Online charter school, K12, got 730.8 million from taxpayers in 2013. Teacher speaks out.

[madfloridian]

Education blogger Anthony Cody

at his Twitter feed said this was one of the most important stories he had featured.

Anthony Cody ‏@AnthonyCody

This expose of K12 Inc is one of the most important thngs Ive ever posted. THOUSANDS of students affected.

He features a story by a former K12 teacher about her experiences there.

15 Months in Virtual Charter Hell: A Teacher's Tale

K12 Inc., the virtual-education company, was founded in 1999 by the one-time "junk bond king" Michael Milken and the hedge fund banker Ronald Packard. The company's original board chairman was William J. Bennett, who had been the U.S. Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan. (Bennett resigned from his position with K12 Inc. in 2005 after sparking controversy by stating that the U.S. crime rate would go down if more African-American babies were aborted.)

As a private company founded by financiers, K12 Inc. is highly profit-driven. Though its stock price has apparently taken a hit recently, there is little doubt that K12 Inc. has been quite successful in bringing in revenue--even as regular public schools have faced dire financial straits. According to the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, Packard, who is the current CEO, earned $19 million in compensation from 2009-2013. In 2013 alone, as Chicago closed 50 of its public schools and Philadelphia closed 23 more, K12 Inc. brought in a whopping $730.8 million in taxpayer dollars from its managed public schools, and its top executives saw their compensation skyrocket by 96 percent.

This is a long article. If you care about the coming demise of public education you need to read it all the way through. To stay within copyright, I can only add a couple more paragraphs.

I was an English teacher, so my students would write. They wrote of pain and fear and of not fitting in. They were the kinds of young people who desperately needed to have the protective circle of a community watching over them. They needed one healthy person to smile at them and recognize them by name every day, to say "I'm glad you're here!" Many of my former students do not have that.

The last thing these young people needed, I came to realize during my time with K12 Inc., was to be isolated in front of a computer screen. A week or two or three would often go by without my getting a word from a student. They didn't answer their email, they didn't answer their phones. Often their phones were disconnected. Their families were disconnected. My students also moved a lot. During my first year at the school I spent days on the phone trying to track students down. This year I struggled to not simply give up under the weight of it all.

She said as she wrote this in early December "nearly 80 percent of our students were failing their classes."

That's a huge percentage.

She further said that 303 students were enrolled in special education, and "259 of them were failing while 17 had no grade at all."

She pointed out that that 92% of the ninth graders were failing.
I wonder how much public taxpayer money this K12 virtual school will get in 2014.

The school has been investigated in several states, and was investigated in Florida for fraudulent practices.

The Florida Department of Education has launched an investigation of K12, the nation's largest online educator, over allegations the company uses uncertified teachers and has asked employees to help cover up the practice.

K12 officials asked state-certified teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn't taught, according to documents that are part of the investigation.

In one case, a K12 manager instructed a certified teacher to sign a class roster of more than 100 students. She only recognized seven names on that list.

"I cannot sign off on students who are not my actual students," K12 teacher Amy Capelle wrote to her supervisor.

Where are our Democratic leaders calling for a stop to this defunding of public education by charter schools which are not performing well? I don't hear them at all.

[abelenkpe]

1. K&R

[madfloridian]

3. Appreciated.

It's alarming to me.

[rosesaylavee]

2. Kick and Rec

as people need to see this. Thanks for posting.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. First line of defense

against this is the state Board of Education or Office of Instruction or whatever it's called there.

[pa28]

5. Appalling. Worse yet, our party leaders are on board the privatization bandwagon.

[madfloridian]

6. True words.

They are totally on board.

[BlueToTheBone]

7. He should be back in prison

Society has no place for that scum.

[Starry Messenger]

8. "was founded in 1999 by the one-time "junk bond king" Michael Milken"

Sad that he was allowed to go near anything to do with education. I read this story this morning and was enraged.

[El_Johns]

16. Wow, that's a red flag. Looks like it's working for its intended purpose, too.

[madfloridian]

17. Agreed on that for sure.

It's alarming.

[SharonAnn]

18. So now he'll be the "junk school king". Wonderful!

[Starry Messenger]

21. I'm stealing that!

[Blue_Tires]

52. I'm more enraged that so many fuckheaded politicians gave him a mountain of public cash

there must have been some really sweet under-the-table payoffs and kickbacks...

[madfloridian]

64. I wonder the same.

Seems they only expect traditional public schools and their teachers to be accountable. The reformers don't have to be.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Where are our Democratic leaders? Lining up to line their pockets, where else?

I know you know this far better than I do, but it's always worth reminding people, IMO.

When NCLB was first imposed, some of us pointed out that Milkin & Co. were behind it on Kos, but it never got through to the larger audience.

[madfloridian]

10. The general media is on the charter school bandwagon.

Unfortunately.

[Doctor_J]

14. just like with healthcare

What a disaster our government has become. Our party used to protect the people from the republicans.

[Egalitarian Thug]

15. Yep. Love the sig.

[Doctor_J]

30. Probably time for a change

Since 1) I've now been here 13 years, and 2) I adopted it when the BOG/3rd way were calling all of the anti-spying members "Rand Paul Libertarians".

Yep, that's me - pro choice, SP healthcare, $15 minimum wage, free education for everyone, gun control libertarian. I once again

[Egalitarian Thug]

43. You disagreed with something they said?

Last edited Tue Jan 7, 2014, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

You Doctor J, have meddled with the forces of nature! AND. YOU, WILL, ATONE!




Or you could just wait a week or so and it will right back in vogue. It's only been a couple of weeks since I got the Big 'L' label, so the charge is still on the list.

Peace.

[cantbeserious]

11. Kick And Recommend

eom

[blackspade]

12. That's just fucking great.....

These jackoffs gladhand 730 million of taxpayer money for a 'virtual' school?
Who signs off on this bullshit?
And 19 million for their CEO?

19 million would buy a lot of text books....

Meanwhile my son who is in a MST magnet program has to use 4 year old computer textbooks that have to remain in class because they don't have enough for each student.
I can not believe how corrupt our education system has gotten.
All thanks to fucking St Ronny and his idiot 'Blue Ribbon' committee on education in the early 80s.

[madfloridian]

13. Just before I retired we had Apple IIe's donated to us. Talk about old? Few textbooks.

It's horrible what's going on. Apple IIe's were early computers that barely functioned years later.

[blackspade]

23. I'm plenty familiar with the IIe's....!

You want old, I learned computer programming on a computer that used punch cards!

Thanks for your continued exposure of our messed up education system.
It's easy to miss a lot of shenanigans, so your posts are always welcome!

[madfloridian]

35. So true. These shenanigans are seldom covered by TV news.

Even NBC, MSNBC are on the education corporate bandwagon. Look at Education Nation where very few pro-public-school advocates are invited.

[blackspade]

36. Education Nation makes me sick to my stomach

I can't watch it.
Whole panels of corporate shills and lackeys.

[madfloridian]

37. Same here.

I tried a couple of times, but I can't handle it.

[sabrina 1]

19. So the Junk Bond King is raking in millions of tax dollars in the latest Corporate Scam?

This looks like a real scam, the kind that should have been investigated long ago. Using CHILDREN for profit. How much lower can they sink?

Disgusting, despicable, and as you said, MF, where are the Democrats on these scams using tax dollars that SHOULD be going for education?

There is not a singl public fund they will not steal, not one.

Psychopaths, all of them.

[madfloridian]

27. To top it off, Arne Duncan called us his critics...."armchair pundits"

http://www.publicschoolshakedown.org/arne-duncan-minister-of-education-information

How insulting.

[sabrina 1]

41. Excellent article by an actual educator MF. Corporate profiteers such as Duncan have no

Last edited Tue Jan 7, 2014, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

place anywhere near our educational system.

Also he must not be reading the statistics on the results of the now more than decade long travesty first brought to us by George Bush by HIS Corporate buddies. True they've all made a fortune and if that is the standard Arne is judging this 'educational reform' system he's touting, by, then yes, it's been a huge success. All those educational publishing friends of Bush have made a fortune.

Nothing makes clearer what 'success' means to Corporatists than Duncan's comments linked to in that article.

It is insulting when someone as ignorant on a subject as Duncan has proven himself to be on education, calls real educators 'armchair pundits'. But consider the source.

The article is correct regarding his refusal to discuss actual EDUCATION with those he calls 'armchair pundits'. What is he afraid of? I believe he tried once and was made to look like a fool.

Someone should tweet him the findings of where the US stands compared to other developed nations on education over the past decade or so. He should be embarrassed IF education was what he was interested in. But it isn't, that much is clear.

[questionseverything]

40. all while they defund neighborhood schools

from the article...

According to a July 2012 report published by the NEPC, a nonprofit research organization that is skeptical of privatization initiatives in public education, only 27.7 percent of K12, Inc. schools met the Annual Yearly Progress goals, as compared to 52 percent of brick and mortar public schools (Miron & Urschel, 2012). Similarly, the same study calls attention to the fact that only 37.6 percent of students at full-time virtual schools graduate on time, as compared to the national average of 79.4 percent for all public high school students

//////////////////////////////

[spanone]

20. k&r...

[stg81]

22. don't rely on our democratic politicians - we need to undertake the action

the politicians pick their battles and are under tea party attack

we need to be the ones writing the LTEs and emailing this information to schools, teachers - everyone

[TBF]

32. Yes!

We vote dem because it's lesser of the evils, and can do a bit of good day to day, but I agree it's up to us to move things forward. WE are the ones who need to be talking, marching, and otherwise advocating for the positions we believe in. Voting is important but there is so much more we can (and should) be doing.

[exboyfil]

24. My younger daughter took Spanish 2

over the summer from K12. Her Spanish 2 was far more rigorous than my older daughter's Spanish 2 (in fact she covered topics from Spanish 3). My daughter is now in Spanish 3 at her public High School and getting an A (she is a Sophomore taking the class with Juniors and some Seniors).

At least in the case of Spanish 2 her coursework was at least as good as what she would have gotten at the public High School, and it is a pretty good High School.

[hedda_foil]

25. The whole Gatesian system is abominable and the idea of virtual schools for children is diabolical.

I have come to believe that it's not about learning at all. It's about the purposeful undermining of education to ensure an ever expanding underclass for billionaires to leach off and throw away. Training a new generation to labor as serfs in the new American feudalism.

[madfloridian]

26. And I pretty much agree with you.

Goals are now profit and control of something that used to be about student need. Good to see you, hedda-foil. Been a long time.

[hedda_foil]

53. I always follow your posts, MadFloridian.

And I almost always learn from and agree with you.

[madfloridian]

55. I had been checking your journal along to see what's up.

I took a long long break from posting here, posted more at Dkos for a while, still do. Then started with Twitter. I use my same aka on twitter, so if you have an account follow me. Looks like you are taking a posting break also, but very glad you are still reading.

https://twitter.com/madfloridian

[Scuba]

28. Kick for the sad truth.

[FloriTexan]

29. K&R

[madfloridian]

34. Thanks.

Hope you are not too cold there.

[xchrom]

31. du rec.

[jsr]

33. Recommend

[maindawg]

38. Had Christmas dinner with my Republican friends..........

There is a 13 year old girl and he father at the table.I said' how is school this year m______a?
What grade are you now?
She said I am supposed to be in 6th ,I think.....Thats what she said. I am like, what do you mean?
She said she had 'some trouble'at school and will be attending online. Now,is Christmas mind you, not August or even September. No one bats an eye.... All the republicans at the table are unconcerned. They are just trying to figure out a way to inject the Duck Dynasty bullshit into friendly banter. Which they did. That was when I got up and left the room. I was there to visit,not argue.
Point is, they think its a good idea for the girl to school online because apparently thats what Rush and Beck told them I suppose.

The right wing noise machine is behind this I am sure.

[Octafish]

39. Online Charter School? It's a Virtual Money Trough!

No there there. And you get paid from the taxpayers.

What's not to like? Apart from the integrity thing...

[sabrina 1]

42. And with the Junk Bond King behind it? Did you say 'integrity'?

[Octafish]

44. 'Member Neil Bush's educash COW?

Known as COW, for Curriculum on Wheels (the portable learning centers resemble cows on wheels), Ignite's product line is geared toward middle school social studies, history and science. The company says it has developed a social studies program that meets curriculum requirements in seven states. Its science program meets requirements in six states.

SOURCE: Bush's Family Profits from 'No Child' Act

[sabrina 1]

45. Not surprised to find Neil Bush, another scammer airc, involved in this. I remember his so-called

'education' program and how Babs his mother, used it to bribe schools trying to start running again after Katrina, into a donation from her, by making it a condition that they use Neil's 'education program' in the school curriculum. They are SHAMELESS in their greed.

So the Junk bond King and the Scammer, Neil Bush are all involved in this latest scam, and Congress once again, see nothing?

[Octafish]

46. I don't believe Neil's in with the latest scam...

...wanted to bring up the elite's use of public education reform as an excuse to rip off the public.

Neil's a pro in that department. Of course, Poppy Bush made it clear where he stands on the record.

So, it wouldn't surprise me to learn Neil and his cronies somehow enjoy a piece of the action.

[Octafish]

48. Wrote too soon.

Here's the angle:

E-Mails Show Jeb Bush Foundation Lobbied For Businesses, Including One Tied To Bush

Lee Fang
The Nation on January 30, 2013 - 8:48 PM ET

A public interest group has released the results of a multi-state Freedom of Information Act request concerning the lobbying efforts by the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), the nonprofit led by Jeb Bush. The e-mails confirm previous reporting showing that Bush’s policies are designed to benefit businesses seeking to privatize public education—particularly the companies that finance Bush's nonprofit.

SNIP...

The new round of FOIA e-mails should send shockwaves through the reform movement. In the Public Interest, the group that filed the request, summarized some of their other findings:

— In New Mexico, FEE acted as a broker to organize meetings between their corporate donors and individual Chiefs [for Change].

— Maine moved the FEE policy agenda through legislation and executive order that would remove barriers to online education and in some cases would require online classes—including eliminating class size caps and student-teacher ratios, allowing public dollars to flow to online schools and classes, eliminate ability of local school districts to limit access to virtual schools.

— In Florida, FEE helped write legislation that would increase the use of a proprietary test (FCAT) under contract to Pearson, an FEE donor.

The simmering scandal with Jeb Bush's nonprofit recalls a similar scandal with his brother, Neil Bush, who led Ignite! Learning, a company the Los Angeles Times found profiting from No Child Left Behind policies enacted by President George W. Bush.

While the education tech industry has enjoyed a recent surge thanks to the policies enacted by Jeb Bush and his allies, there's growing evidence that these privatized, proprietary charter schools are under-performing. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the virtual charter school policies peddled by FEE, the publicly-traded online charter school management company K12 Inc., has been cited in several studies for its abysmal performance. A report last year found that K12 Inc.'s students score between 14 and 36 percent lower than their non-cyber school peers. Only 27.7 percent reported meeting Adequate Yearly Progress standards in the 2011 school year, which the National Education Policy Center notes compares poorly to the 52 percent average scored by brick-and-mortar schools.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thenation.com/blog/172551/e-mails-show-jeb-bush-foundation-lobbied-businesses-including-one-tied-bush#

Money.

[sabrina 1]

57. Thanks, I knew Neil was trying to profit from education reform and do recall Jeb using his position

to jump on the profit bandwagon after NCLB began.

Anywhere there is a profit to be made at the expense of the American people's public funds, OUR money, there seems to be a Bush somwhere around ready to take it.

Thanks for all your research Octafish, it helps us never to forget despite the attempt to bury all this stuff.

[madfloridian]

49. Neil's Ignite! software link appears dead. Seems he moved into global oil trade.

His Ignite! website has no live links.

http://www.ignitelearning.com/

But Salon had a long article in 2011 about his new trade:

http://www.salon.com/2011/08/28/neil_bush_3/

As the global economy has tanked in recent years, international companies have sought every advantage they can muster in seeking to score business deals abroad. One tactic, especially favored by big energy firms, is to retain the services of a middleman or “fixer.” These obscure but vital players use clout, brains and wiles to broker deals between industry and third-world leaders, and to generally grease the gears of the global oil and gas trade.

Which on the surface makes it hard to understand why U.S. and foreign firms continue to seek the services of Neil Bush. The son of one president and brother of another, Neil’s political clout has declined since Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush in 2009, and neither brains nor wiles is Neil’s strong suit. Two decades ago, the Washington Post observed that his business ventures had “a history of crashing and burning in spectacular fashion,” and time, alas, seems not to have improved his record.

Neil claims to have 30 years in the energy industry, though at least 10 people from the Texas oil patch I spoke with said they had never heard of him playing any notable role in the energy business. Of the former first sibling, one international oil executive and consultant said, “I can’t imagine anything he could bring to the table.”

Yet Bush, who declined comment for this story, seems to have no trouble staying busy and prosperous. Chinese firms hire him to try to open doors in Africa, and U.S. companies retain him to do the same in Central Asia. Neil is also the founder and CEO of a number of small energy companies — it’s not clear exactly what they do or if he has financial backers — and lives a life of ease and comfort in Houston, where he resides with his second wife in a luxury condo and regularly graces the social pages.

[Doctor_J]

54. He'd spent all of the money he stole from the Silverado S&L on hookers,

STD meds, and his divorce settlement. So the Bush Crime Family cooked up another scheme for him to steal tax money. that's all NCLB was supposed to be. Now the Dem president is "on board" with it. What a travesty.

[JCMach1]

47. My daughters did K12 for two years in the UAE because the American curriculum

High Schools there were either terrible, or far too expensive... As we were planning to move back, the British Curriculum really didn't fit...

I am sure there are other problems too, but the High School curriculum for K12 is actually pretty tough. Middle and Elementary, not so much.

I can easily imagine the poor results of somehow dumping marginal student into such a tough curriculum. BAD BAD BAD

My oldest struggled though K12 (C's mostly). She has be straight A's since returning to a bricks and mortar school in the states...

[madfloridian]

51. Hi JC. Just checked out your blog.

Lovely pictures of Micanopy. I remember spending part of a day there once on our way to somewhere else. Very picturesque.

Gather you are back in the states now? You have been quite a traveler.

I agree with you about marginal students and online school. They need more input in a personal way. I bet your daughters have really grown up now. Hi to your wife.

[JCMach1]

56. I will say hello...

my oldest will be starting college this year...

She is thinking to study geology with the idea becoming a proper geologist...

[madfloridian]

59. College already?

Hard to believe. I remember the lovely pictures you put up at your other blog from UAE. They were so young. I lost the link long ago. Started with an S I think.

Of course my kids are a lot older than I think they should be. Makes me feel older.

[JCMach1]

73. my oldest is 18yo

[madfloridian]

74. Not going to tell how old my oldest is.

Would give my age away.

[yellowcanine]

50. K12 officials asked teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn't taught....

Okay that is outright fraud. Have these officials been prosecuted?

[snot]

58. K&R'd.

The evisceration of public education is having tragic consequences, and is one of the most important and under-reported problems of our time.

[madfloridian]

60. Very much agreed.

Thanks for the K&R. Under-reported is right.

[Jefferson23]

61. The fraud is off the charts. I wish there could be a massive civil suit against the US Dept of Ed,

they have not provided FAPE, under the law.

K&R

[GeorgeGist]

62. Rapists.

[riderinthestorm]

63. The Packards live in DC (of course!). Ron Packards wife is a VP at Morgan Stanley

http://www.morganstanleyfa.com/susan.packard/m_index.htm

Of course their kids went to a private school. ..

[mike_c]

65. the commodification of public education for private profit....

In America, everything is for sale.

[mopinko]

66. wish people would stop beating chi school closing drum

those schools were EMPTY. 49 schools w less than 2000 kids.
it wasnt ever simple, and people scoring political points from it do a huge disservice to a system barely able to react to change.
really.

[madfloridian]

68. I am not going to stop. Great harm being done there.

They are planning charter schools in many of the same districts in which they closed neighborhood schools. That makes no sense at all. Rahm has betrayed public education.

[mopinko]

72. the charters are not being planned, they just put out a call for proposals.

few more steps to planning stage, but they are asking for charters so they are not stuck in the real estate hell that they find themselves. the charters are being looked at for neighborhoods with overcrowded now, but which demographic trends show might lose population in the future.
the city doesn't stay the same. 600 schools are not static. changes happen, whether we manage them well or not.

does anyone really think it is good to have a hundred kids in a building meant for 500? when there are other schools nearby where they could be a part of something bigger? have more activities and resources because there are more butts?
those schools were ghost towns. they were not healthy places for kids. most did not even have decent employees, since those principals would have been the lowest paid in the system. (they get paid by school size)
you wouldn't know that, tho, because you are not here. i am.
not that i expect facts to get in the way of your opinion. but i take exception to the constant slander.

[hay rick]

67. K&R

[Jakes Progress]

69. I remember the article from right after he got out of jail.

He and his brother were gathering investors. Milken was quoted at the time as saying that Education spending was something like 95% public and 5% private. He said it needed to be the other way around. No wonder the reagan-democrats love him.

K&R on another well researched post.

[madfloridian]

70. Thank you.

[proReality]

71. k&r