Bad News on Charters and Private Schools

Yet another thing I missed on I-1240 (it's just the gift that keeps on giving) - I had thought you could not convert a private school to a charter but yes, you can. 

I know, I thought 1240 had prohibited this but, in my defense, I can only say that I had read so many other states' charter laws (and many do prohibit this) that I got confused.  I double-checked with my ace reader, Eric B, and nope, we missed this.

Turns out at the Board of Education (which has to write some rules around the law), they have had a bit of a struggle over this issue as well.

Okay, so let's go over what we do know.

• First, the words "private school" do not even appear in I-1240 so that should have been a dead giveaway from the start.   I was told by the BOE that yes, "the statute is indeed silent on this issue."  They aren't saying it's a omission but I believe it is a deliberate one.

• The private school has to be a 501c3 (or create one).

• The private school cannot be religious or sectarian (but that doesn't mean they might not be able to get around that issue - many private to charter schools in other states have, to some degree).

• The new charter cannot accept any gifts or donations from a religious or sectarian group.

(Also to note, if you search "religious" and "sectarian" in the law, religious only comes up twice.  Sectarian comes up and particularly in this sentence that does NOT include religion:

No charter school may engage in any sectarian practices in its educational program, admissions or employment policies or operations.  

Now why would that not include religion?  I can only guess that the writers knew that there are Hebrew charters, the infamous Gulen charters (more on them later, they are Turkish -based), etc.  It is harder to have a culture-based charter if you say "no religion.")

• A private school would have to follow all the same requirements and procedures as any other charter applicant.  

It's an interesting dilemma because a popular private school could probably say "look we have community support already due to our enrollment" and it would be true.  It especially would be true if a private school tried to convert an existing public school.  (I still need further clarification on this issue but I believe it possible.)

A private school would get state funding (like any other charter) but that might be less than they might get in tuition (so don't look for Lakeside to switch anytime soon).  But they also would now have less autonomy.  

They also already have a staff, students and facility.  But, if they are under the authorization of a district, they might chafe at the oversight and/or possible requirements/limitations.  (But they also would now have access to say, district sports teams, a big expense for any private school.) 

I also attended the latest Charter Commission meeting on July 30th.  This was a shortened day as half the day was executive session interviews of candidates for Executive Director.

The Commission picked some interesting candidates.  Three seem very qualified and one much less so.

Roger McKeague would come from the Hawaii charter system.  He seems like an interesting guy, very much about finding the best options for public education.  Kaaren Heikes is the director of charter schools in Oregon.  My research on her seems to indicate she's very much of the mind of "the more charters the better."  Joshua Halsey is local and has a very good resume for this job.  He is a regional program developer for South King County STEM.  The least qualified is Solynn McCurdy who used to work for the Alliance (and is quite the smooth operator).


Steve Sundquist had everyone in the room state state who they were (which certainly was useful for everyone).  WSSDA has shown up at every meeting, along with the Washington Charter Schools Association, DFER, Partnership for Learning, a regional rep for Barnes and Noble and others.  

October 22nd is the deadline for charter applications.  

The Commission was also soliciting feedback on rules they have written.  Part of this meeting was the public hearing (they had one in Spokane which solicited not a single comment at the hearing).

Lisa MacFarlane spoke for the following - DFER, Washington Charter Schools Association, and League of Education Voters.  They feel that the rules are too detailed and that detail could be included in the RFP.  They think that things like charters understanding they need a playground is too much detail.  

I asked that they continue to seek, in the notice of intent letter, whether a charter group is filing for a new charter or conversion charter.  

I also asked if at the public forum required of each charter applicant, the public could ask questions (and not just make comments).

There was also an interesting question about whether a charter school can start before Sep. 1st as the relevant RCW says public schools start September 1st or after.

Another good question was if a district files (and is approved) to be an authorizer but its school board is against it.  What is their relationship to the on-going process of approving charters in their district?

As I previously reported, the Charter Commission has been given $916k over the biennium for their work. 

I had an interesting conversation with a School Board member in another district who said Hispanic parents at one school were being chatted up about converting the school.  She said the principal felt the parents did not clearly understand what they were being told or the ramifications.

Info on Gulen charter schools (the largest charter chain in the country).
Gulen Charters at Weebly.com
Gulen Charter Schools
Gulen at Charter School Scandals
Gulen at Wikipedia

Following the investigation, the Dutch government, concluding that the Gülen schools did indeed promote “anti-integrative behavior,” reduced their public funding.[31]

The United States of America is the only country in the world where the Gülen movement has been able to establish schools funded to a great extent by the host country’s taxpayers. In June 2011, New York Times shed light on schools in the United States, revealing that "Gulen followers have been involved in starting similar schools around the country — there are about 120 in all, mostly in urban centers in 25 states, one of the largest collections of charterschools in America." [32]

The schools are also H-1B visa factories. (These visas are supposed to be reserved for highly skilled workers who fill needs unmet by the American workforce.) In 2011, 292 of the 1,500 employees at the Gülen-inspired Harmony School of Innovation, a Texas charter school, were on H-1B visas, the school’s superintendent told the New York Times. The schools claim, according to an article written by Sharon Higgins in the Washington Post, that they are unable to find qualified teachers in America—which seems implausible, given the economic crisis and given that some of these new arrivals teach English, which often they speak poorly, or English as a second language, which often they need themselves.[35]

There is no evidence that Islamic proselytizing takes place at the American Gülen schools and much evidence that students and parents like them. Most seem to be decent educational establishments, by American standards; graduates perform reasonably well, and some perform outstandingly.[35]

Last year, the New York Times reported that the charters were funneling some $50 million in public funds to a network of Turkish construction companies, among them the Gülen-related Atlas Texas Construction and Trading. The schools had hired Atlas to do construction, the paper said, though other bidders claimed in lawsuits that they had submitted more economical bids. Folwell Dunbar, an official at the Louisiana Department of Education, has accused Atlas’s vice president, Inci Akpinar, of offering him a $25,000 bribe to keep mum about troubling conditions at the Abramson Science and Technology Charter School in New Orleans.

Utah’s Beehive Science and Technology Academy, another Gülen-inspired charter, was $337,000 in debt, according to a financial probe by the Utah Schools Charter Board. The Deseret News tried to figure out where all this taxpayer money had gone. “In a time of teacher layoffs, Beehive has recruited a high percentage of teachers from overseas, mainly Turkey,” the newspaper reported. “Many of these teachers had little or no teaching experience before they came to the United States. Some of them are still not certified to teach in Utah. The school spent more than $53,000 on immigration fees for foreigners in five years. During the same time, administrators spent less than $100,000 on textbooks, according to state records.”

A reporter for the leftist magazine In These Times noted in 2010 that the Chicago Math and Science Academy obscured its relationship to Gülen. And the school board was strikingly similar to Beehive’s: 

“When I went to the school’s board meeting on July 8, I was taken aback to see a board of directors comprised entirely of men. They all appeared of Turkish, Bosnian or Croatian descent. Although I have nothing against Turkish, Bosnian or Croatian men, it does seem that a school board serving students who are 58 percent Hispanic/Latino, 25 percent African American, 12 percent Asian and 5 percent white might be well served by some women board members and board members from ethnic backgrounds the school predominantly serves.”[35]