DC charter schools make $24 million in profit in 2009.

[Hannah Bell]

Tom Nida was on the hot seat in late 2008 when a Washington Post investigation revealed his financial connections to the schools he regulated as chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board. The Post reported that while he was chairman, the bank where he worked as a loan officer lent more than $55 million to charter schools, their developers or landlords. It meant, in essence, that as those charter schools thrived, so did United Bank's loan portfolio...

It nevertheless caused some heartburn when Nida, who stepped down from the board in February, unveiled what amounted to a collective balance sheet for the 57 publicly funded, independently operated charters...The schools turned a collective net profit of $24 million in 2009.

But Nida said 92 percent of that was generated by just six schools, and 58 percent by one charter alone -- none of which Nida named. He said the have-and-have-not picture underscores the need to improve access to credit markets for charter schools which -- unlike DCPS schools -- have no centralized capital budget or construction program and must rent buildings or seek private financing. Nida called on charters to lobby Congress for a change in federal regulations to allow access to certain loan guaranties that would open up access to credit markets.

Mark Simon, a DCPS parent, an education policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said he found Nida's speech "abhorrent."

"This is the same Tom Nida, the banker who headed up the D.C. charter board while retaining his position as a bank vice president overseeing a profitable increase in his bank's mortgage portfolio due to mortgages extended to charter schools he was helping to oversee," Simon said. "The two concepts of private profit and public education should not be intertwined as Mr. Nida is wont to do. ... He represents what is wrong with mixing private profit and the management of public education."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/11/charter_financial_analysis_dra.html

[snot]

1. K&R'd!!!

[Overseas]

2. K&R ! //nt

[the redcoat]

3. This is fucking sickening.

I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if the tea party got it's way and eliminated the Department of Education, and the burden was put on states, which are already struggling. Charter schools go up, poor neighborhoods get less access to education.

The plan is so fucking see-through, I hate how stupid people are.

[aquart]

4. No one should be making a profit off our children!

[Creative]

16. Why not?

[Recursion]

18. The profits have to be funneled through district acquisitions departments to be acceptable

Public schools contract out all kinds of things.

Though part of the problem is a lot of people on this board mistakenly believe that charter schools are for-profit corporations.

[Gabi Hayes]

20. you didn't really type that last sentence, did you?

do you have any idea what you're talking about?

doesn't seem so

or are you just parsing things to fool people who haven't the slightest idea what the relationship between for-profit corporations (and we're not talking about the district-created corporations who are charged with operating their own charters) who RUN charter schools might be?

pretty disgusting

[Recursion]

22. Name me one for-profit charter school in DC

Waiting.

[Angry Dragon]

36. The article says there was a $24 million profit

[Recursion]

40. It can say it all it wants; non-profits sometimes run surpluses. The DCPS is running a bigger...

...surplus than the charters. So a bank is making even more money off DCPS than off charters. I'm waiting for the outrage about bankers profiting off of our children to begin.

[Luminous Animal]

38. I have stated dozens of times, non-profit does not mean that money is not being made and squandered.

Plenty of GOPers establish non-profits to funnel money into hiring friends & relatives, and awarding contracts to cronies.

Non-profit DOES NOT equal bleeding heart liberal.

[Recursion]

39. So, you can't name a for-profit DC charter school?

You can't, because they don't exist.

[Luminous Animal]

41. Also, a non-profit realize a profit and classify those profits as retained earnings earmarked

for future projects. Again, a non-profit designation does not mean that no money is being made. The issue is not whether there are for-profit DC charters, the issue is, can charters realize a profit? And the answer is, yes they can.

[Recursion]

42. DCPS runs a (larger) surplus, and retains that for future projects

Why is it ok for DCPS to do it but not charters?

EDIT: Typo in subject

[Luminous Animal]

44. My argument has nothing to do with surpluses.

My argument is the false idea that non-profits do not make money for the people involved with non-profits. We've had non-profit poverty pimps for generations and now we are dealing non-profit educations pimps.

I don't know how DC runs its district but in San Francisco "rainy day funds" for schools are just that... surpluses for emergencies only. Otherwise, any funds (via bonds) necessary for major systematic upgrades are subject to a public vote.

It appears, in DC's case, that 24 million profit generated by public money and issued to a private non-profit has been vaguely defined as "funds for expansion." Why does this private non-profit funded with public money get to decide what to do with it's profit?

[Recursion]

45. Same reason DCPS as a whole gets to decide what to do with its larger surplus

DC charters are a part of DCPS that have autonomy over budgeting, hiring, and to a large extent curriculum. Both DCPS as a whole and the charter section of DCPS are running a surplus currently (there is a difference in that charter schools have very different capital expenditure needs, and probably need to keep money lying around more than the rest of DCPS).

I don't know how DC runs its district

Mostly by firing the head of the schools every 2-3 years, and bouncing control between the mayor and the city council.

[Luminous Animal]

46. The DCPS surplus was hidden by those running the system in order to destroy the sytem..

Is the DCPS normally allowed to carry such a surplus? And if they happen to be in the unusual situation of actualizing such, how does city government deal with it? (By the way, the surplus was revealed in the spring, does that surplus even exist now?)

And any way, privately run schools receiving public charters may have different capital expenditures but they do receive public money and should be subject to public oversight. It is not good enough to state that they intend to use the profit for future expansion.

[Recursion]

48. Even if I granted that, it only proves the larger point that the DCPS administration...

... is hopelessly incompetent and/or corrupt, and that charters are parents' and teachers' only way to reduce its influence on the kids' education to as little as possible.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. "as those charter schools thrived, so did United Bank's loan portfolio"

Maybe you missed this part?

[Recursion]

26. I don't see what that has to do with the alleged "profits" charter schools are making

The bank is making money managing the surpluses some charters are running. DCPS is running an even bigger surplus, so another bank is making even more money off DCPS. Where's the outrage there?

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. Where's the article?

[Recursion]

34. The article about DCPS's surplus?

There's tons of them over the past several years. Google "DCPS surplus". It was part of what made the city council lose confidence in Rhee: one minute she's saying there's a 40 million dollar budget gap; the next minute she's saying there's a 60 million dollar surplus. Whether it's actually a surplus from an accounting standpoint is apparently being debated; the money was actually in the bank.

Natwar Gandhi (DC's CFO) also got into some trouble over this; the open question seems to be whether his person inside DCPS was beholden to Rhee more than he should have been.

[Angry Dragon]

35. Ponder that question for a few hours

[PufPuf23]

5. Thats $24 million that did not go to teachers, supplies, facilities, etc.

Privatization of public education is so wrong and anyone here who does not get this has their head up their ass (and this includes Obama and Arne and their apologists at DU).

[hootinholler]

6. Or Texas texts n/t

[PufPuf23]

7. Texas texts are just another distortion of reality by agenda.

As a once professional scientist, the text book BS from Texas is another item that harms young minds.

What is the answer?

[hootinholler]

19. California or a coalition of other states need to reject them

I should have put the sarcasm tag on my reply, I was groping for the silver lining.

-Hoot

[Recursion]

12. Does the even larger "surplus" DCPS runs bother you?

And it's still not clear how charters which are by law non-profit can be running this "profit".

[gaspee]

8. That's obscene!

What's next? For-profit fire departments? This is obscene - no one should be making a profit off of education!

[woo me with science]

9. That's as disgusting as this move by LA public schools

when teachers are being fired and bus routes cut:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/22/robert-f-kennedy-communit_n_690497.html#postComment

LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation

Source: Associated Press

Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.

"There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, 'Oh, back to jail,'" said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. "Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning." Not everyone is similarly enthusiastic. "New buildings are nice, but when they're run by the same people who've given us a 50 percent dropout rate, they're a big waste of taxpayer money," said Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution who sits on the California Board of Education. "Parents aren't fooled."

At RFK, the features include fine art murals and a marble memorial depicting the complex's namesake, a manicured public park, a state-of-the-art swimming pool and preservation of pieces of the original hotel. Partly by circumstance and partly by design, the Los Angeles Unified School District has emerged as the mogul of Taj Mahals. The RFK complex follows on the heels of two other LA schools among the nation's costliest — the $377 million Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, which opened in 2008, and the $232 million Visual and Performing Arts High School that debuted in 2009.

The pricey schools have come during a sensitive period for the nation's second-largest school system: Nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed. The district also faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation's lowest performing. Los Angeles is not alone, however, in building big. Some of the most expensive schools are found in low-performing districts — New York City has a $235 million campus; New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million high school in January. Nationwide, dozens of schools have surpassed $100 million with amenities including atriums, orchestra-pit auditoriums, food courts, even bamboo nooks. The extravagance has led some to wonder where the line should be drawn and whether more money should be spent on teachers.







Check out the comments at HuffingtonPost:


To put the cost of this school in perspective:

* Staples Center: $375 million, 1999
* Walt Disney Concert Hall: $274 million, 2003
* Universal Studios backlot: $200 million, 2010
* Downtown cathedral: $190 million, 2002

[Recursion]

10. Well, as long as nobody's making a profit...

DCPS has a multi-billion dollar budget, and runs a larger "surplus" than this "profit" (charters in DC are by law non-profit), but we all know charters are by nature evil or whatever.

[woo me with science]

13. Thank you. nt

[Starry Messenger]

11. k&r

[alsame]

14. Disgusting. nt

[Jefferson23]

15. Thanks for posting, K&R and bookmarked. n/t

[jpak]

17. K&R - Charter Schools = scam, fraud and waste of tax dollars

yup

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maryf]

21. K&Rnt

[Chan790]

23. Good.

Every dollar of profit made by the charter schools came from the sole source of revenues for DC charter schools...the taxpayers of Washington DC and DC public schools budget. That money belongs to us.

I'm sure Kaya Henderson and Natwar Gandhi have great ideas what can be done with this windfall; they should send someone by in the morning to pick it up.

[Dappleganger]

25. No doubt their shareholders will be pleased.

[Recursion]

27. Whose shareholders? Charters can't have shareholders (nt)

[Chan790]

28. Many DC charter schools are owned and run by for-profit corporations.

Those corporations have shareholders. That isn't the way its' supposed to work but yet again another shit idea from Michelle Rhee who thought it would attract the best charter administrators possible and that we should not shut-out of the system anybody who might run a quality school. It really astounds me that she's being allowed to leave with dignity rather than handcuffs.

Edit: By the way NYPS has the same issue. All those KIPP schools? KIPP is a corporation. Run by millionaires. That money came from the school budget and the taxpayers.

Edit: Miss IDed the millionaires and I'm too lazy to find the right name.

[Dappleganger]

30. Thank you.

Follow the money.

[Recursion]

32. Kipp bugs me too

Though they seem to be doing ok in DC. Still, nationally 10% are managed by for-profit corporations (less than that in DC). So, we work on curbing those.

another shit idea from Michelle Rhee who thought it would attract the best charter administrators possible and that we should not shut-out of the system anybody who might run a quality school

What did Michelle Rhee have to do with charter schools?

[Dappleganger]

31. That offends your sensibilities, doesn't it?

As well it should.

[Recursion]

33. What on earth are you talking about?

I don't like things like KIPP because yes, that is an example of for-profit corporations getting to close to the school.

[leftstreet]

37. K&R

[Eyerish]

43. K&R

[blindpig]

49. See, they are a success

I mean, what's the purpose of education, anyway?

[Recursion]

50. So, what you're saying is...

...even the charter schools managed by for-profit corporations didn't find a way to siphon those millions into the corporations' ledgers, but are instead keeping the money around for future development of the schools?

(And I still don't see where in that article anyone but the bank is profiting; but DCPS makes much bigger profits for its bank.)