CPD In The News
NEA Today - May 14, 2014, by Tim Walker - Lax oversight and limited accountability has led to a shocking misuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools nationwide, according to a new report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education.
Roll Call - May 14, 2014, by Kyle Serrette and Sabrina Joy Stevens - Our children are too precious, and education funding too scarce, to risk turning either over to unscrupulous or incompetent organizations. That’s why charter schools were originally supposed to be something akin to a small, controlled experiment: public school laboratories intended to encourage new ways to educate students. That way, if something turned out not to work, the risk to students, educators and communities could be contained.
ProgressOhio - May 16, 2014 - A new report released today reveals that fraudulent charter operators in 15 states are responsible for losing, misusing or wasting over $100 million in taxpayer money.
New York Times - May 11, 2014 - CPD's Director of Strategic Research & Technology Connie Razza joins Room for Debate on the topic of "Secret Pension Fund Deals."
Behind Frenemy Lines - May 10, 2014, by Jason Stanford - Stanford takes on education reform in Texas, using CPD's report "Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud & Abuse."
The Nation - May 9, 2014, by Zoë Carpenter - Between 2003 and 2008, a Minnesota charter school executive named Joel Pourier embezzled more than $1.3 million from his school, the Oh Day Aki Charter School. While students at Oh Day Aki went without field trips and supplies for lack of funds, Pourier bought houses and cars and tossed bills at strippers. Because his school received federal funding—charter schools are privately run but many receive significant public financing—taxpayers were, in effect, subsidizing his lavish lifestyle.
MSNBC The ED Show - May 9, 2014 - John Boehner pushed the charter school agenda one step further by supporting legislation to pour even more funding into the program. Ed Schultz, Ruth Conniff, and St. Rep. Dwight Bullard discuss.
DailyKos - May 6, 2014, by Laura Clawson - Charter schools benefit from a massive double standard, taking public money without being subject to the regulations or oversight applied to traditional public schools. That lack of regulation and oversight has a cost, in students' educational experiences and in dollars. More than $100 million, as a new report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education shows.
Salon - May 7, 2014, by Paul Rosenberg - Just in time for National Charter School Week, there’s a new report highlighting the predictable perils of turning education into a poorly regulated business. Titled “Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud and Abuse,” the report focused on 15 states representing large charter markets, out of the 42 states that have charter schools. Drawing on news reports, criminal complaints, regulatory findings, audits and other sources, it “found fraud, waste and abuse cases totaling over $100 million in losses to taxpayers,” but warned that due to inadequate oversight, “the fraud and mismanagement that has been uncovered thus far might be just the tip of the iceberg.”
Education Opportunity Network - May 7, 2014, by Jeff Bryant - When members of the U.S. House of Representatives consider, beginning today, a bill to incentivize the expansion of charter schools, you can expect there to be a lot of heat but not very much light in their discussion of the need for more of these institutions.
