Gov. Doug Ducey is finally backing charter school reform? Now, that's funny

Opinion: After years of ignoring charter school abuses, Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican legislators suddenly see the need for reform. Best laugh I've had all day.

Laurie Roberts
The Republic | azcentral.com
Gov. Doug Ducey delivers his State of the State address Jan. 9, 2017,  in the House of Representatives at the Capitol.

A month ago, Gov. Doug Ducey said he wasn’t concerned that the head of Primavera charter school – which puts just 11 percent of its state funding into instruction -- scored an $8.8 million "shareholder distribution" from the for-profit company that runs the online operation.

"I’m not concerned about the CEO," Ducey told The Republic’s Craig Harris. "That is of very little interest. I'm concerned about the child and the parent and what the child is equipped to do after 12 years of education."

Today, Ducey and other Republicans have seen the light and the light is a freight train of public outrage racing right at them as they seek re-election.

As a result, Ducey is now backing a set of charter school reforms proposed by state Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, who like Ducey is facing a fight to get back to the state Capitol next year.

While I’m certainly happy to see that Ducey and his Republican colleagues at long last might be willing to plug gaping loopholes that have allowed some charter operators to plunder public money, I have to ask the same question I asked when they suddenly saw the need to prioritize public schools as teachers took to the streets this spring:

Where've you been?

Ducey has ignored this outrage for years

Virtually every year, we hear an outrageous story about a  charter school operator who has fundamentally failed the smell test, either by shorting kids or lining their pockets – or both.

Virtually every year, Democrats in the Legislature propose reforms to fix laughable state laws that require hardly any oversight or public accountability.

And virtually, every year Republicans ignore all evidence of a problem while joining hands and chanting “school choice, school choice, school choice.” This, to the delight  of their dark money pals who shovel campaign money their way.

Indeed, it is a choice to focus only on charter school successes — and there certainly are some — while ignoring problems rampant in the charter school industry.

Evidence of abuse has been there for years

Just last fall, the centrist Grand Canyon Institute released the results of a three-year study that found up to up to 77 percent of charter school holders are using public funds on “potentially questionable financial transactions” — often paying themselves or their various relatives to provide goods and services to their charter schools under a price they get to set, courtesy of no-bid contracts.

The study found that charter school executives earn on average 50 percent more than their school district counterparts while teachers earn 20 percent less. That classroom spending and academic performance are both lower in charters than in district schools.

Rather than taking a serious look at those findings, our leaders and the charter school industry labeled the Grand Canyon Institute as “anti charter” and did … nothing.

Now comes reporter Craig Harris, who has spent all year reporting on operators who are getting rich — or at least, making a tidy pile of cash — off publicly funded charter schools because the law allows it.

There’s the Arizona Charter Schools Association’s No. 2 guy, using his position to throw business to a company he co-owns with his wife by giving her the names of students looking for a charter school. She scores a bounty for every student (and the tax dollars that go with that student) she delivers to certain charter schools. After Harris' story, they were forced to give the money back.  

There’s BASIS Charters Schools founders Michael and Olga Block, who scored $10 million in fees to manage the charter chain of schools last year. This, while asking parents to donate $1,500 per child to subsidize teacher pay just as they were purchasing an $8 million Manhattan condo.

There’s American Leadership Academy’s founder Glenn Way, who scored at least $18.4 million profit by getting no-bid contracts to build charter schools thanks largely paid for with public money. Didn't hurt that he was able to put his pals on the board which awarded them the no-bid deals.

Then there’s Primavera, where most of the public funding has gone not to educate students but to elevate the company’s investment portfolio. CEO Damian Creamer last year scored $8.8 million while his school scored a 49 percent dropout rate.

There’s Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, who is selling his charter school business — the one built with taxpayer funds — then appointing a handpicked board that will hire him to continue running the now non-profit Ben Franklin charter schools.  The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools recently approved the deal, which will reap Farnsworth anywhere from $12 million to $30 million.

Better late than never? Perhaps

Remember, it’s all legal.

There is no minimum amount of state funding that charters must spend to educate students.

There is no requirement that they take bids before procuring goods and services or that they employ conflict-of-interest rules that applies to school districts.

There is no real oversight and no ability for the public to what the heck is going on with our money.

And there has been absolutely no interest among Republicans in changing any of it.

Until now.

Better late — really late — than never, of course.

But I wonder if their proposals are being made as a result of conviction or a coming freight train of angry voters.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.

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