
The District school board last night voted to close the Village Learning Center Public Charter School, saying that its finances were mismanaged and that it suffered other problems.
At a special meeting, the board voted 5 to 1 to shutter the school. Three board members were absent.
Board members asked officials with D.C. public schools and the city's charter schools to help relocate Village's 460 students, who attended kindergarten through 12th grade at two campuses in Northeast Washington. Classes at Village have ended for the school year.
In deciding to close the school, several board members cited a city audit that said the school made credit card charges for clothing and gifts, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on leased space it did not occupy and failed to document loan repayments…
…School board member Robin B. Martin, a mayoral appointee, said the school's trustees should have spotted indications of financial mismanagement years ago. "Warning signs came year after year after year," Martin said…
…In May, the school board voted to begin the closure process for Village, which had been on probation for months after various problems surfaced.
Village Learning Center, which opened in 1998, was one of 37 charter schools on 41 campuses in the city. The schools, which receive funding from the District, operate independently of the school system. But because the school board issued the school's charter, it is responsible for monitoring whether the school follows the law and meets its objectives.
A resolution approved by the school board last night cited the city audit, among other factors. That report, which examined the school's finances from October 1998 through November 2003, said that the school had amassed a deficit of $895,567 and that the Internal Revenue Service had imposed fines and penalties of $265,729 against the school for its late filing and payment of withholding taxes in 2001.
Among other findings, the audit said $156,424 had been paid to the school's executive director and family members, as well as to a hired financial consultant. The executive director indicated that the payments were to repay loans made to the school, the audit said.
The board also cited the school's failure to obtain accreditation within five years of opening, as required by law. One board member said reports indicated that some teachers were not up to par…
Three relatives pleaded guilty Monday to swindling at least $5 million from state and federal governments by inflating the enrollment and the number of free lunches served at the defunct Prepared Table Charter School.
The guilty pleas, in a case that tarnished the reputation of charter schools and inspired tougher laws governing their operation, come three weeks after the death of the accused mastermind, the Rev. Harold Wilcox.
Wilcox and three family members were accused of using the bank accounts of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church, where he was pastor, to launder fraud profits.
If the case had gone to trial next week as scheduled, the government would have presented proof that the defendants inflated the enrollment figures at the Prepared Table Charter School's three Houston-area campuses and used a sham catering company to overbill a federal lunch program for needy students, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Annise said.
Annise said the scheme also included a contract to rent church property that overcharged the school by more than $250,000.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas accepted guilty pleas from Wilcox's wife, Louvicy Wilcox, 52; her daughter, Rochall Frank, 32; and Wilcox's brother, the Rev. Anthony Mosley, 40, also a pastor at the church.
In return for the guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to drop many of the 52 counts in the indictment.
Wilcox pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count. Frank pleaded guilty to a conspiracy count and a money-laundering count, and Mosely pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and four money-laundering counts.
Atlas scheduled sentencing for July 1, when they will face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each conspiracy count and 20 years and a $500,000 fine, or twice the value of the property, on each money-laundering count.
All three remain free on $50,000 bail.
Louvicy Wilcox and her daughter pleaded guilty to involvement in the false enrollment reports to the Texas Education Agency, which made payments to the school based on the number of students.
Wilcox founded the first nonprofit Prepared Table charter school in 1999 and opened two additional campuses in the fall of 2000.
During its three years of operation, the school received about $2.56 million in federal funds and about $16.76 million from the state, according to the indictment.
A TEA audit found that the school was inflating enrollment, failed to produce enrollment figures and failed to account for at least $1.3 million during its first two years of operation.
(HOUSTON, TX) United States Attorney Michael Shelby announced the indictment of four Prepared Table Charter School officials and employees for their role in a scheme to embezzle millions of dollars in federal funds secured through grants and state programs to the school and laundering the proceeds. Harold W. Wilcox, 52, Louvicy Wilcox, 51, Anthony Mosley, 42, and Roshall Frank, 32, all of Houston, Texas, have been named in various counts in a 26 count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury on June 29, 2004, and unsealed today. All four defendants were arrested this morning at their residences by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and appeared in federal court this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley.
Following the appearance of the defendants in federal court today, United States Attorney Michael Shelby said, "Today's indictment alleges that the defendants defrauded the taxpayers of Texas and the United States in a deliberate, methodical and significant way. We intend to use every tool federal law provides to protect the nation's treasury from this kind of calculated plunder."
The indictment charges the defendants with embezzling and obtaining by fraud federal and State of Texas money allocated to the Prepared Table Charter School for the educational and nutritional needs of children, during the three years of the schools existence. In July 1998, Harold Wilcox applied to the State of Texas for a charter to run the school and serve as the Chief Administrator and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Prepared Table Charter School. Wilcox's wife, Louvicy Wilcox, worked in the administrative offices of the school approving expenditures and assisted in the running of the school's operations. Her daughter, Roshall Frank, worked in the school's attendance reporting office. Anthony Mosley, the brother of Harold Wilcox, ran the food services at the school.
According to allegations contained in the 26 count indictment, Prepared Table Charter School received millions of dollars in federal funds under various programs and grants of the Department of Education. They also received federal funds through the Department of Agriculture's National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. The defendants made claims for reimbursement under these federal programs after posing as an independent contractor with whom the School contracted to cater meals for the school. The defendants had checks issued in the name of this alleged catering service and then deposited the checks into the church bank account.
The defendants are also charged with misrepresenting the attendance figures for the school to the Texas Education Agency and fraudulently obtaining approximately $3 million from the State of Texas, which provided funding to the School, based upon those attendance figures.
Harold Wilcox and Anthony Mosley are ministers of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church and are accused of using the tax exempt status of the church to further their unlawful activity. The indictment charges the defendants with utilizing their positions in the school to obtain money by fraud, and with attempting to hide and disguise the true source of the misappropriated money by depositing the money into a church bank account. They are further charged with depositing this money into the church bank account with the intent to evade federal taxes. Once the misappropriated money was deposited into the church bank account, Harold Wilcox is accused of withdrawing cash from the account in amounts below $10,000 to avoid the requirement that the bank file a Currency Transaction Report on any cash transaction involving over $10,000.
The indictment charges all four defendants with conspiracy to commit wire and program fraud (Count 1), and three counts (Counts 2 - 4) of wire fraud involving a total of approximately $1.7 million, allegedly occurring between December 1999 and April 2001. Harold Wilcox is charged in three counts (Counts 5 - 7) with program fraud involving the transfer of more than $70,000 in school funds to the Church in August 2000, and January and February 2002. Harold Wilcox, his wife, Louvicy Wilcox, and Anthony Q. Mosley are accused of conspiring with one another to launder the money obtained by fraud for the purpose of concealing the source of the money and to evade taxes (Count 8). In furtherance of the conspiracy, Harold Wilcox is charged with four specific counts (Counts 9 - 12) of laundering approximately $97,000 in school fund between January and September 2000. Anthony Mosley is charged with six counts (Counts 13 - 18) of laundering an approximate total of $181,000 in school funds between April and June of 2002. The final eight counts of the indictment (Counts 19 - 26) accuse Harold Wilcox of structuring multiple financial transactions with money allegedly obtained by fraud to avoid reporting requirements during eight short intervals of time between September 1999 and March 2001.
The indictment also includes a number of forfeiture counts providing notice to all defendants of the government's intent to forfeit $3.3 million, the real estate property and all improvements located at 20 Thornhill Oaks, and 9100 Tidwell, and all the amounts alleged in each of the counts of the indictment. The indictment alleges that Harold Wilcox used approximately $51,000 in school funds for a down payment toward the purchase of the residence at 20 Thornhill Oaks, Houston, Texas. Both the Thornhill Oaks and Tidwell properties are titled in the name of Harold W. Wilcox.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Department of Education Office of Inspector General with the invaluable assistance of the Texas Education Agency. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Melissa Annis.
The head and three employees of a Houston charter school once said to exemplify the problems with charter schools were arrested today on charges that they embezzled some $3 million in state and federal education funds.
The Rev. Harold W. Wilcox, former head of the now defunct Prepared Table Charter School and pastor of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church, and three family members are accused of siphoning funds from children's programs.
"We are confident that Pastor Wilcox will be exonerated of all charges," said Andrew Martin, Wilcox's attorney. "We are confident that the operation was run within the law."
FBI agents who made the arrest found Wilcox hiding in a false compartment in a closet at his home with $3,500 in cash, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Annis told U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley.
Botley set a $150,000 bond for Wilcox and required him to be electronically monitored, remain in Houston and to attend Gamblers Anonymous counseling sessions.
Also arrested were Wilcox's wife, Louvicy Wilcox, 51; his wife's daughter, Rochall Frank, 32; and his brother, Anthony Mosley, 42, all of Houston.
Botley set bond for the others at $50,000.
After a court official accused Wilcox of trying to conceal his ownership of a passport, Botley ordered that he surrender it before leaving the courthouse.
The Prepared Table Charter School was at the center of controversy for several years before the Texas Education Agency revoked its charter in 2002.
The school was found to be inflating enrollment, failing to produce enrollment figures and failing to account for at least $1.3 million during its first two years of operation after opening in 1999.
The allegations of mismanagement lead to a tightening of rules governing charter schools in 2001, but charter school supporters in the Legislature repealed the rules in 2003.
Education officials in Texas have pulled the plug on a church-run charter school that has been embroiled in scandal and financial mismanagement.
In mid July the Texas Education Agency (TEA) held a three-day hearing on the fate of the Prepared Table Charter School, an institution run by the Rev. Harold Wayne Wilcox of the Greater Progressive Tabernacle Baptist Church in Humble. The school, which has been in existence since 1998, has allegedly squandered millions in tax dollars.
On Aug. 16, TEA officials revoked the controversial school's state charter and its lucrative public funding.
Texas lawmakers approved a charter school law in 1997 but officials have been lax in overseeing the program. Nearly any group or individual who applied for a charter got one--along with public funding.
The Kingwood Observer reported that Wilcox appointed himself and church board members as school administrators. Classes were held in the church sanctuary, and the "school" began paying the church $68,000 per month in rent, courtesy of the taxpayers.
Within a few years, the church had purchased or rented several other properties to expand, even though these new charters had not been approved by the TEA. By the fall of 2000, reported the Observer, Prepared Table was receiving nearly $8 million per year from the state of Texas.
TEA officials eventually became suspicious over a series of cozy arrangements between the school and church members. A church member who owned a cleaning service that cleaned the schools received $140,000 per month. When Wilcox resigned from the school, he received a "buyout package" worth $235,000 from the board--which consisted of Wilcox, his wife and his wife's sister.
Wilcox, who does not have a college degree, paid himself $210,000 annually to run the school. He paid his wife $50,000 to act as his secretary. This year, only 23 percent of Prepared Table students at the main campus passed Texas' proficiency exam. The figure was even lower at another Prepared Table school--18 percent.
State officials also accused the school of inflating the number of students t attending. The school claimed 2,500 students, but TEA officials said they could never confirm that more than 1,500 were enrolled.
Meanwhile, reports are circulating that the U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating Wilcox.
The Observer, which has covered the problems at Prepared Table in depth, editorialized in July, "[A]fter months and months and millions and millions of local, state and federal dollars being poured into the `school,' it turns out that the children are still failing, they can't pass TAAS [Texas' state proficiency exam], the police are regularly called to the campuses, and the superintendent has paid himself nearly $800,000 and his wife another $200,000 since the school opened in 1998. Your tax dollars have made millions of dollars worth of improvements to the church/school buildings (what we would call a real church/state separation issue) and the TEA won't or can't control the situation."
The scandal, along with other problems, has prompted Texas legislators to take a second look at charter schools. In heavily populated Harris County, the Houston Chronicle reported in June, only 13 of the county's 61 charter schools saw 85 percent of their students pass the state's proficiency exam, putting them far behind public schools in performance.
Americans United Board of Trustees member Charlotte Coffelt, a resident of Houston and a former principal of a public elementary school, commented on the scandal in the July 23 Houston Chronicle.
"Prepared Table Charter School should be a textbook case of what happens when individuals and organizations with no background in either managing a business or having successfully provided effective educational programs are given access to public monies," Coffelt warned. "Many millions were invested in this `innovative' educational program, with dismal academic results and evidence of massive misuse of public money and falsification of public documents."
OPA-LOCKA, FL -- A charter school founder was arrested Friday on charges that she moved preschool children into a kindergarten class to illegally qualify for $46,000 in public funds based on the inflated enrollment.
The North Dade Community Charter School was in financial trouble in its second year when Sharon Donald moved children younger than 5, the minimum age for public school, into one of three kindergarten classrooms, investigators said.
Donald was charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing at least $20,000 in state money that was forwarded by Miami-Dade County schools based on the fudged student census. She was booked in the Miami-Dade County jail, and it was not immediately known if she had an attorney.
The children were moved the day before the annual count last year, which dictates state funding for Florida's public and charter schools, a teacher told investigators…
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…
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...
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…
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.
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…
