After yrs of investigations for misuse of State $, Charter School founder finally charged - by Feds
Too many charter schools have been getting away for years with misuse of State funds, and the Legislature STILL has not acted to reform the process of funding them. The worst diversion of funds from public schools has been to cybercharter schools, particularly since none of the private cybercharter schools have shown successful results.
The Pocono Mountain Charter School has been the subject of repeated investigations about mis-use of State funds for years by the local School District and the Auditor General. It was founded by the leaders of the adjacent church, which is on the same property. Finally, the founder has been charged - by not by State authorities - a federal grand jury had to be the one to indict him.
To top it off, the local school board had voted to revoke the school's charter, but they were overruled by the Corbett-controlled appeals board.
http://articles.mcall.com/2013-03-26/news/mc-pocono-mountain-charter-school-bloom-indictment-20130326_1_tax-evasion-tax-return-pocono-mountain-charter-school
Excerpts:
"According to court documents, Bloom filed a tax return for 2006 that stated his taxable income was $93,227, when he knew that it was substantially more. The charges stem from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Education inspector general's office.
Bloom is the founder of Pocono Mountain Charter School and pastor of the Shawnee Tabernacle Church, both in Tobyhanna, both of which had been the subject of scrutiny by local and state officials. A spokeswoman for the Pocono Mountain School District said the charges are not a surprise. "Pocono Mountain School District has had very serious concerns about Mr. Bloom and the financial operations and improper use of tax dollars by the Charter School for many years," spokeswoman Wendy Frable said in a prepared statement.
Auditor General Eugene A. DePasquale said it does not appear the indictment is directly related to the state audit investigation that was done under the tenure of his predecessor, Jack Wagner. That audit found that the School violated the state charter school law by having "improper entanglements" with the church. In 2010, the Pocono Mountain School Board revoked the charter school's right to operate as an independent public school after a district investigation found similar problems allegedly occurred between 2007 and 2010. But that revocation was reversed in 2011 by the state Charter Appeals Board, headed by state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis."
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Some of the worst corruption involving misuse of state funds to charter schools occurred in Philadelphia. Local officials at the time felt that they should not investigate them because they were protected by the powerful Republican Speaker of the House John Perzel. Perzel is now in prison for corruption.
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