Ohio White Hat Charters....what was bought with public money now belongs to them.

[madfloridian]

They now own the facilities, the schools, that were paid for with taxpayer money. Publicly owned property is being turned over to for-profit educational management companies.

10 charter schools sue White Hat over assets

The governing boards of 10 Ohio charter schools are challenging the legality of the state law regulating the for-profit corporation that operates their schools, Akron-based White Hat Management.

In a suit filed Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, the school boards argue the law is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to White Hat, one of the largest charter school operators in the nation. The company was founded by David Brennan, a prominent Akron businessman and Republican donor.

The suit charges that White Hat lobbied the state legislature for changes to the charter school law in 2006 that made it possible for White Hat to fire any school board that tries to sever ties with the management company.

Nor is it financially feasible for a charter school to switch operators because White Hat's contracts state that it owns the school's property, furniture and equipment — even though they were all paid for with tax dollars, according to the complaint.

''Essentially, White Hat created an educational model where tax dollars flow to the private corporation with little room for oversight or control by the schools' governing bodies,'' said a news release accompanying the filing of the lawsuit. ''Further, the law makes White Hat's receipt of tax dollars hard to stop.''

I would say that Ohio taxpayers should be a little bit angry about now.

White Hat schools have been closed down in several areas of Florida. Here is one example.

Inquiry shows the state paid $101,000 for full-time students the facility didn't have.

LAKELAND | A defunct Lakeland charter school charged the state $101,000 for students it didn't have, according to an investigation by the Polk County School District. The Life Skills Center on Memorial Boulevard inflated its attendance numbers by 37 students who did not qualify during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years, the audit said.

"There were a number of students that were counted and may not have been there in attendance for education," said School Board Attorney Wes Bridges.

A lawyer for White Hat Management, the Ohio-based management company that oversaw Life Skills, said that the audit conducted by the district was out of line.

The management apparently got together groups of parents and students, bought them all matching shirts, and held protest rallies in support of the school.

Last I heard it was given another year by the school board. Maybe another "out of line" audit needs to be done next year.

More on the Florida closure at Schools Matter.

The shenanigans of the Life Skills Center East are truly shocking


David Brennan's White Hat. Picture courtesy Schools Matter

David Brennan and his White Hat charter management company recently had a charter oversight board decide not to renew one of their schools in Florida, and the shenanigans of the Life Skills Center East are truly shocking. You can check off a laundry list of violations the school has racked up, including, but not limited to, accusations of financial mismanagement, failing to education English language learners (only 1 in 72 received a diploma), and the governing board's lack of due diligence in selecting Brennan's management company. This isn't the first closure for one of White Hat's Life Skills Centers - White Hat had their Life Skills Lakeland (just miles from the Center East location) charter pulled, and they billed the oversight board for $500,000 as they exited from the school. It's not about profits, it's all about the kids, right?

Oh - and 97% of all school funding at both schools went to White Hat, and we're not entirely sure how that money was spent.

[nykym]

1. Privitizing public schools

invite corruption and greed - great things to teach our children.

[madfloridian]

4. You are right about that.

[Newest Reality]

2. I'm glad to see that somone is pointing out

who owns what is being sold-off to private interests. So, it's not just the good guys who wear white hats, we know ;)

However, this is the trend and I think it will increase dramatically unless people fight back hard. With states and municipalities going belly-up in large numbers, residents will still pay taxes even as their public assets and institutions are handed over to commercial interests. We can then expect those entities to conjure fees and payments which will increase over time.

That shift of our resources can easily be argued to be a misappropriation of public assets. In this case, those who are entrusted to oversee and administer our common wealth are now stepping over a clearly demarcated line when they consider or move towards privatizing what belongs to us collectively. There will be plenty of rhetoric and rationalization as this process builds impetus, so it is not clear yet how far this will be allowed to proceed. The big, rude question that often plagues us is when will push come to shove and how docile and/or ignorant will those affected be?

This is the Big Squeeze and there are scores of buzzards waiting to swoop down and dine on what's left of the carcass. It's not like there are, or will be, any barriers to the, Free Markets Gone Wild show or the movie, Terminator: Capitalism movie we are witnessing live, and in agonizing detail.

[madfloridian]

3. Unfortunately both major parties support this policy.

And that does not bode well for public education.

[Jakes Progress]

12. We always knew that republicans wanted this.

How many voted for Obama not knowing that this was in the works. What states would he not have carried if he had campaigned openly on handing the public school system over to corporate interests?

[madfloridian]

5. Problems with White Hat in Pinellas County as well.

Pinellas charter school leaders ask for 2nd chance

St. Petersburg, Florida - Many Pinellas high school students on the way to dropping out have found a way of staying in. Students say LifeSkills charter school is a second option to getting their high school diploma.

..."Despite some of its success stories, Pinellas school district officials worry LifeSkills is not successful enough. 78% of its students read below high school level, and compared to the state the graduation rate is at 12%. The district is considering pulling the charter.

Pinellas school board member Mary Brown says the school has failed to fulfill its contract, "If you are going to come into this county and say you will do something, you are going to have to do it. I feel the school has been let down by the mother company, White Hat Management."

During a public hearing, the parent company's president and COO Mark Rice asked the Pinellas school board for a second chance. Rice says, "We want to deliver. We intend to deliver to the students we have pledged to serve."

Besides low test scores, the school has a 40 percent attendance rate, meaning kids go to school two out of five days.

Pinellas appears to be having a lot of trouble with its charters. Maybe they should rethink that use of taxpayer money before barreling ahead with it.

Imagine Charter in St. Pete a million in debt. Taxpayers will foot the bill.

An F-rated St. Petersburg charter school stands on the verge of collapse, mired in debt and losing enrollment. And most of those debts — around $1 million in public tax dollars — are owed to the same private company that founded it.

Pinellas County district officials say they're battling with Virginia-based Imagine Schools, the nation's largest commercial charter operator, over the future of the Central Avenue school. The school was $963,572 in deficit last spring, according to auditors. It's paying $881,179 to lease a half-empty building from Imagine's real estate affiliate, plus thousands more for equipment, administration and fees, on income of just $2 million a year.

"It's a death spiral," said district charter supervisor Dot Clark.

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Filthy corporate swine will steal money from anyone, even school kids.

[madfloridian]

7. While they spread propaganda against teachers who really care...

about the children.

And they keep getting away with it.

[ladym55]

8. Thanks for giving White Hat some exposure

David Brennan has been happily siphoning off tax dollars for his private profits for years. It's sickening. His schools are a joke, his teachers are obscenely underpaid, and he claims that he should be able to take state fund with a vengeance and have no accountability.

It's especially sickening in a city like Akron that just laid off 82 teachers for next year. When public funds are limited, Ohio has let lots of money travel to Brennan's connected pockets instead of the public schools that actually are accountable and work to help students.

[madfloridian]

9. It's shameful they get taxpayer money with our party's blessing.

Schools Matter blog has more on Brennan and White Hat today.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/05/white-hat-management-accountability.html

"We have been posting about David Brennan's charter school profiteering scheme since April 2006, and it looks like the bribes and kickbacks might have finally run out. ht to Monty Neill. From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A group of Cleveland and Akron charter schools is in open rebellion against the for-profit management firm that runs the schools.

An unusual lawsuit brought Monday by 10 governing boards of Hope Academies of Cleveland and Akron and Life Skills Centers of Cleveland and Akron alleges that a 2006 state law passed by majority-party Republicans is unconstitutional and gives the for-profit company unchecked authority.

.."They say that White Hat has refused to provide detailed financial information such as unaudited quarterly financial reports required under the management agreement with the schools. White Hat has also refused to provide details on grants received and also failed to spell out what funds were used to purchase school property and equipment since 2004, the suit charges."

[bertman]

10. Disgusting. These thieves are walking off with taxpayer money and property. Rec.

[avaistheone1]

11. This is legal?

If that is the case, the public is being swindled ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[madfloridian]

13. It is the kind of thing Arne wants districts to do to get his money...

The almost 5 billion in discretionary funds. He wants more charters, more schools that are public closed and turned into charters.

He says he only wants good charters, but the profit is blinding districts.

[Jakes Progress]

14. It's like Nixon said.

If the president does it, it's not illegal. Seems to be a lot of Nixon and Reagan loving in our party.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. this is agonizing to hear about

but thank you for making us aware.

I suppose this will ultimately benefit the for profit prison industry as well,
when lack of education creates new criminals.