Which Charters are for-profit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In DC, DCPS schools are allocated significantly more funding and resources per student than charters are. If charters are able to not only provide a comparable education but also profit from this arrangement, it sure makes one wonder about where all the money is going in DCPS.

It would be nice if you could at least try to stay on topic. We were discussing charters, not DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I believe that DC does not permit for-profit charter schools, but does allow for-profit management companies to provide services to or even run the entire school. As we've seen, that basically allows the for-profit to drain money out of the charter, either by self-dealing/fraud (which could happen with a nonprofit too) or just the good-ol profit motive.

Some states completely ban for-profits from the charter sector. I think DC should do so as well.

Here is a good blog post on the issue: http://rooseveltinstitute.org/new-roosevelt/education-profit-darker-side-charter-schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most schools in DC and especially DCPS have for-profit organizations that they work with, as contractors, vendors, et cetera.

A for-profit vendor or limited contracting is fine; probably not possible to operate any sort of school without those. The problem is when a core part of the school operations gets outsourced to a "management company" that has a profit motive and evades oversight and does not have the controls placed by nonprofit status (like disclosure of salaries, and independent board, and need to serve a charitable/educational purpose).

[Anonymous]

So... as to OP's question, which charters are run by for-profit management companies?

[Anonymous]

BASIS is

[Anonymous]

Charter schools themselves are not for-profit. But some charters have hired for-profit management firms.

Imagine Learning is known for its predatory leasing arrangements.

[Anonymous]

Imagine Learning

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/12/charters-lease-deals-scrutinized.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, DCPS schools are allocated significantly more funding and resources per student than charters are. If charters are able to not only provide a comparable education but also profit from this arrangement, it sure makes one wonder about where all the money is going in DCPS.

It would be nice if you could at least try to stay on topic. We were discussing charters, not DCPS.

RELEVANT point. You want to nitpick about charter finance but deflect and sweep DCPS finance under the carpet? I call BS on that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, DCPS schools are allocated significantly more funding and resources per student than charters are. If charters are able to not only provide a comparable education but also profit from this arrangement, it sure makes one wonder about where all the money is going in DCPS.

It would be nice if you could at least try to stay on topic. We were discussing charters, not DCPS.

RELEVANT point. You want to nitpick about charter finance but deflect and sweep DCPS finance under the carpet? I call BS on that!

Every DCPS contract is available online (because of Education Committee demands)...so are DCPCSB's, though the latters are only 4 pages long vs. 1200+ for DCPS. Charters are going to hide behind the "every LEA makes its own rules" trope until laws are changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, DCPS schools are allocated significantly more funding and resources per student than charters are. If charters are able to not only provide a comparable education but also profit from this arrangement, it sure makes one wonder about where all the money is going in DCPS.

It would be nice if you could at least try to stay on topic. We were discussing charters, not DCPS.

RELEVANT point. You want to nitpick about charter finance but deflect and sweep DCPS finance under the carpet? I call BS on that!

Every DCPS contract is available online (because of Education Committee demands)...so are DCPCSB's, though the latters are only 4 pages long vs. 1200+ for DCPS. Charters are going to hide behind the "every LEA makes its own rules" trope until laws are changes.

Remember, you're comparing a massive school district with 111 schools and huge numbers of contracts (hence 1200 pages) to a single school which is operating lean and mean with minimal external contracting, hence just 4 pages for any given school.

[Anonymous]

How does the BASIS contract work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, DCPS schools are allocated significantly more funding and resources per student than charters are. If charters are able to not only provide a comparable education but also profit from this arrangement, it sure makes one wonder about where all the money is going in DCPS.

It would be nice if you could at least try to stay on topic. We were discussing charters, not DCPS.

RELEVANT point. You want to nitpick about charter finance but deflect and sweep DCPS finance under the carpet? I call BS on that!

Every DCPS contract is available online (because of Education Committee demands)...so are DCPCSB's, though the latters are only 4 pages long vs. 1200+ for DCPS. Charters are going to hide behind the "every LEA makes its own rules" trope until laws are changes.

Remember, you're comparing a massive school district with 111 schools and huge numbers of contracts (hence 1200 pages) to a single school which is operating lean and mean with minimal external contracting, hence just 4 pages for any given school.

EXCEPT -- the only contracts listed are DCPCSB only (i.e., just the executive of the charter school board). The Charters have not made individual school info available to the public in any format at all. So journalists, bloggers, and laymen alike can have at DCPS if you want to do a corruption witchhunt but we have not tools to evaluate even one of the public charter LEAs.

So for DCPS:
http://dccouncil.us/files/performance_oversight/DCPS_2013_Performance_Oversight_Responses_020714_FINAL.pdf
In particular, check out:
Q18 Q19 Q20 Q24 Attachment_DCPS Contracts and Purchase Cards FY13 FY14.xlsx