A frustrated D.C. Council in 2016 ordered a new analysis of school-by-school enrollment, growth plans and needed building upgrades. The dream — to end years of obscure renovation decisions by writing into law the data required, the priorities to rank needs, and plenty of public participation. Results were due in fall 2017 to help with […]
Tag: charter schools
Utah lawmakers debate need for transparency into how tax funding is used by charter-school-hired companies
Moroni Alvarez attended traditional public school until fifth grade, when a move placed his family near Freedom Preparatory Academy in Provo.
Now seven years later, the high school senior said he appreciates the emphasis on technology, leadership and service at his charter school. But he also acknowledged there are some drawbacks that stem from the school's comparably small student body. "In my class the ratio of boys to girls is like four-to-one," he said. "No. Five-to-one."
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Delaware lawmakers spar over charter school audit bills
Two Delaware lawmakers have proposed dueling bills over how charter schools are audited after a string of high-profile incidents in which charter leaders were caught misusing taxpayer funds.
State Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, wants the state auditor to select and oversee the firms that do the annual financial reports of charter schools. Currently, charter school boards work out those contracts themselves.
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Ohio treasurer asks charter schools to put finances online
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel is cajoling thousands of local governments, public universities, the Ohio pension systems and others to post their expenditures on his government transparency website, OhioCheckbook.com, but until recently he had omitted Ohio’s 395 charter schools – an entire wing of public education that costs taxpayers nearly $1 billion in state funding each year – from his call list.
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D.C. Transparency Watch: Open government office scores victory
A D.C. government task force of officials and citizens on education no longer plans to meet in secret for two years as it develops recommendations for the mayor on the visible and sensitive subject of improved collaboration between schools in the two sectors, charters and DCPS.
The task force website wasn’t updated as of Sunday, still reporting “meetings will be closed to the public.” But officials let it be known this week they plan to change course.
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Task force meetings on D.C. charter and regular schools will be public
D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles plans to open up meetings to the public for a task force that is being created to improve planning between the District’s traditional and charter schools, reversing an earlier decision to hold the meetings behind closed doors.
The task force, which will grapple with such contentious issues as how the city’s public schools can collaborate won the location and type of new schools that will open, was announced in August.
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Report: Charter school budgets are a ‘black hole’ of public information
The nation's charter schools largely are created, overseen and policed by pro-charter advocates, resulting in "an epidemic of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that would not be tolerated in [traditional] public schools," according to the Center for Media and Democracy.
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Coalition urges Council to expand transparency of DC charter schools
DC Open Government Coalition Legal Committee co-chair Fritz Mulhauser testified Wednesday in favor of legislation that would require more openness in charter schools' business dealings, but stressed the need for broader action so that D.C. taxpayers can know how efficiently and effectively the private nonprofit schools are spending over $600 million dollars a year.
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Connecticut: Is State’s New Transparency Law For Charter Managers Strong Enough?
After last year's debacle involving the Hartford-based Jumoke Academy charter school operation, many legislators arrived at the Capitol this year on a mission to improve the control and regulation of charter schools. A new law, passed with overwhelming support in the General Assembly but not yet signed by the governor, is designed to make charter schools and the charter management organizations that oversee them more accountable and transparent.
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Prime Prep Academy ordered to release documents to The News
The Texas attorney general’s office has intervened to force Prime Prep Academy to release public documents it has withheld from The Dallas Morning News for months.
The troubled charter school had 10 business days to provide all the documents to the attorney general, but it appears Prime Prep will miss that Friday deadline. Edwin Flores, the school’s attorney in this matter, said he forwarded all documents he’s received, but some still haven’t been produced by administrators.