boutons_deux
04-06-2011, 01:06 PM
Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results
Contrary to the idea of charters as small, locally run schools, approximately a third of them now rely on management companies to perform many of the most fundamental school services, such as hiring and firing staff, developing curricula and disciplining students. But while the shortcomings of traditional public schools have received much attention in recent years, a look at the private sector’s efforts to run schools in Ohio, Florida and New York shows that turning things over to a company has created its own set of problems for public schools.
Government data suggest that schools with for-profit managers have somewhat worse academic results than charters without management companies, and a number of boards have clashed with managers over a lack of transparency in how they are using public funds.
White Hat has achieved particularly poor results, with only 2 percent of its students making the progress expected under federal education law. The company declined comment on the performance of its schools.
White Hat was established in 1998 by a prominent Akron businessman, David L. Brennan, who was a key advocate for introducing charter schools into Ohio. Like most charter schools, White Hat’s Hope Academies and LifeSkills Centers are primarily funded by the state based on the number of pupils they enroll. The contracts between White Hat and the schools now suing allow the company to collect virtually all funds and use them to run the schools.
http://www.propublica.org/article/charter-schools-outsource-education-to-management-firms-with-mixed-results
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Combine this kind of story for-profit college scammers pockeing $Bs in taxpayer-paid student loans and the only 25% of their students getting diplomas to see how wonderfully privatized education is just another corporate/capitalist scam, about as honest as pay-day lenders.
Contrary to the idea of charters as small, locally run schools, approximately a third of them now rely on management companies to perform many of the most fundamental school services, such as hiring and firing staff, developing curricula and disciplining students. But while the shortcomings of traditional public schools have received much attention in recent years, a look at the private sector’s efforts to run schools in Ohio, Florida and New York shows that turning things over to a company has created its own set of problems for public schools.
Government data suggest that schools with for-profit managers have somewhat worse academic results than charters without management companies, and a number of boards have clashed with managers over a lack of transparency in how they are using public funds.
White Hat has achieved particularly poor results, with only 2 percent of its students making the progress expected under federal education law. The company declined comment on the performance of its schools.
White Hat was established in 1998 by a prominent Akron businessman, David L. Brennan, who was a key advocate for introducing charter schools into Ohio. Like most charter schools, White Hat’s Hope Academies and LifeSkills Centers are primarily funded by the state based on the number of pupils they enroll. The contracts between White Hat and the schools now suing allow the company to collect virtually all funds and use them to run the schools.
http://www.propublica.org/article/charter-schools-outsource-education-to-management-firms-with-mixed-results
==========
Combine this kind of story for-profit college scammers pockeing $Bs in taxpayer-paid student loans and the only 25% of their students getting diplomas to see how wonderfully privatized education is just another corporate/capitalist scam, about as honest as pay-day lenders.