American Education

Education in North America as I See it

In our system of education, our public schools are open to all children. The wealthy typically choose to send their children to private schools. Many charter schools have started up as private businesses. These schools don’t have to follow many government regulations, or deal with much of the bureaucracy of traditional public schools. This means that they are not required to have certified teachers and that they can advertise their school to raise donations to support specific causes and programs. They may have strict admission requirements that may discourage certain students from applying. For example, they may promote themselves as having high student test scores. Their mission is then to only attract and allow bright students. Are they required to take students with special needs, or students who are below average? No. Is it any wonder that charter schools are touted as superior to public schools?

In America, teachers are not typically respected or well paid. There is an ever growing divide between the wealthy, the strong and the weak. Only public schools are required to provide an education for children who are below average and children with medical or mental challenges. These children take many resources in order for them to have some quality experiences in their lives. Our government shows it resentment towards the costs of public schools by poor funding, and by touting the competition of charter schools that move talent from public schools.

I believe that it is pretty well documented that for education across America, it requires unequal resources to meet unequal needs. This is both within the student population of a public school and across schools.   School districts across the United States vary widely in their economic resources and value of education .  Our country is now led by mostly very wealthy leaders, leaders who value monitory profit above all else. I feel that their outlook on spending money on children who require special supports and may never be productive citizens in society is like throwing money away. If you are a parent of a child with any kind of educational challenge in today’s society, I feel for you.

One example of a lack of regulation follows
Arizonans for Charter School Accountability             Jim Hall
Press Release                                                                arizcsa1000@gmail.com
Feburary 1, 2017                                                           602-343-3021
 
The Consequences of Unregulated Charter Schools:
The Leona Group LLC Reaps Millions in Real Estate Profits While Arizona Taxpayers (and Students) Foot the Bill
 
Arizonans for Charter School Accountability recently released two reports on charter school classroom spending in 2016 (see links below) finding that 191 Arizona charter schools are efficiently run and spend more money in the classroom than on administration and facilities combined.  A majority of charter schools, however, spend less on classroom instruction than on administration and buildings. Imagine Inc. and the Leona Group LLC manage the majority of schools spending more on administration and facilities than in the classroom.
This report focuses on the Leona Group LLC which manages 25 schools in Arizona (and over 60 schools total in five states) to try to understand why Leona Group LLC managed schools spend so little on classroom instruction.  These were the key findings:

    In 2007, Bill Coats, the sole owner of the Leona Group LLC, sold 10 schools owned by Leona Group LLC to a non-profit foundation Coats created in 1998, the American Charter Schools Foundation ACSF), for $33,890,485 more than their market value.
    Bill Coats maintains the same management control over the schools as he had when Leona Group LLC owned the schools but now has set management fees that are not based on student enrollment.
    ACSF schools have declined in enrollment by 25% since their purchase in 2007.
    Between 2007 and 2016 overall instruction spending in ACSF schools has declined from $2090/pupil to $1455/pupil while facilities costs increased from $1455/pupil to $2479/pupil.
    The real estate windfall Bill Coats received in 2007 by selling schools to his own foundation has caused ACSF to cut classroom spending to among the lowest rates of any school in Arizona - to fund the excessive mortgages.

Jim Hall, founder of Arizonans for Charter School Accountability, stated “ The Leona Group LLC has made tens of millions of dollars selling schools to their own non-profit foundation for double their market value – and still retain complete management control.  The schools now spend most of their budgets on mortgages and management.  Arizona doesn’t monitor charter school spending so this kind of waste and abuse goes unnoticed.”

Hall continued, “ The Arizona Auditor General needs to monitor charter spending and the Arizona Board for Charter Schools needs to sanction charter schools that divert public funds to corporate profits at the expense of children in the classroom.”