Oregon Bans Online School Operator for Life (but not Washington State)
In one of those likely "it's only a matter of time" stories, The Oregonian reports that Tim King, who is a charter school chain operator in Oregon was recently banned - for life -in a court settlement from ever "running, advising, or otherwise getting financially involved with any charter school in Oregon." He and a partner also must pay the state of Oregon $475k and dismantle their schools. You can imagine the repercussions to students and parents at those schools. The pair had been accused of engaging in "racketeering, money laundering and other fraud in operating charter schools in Oregon from 2007-2010." The Oregon DOJ had initially wanted $20M but backed off because "the state now believes most of the $17M that went to them was legitimately used to educate" Oregon students. The Oregon Department of Education provided start-up grants of up to $450,000 per charter school. It also paid about $6,000 a year for each student enro...