Montini: Charter schools bilk you, dump kids and ... lawmakers don't care

EJ Montini
The Republic | azcentral.com
Another charter school bites the dust.

When was the last time a traditional public school sent a notice to parents in the middle the year saying it was closing down immediately, leaving hundreds of students, parents and teachers in a lurch?

Go ahead.

Take your time.

Nothing?

Me neither.

OK, when was the last time an Arizona charter school suddenly closed, dumping the kids?

Exactly.

A few weeks ago.

Charter school maroons 652 students

Discovery Creemos Academy (formerly the Bradley Academy of Excellence) abruptly closed, abandoning 652 students, their families and their teachers.

It has happened before with charter schools.

Many times.

The Republicans who control the legislature and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey know all about the problem.

And they do nothing.

Not long ago the ACLU of Arizona published a report outlining how a number of Arizona charter school manage to discriminate against students they’d rather not have in their classrooms.

This would include minority students, kids with disabilities, special education students, discipline problems and children who weren’t as advanced as other academically.

Democrats in the state senate asked the Attorney General and the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools to study the report and contemplate legal action.

Ha!

I’m sure the bigwigs at the state got a good laugh over that one.

Blow dry versus leaving kids high and dry

The Legislature has spent a considerable amount of time this session arguing about whether the state should allow unlicensed individuals to blow dry hair.

I swear, I am NOT making that up.

Meantime, lawmakers spent zero time trying to correct the ongoing problems with charter schools.

Turning a blind eye while charter schools rip-off taxpayers, spurn state laws and screw innocent public school students has been standard operating procedure from the moment the Legislature decided to allow the number of charter schools to explode without providing any serious oversight.

The centrist Grand Canyon Institute has produced lengthy reports on the lack of financial accountability for charters.

Remember, these are public schools.

They use your tax money. Lots and lots of it.

They spent your money how?

But they don’t have to share financial information or be monitored by the state Auditor General like regular public schools.

They don’t have to be transparent about how much they pay their administrators, or anyone else.

There is no competitive bid process, so nepotism runs rampant.

And even when the charter board finds out that a school is failing financially, like the Discovery Creemos Academy, it doesn’t have to power to intervene.

It’s a crazy system.

Ripe for abuse at every level.

And that situation exists only because the people currently in control of state government allow it to exist

Democrats have introduced a series of bills that would, in essence, make charter schools follow the same rules as other public schools.

They’ve gone nowhere.

Where did all the cash go? (See below)

None of this is new.

A few years back the Grand Canyon Institute found: “Arizona’s approximately 600 charter schools spent $128 million more on administrative costs during the 2014-15 school year than traditional public districts would spend on the same number of students.”

The institute’s Dave Wells told me at the time, “They don’t have the accountability that other public schools have. We think taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going.”

Actually, we know exactly where our money is going.

Down the drain.

MORE MONTINI:

Anti-gun lady takes down anti-abortion lady

President Trump orders a parade for ... himself

Reasons to be McSkeptical of McSally