District tells charter to end $45 fee for ID

[annie]

District tells charter to end $45 fee - Philly.com

Franklin Towne was charging $45 for an ID to get into the building but:

Mark Hankin, president of the Arsenal Condominium Association, said it charges $25 to create and program each magnetic security card. The rate applies to cards made for all the units in the condominium association, including the Maritime Academy Charter School.

Ann G. Waiters, Maritime’s CEO, said her school of fifth-through-12th graders provided their security cards at no cost to the students but charged them $10 to replace a lost card.

[raider.adam]

Unlike other charters, he said, Franklin Towne faces unusual charges because its campus at 5301 Tacony St. is part of the Arsenal Condominium Association and is assessed for its share of “common expenses,” including the cost of security personnel who staff booths at the two access points to the 86-acre arsenal.

It is not appropriate to assess students additional fees because of where they chose to locate their charter. That is what taxpayers are paying almost $9,000 a kid for.

[seand]

Exactly. Has anyone tried legislation for annual audits, basic fiscal oversight for charters?

To be fair, it sounds more like a scheme to nickle and dime parents out of cost that should come out of their reimbusement from the district, rather than a scheme to keep out students who couldn't come up with the $45 but still. Free public schools mean free. The charter operator needs to eat this out the taxpayer dollars its already recieving.

[Litter Box]

Exactly. Has anyone tried legislation for annual audits, basic fiscal oversight for charters?

Great idea.

[seand]

Are charters subject to open records laws in any way?

[annie]

To be fair, it sounds more like a scheme to nickle and dime parents out of cost that should come out of their reimbusement from the district, rather than a scheme to keep out students who couldn't come up with the $45 but still. Free public schools mean free.

In a school district where enrollment (including charters) is 80.6% "economically-disadvantaged" (i.e. <130% of the poverty guideline or ~$29K or less for a family of four), $45 is not exactly a small amount for the free public education a student is entitled to by right.

[annie]

Are charters subject to open records laws in any way?

Yes, but many will fight it: Court says school required to disclose financial records - delcotimes.com

[raider.adam]

In a school district where enrollment (including charters) is 80.6% "economically-disadvantaged" (i.e. <130% of the poverty guideline or ~$29K or less for a family of four), $45 is not exactly a small amount for the free public education a student is entitled to by right.

I agree, but I also think seand's point is probably the right one. They weren't trying to keep kids from going, they were likely just trying to make more money than they were supposed to.

You know what would be a good way of dealing with this? Make the school refund all the money it has collected for it too.

[annie]

I agree, but I also think seand's point is probably the right one. They weren't trying to keep kids from going, they were likely just trying to make more money than they were supposed to.

I totally think part of it is also being a little butthurt that they weren't able to rent their building from their founder or a person tied very closely to school the way many charters do.

[seand]

Its a ridiculous attempt to pass on administrative costs that should be coming out of the charter operators cut on to parents but lots of economically disadvantaged families pay more than $45 a year on a lot of silly things, I'm sure. Its wrong on principle. Its a private operator trying to shake down parents for money above and beyond the tax payer money they already receive to pay for all administrative cost. But there are lots of charters and regular publics as well that for example require uniforms that cost more than $45.

I doubt that any parent that actually goes through the hassle of actually enrolling in the school in the first place is actually going to be stopped dead in their tracks by the $45 by itself but its basically a private operator moving a cost that is already part of their contract with the school district on to parents to broaden its potential profit margin.

I also agree that many charters seem to use renting the school facility as a way to enrich politically connected folks or organizations from running the school. For example you are a church group trying to get a "community center" that your church will use and will be a permanent real estate asset under your church's control will "rent" the facility that their members run a charter in at a very high rate, in order to expand their church's real estate portfolio.

[seand]

You know what would be a good way of dealing with this? Make the school refund all the money it has collected for it too.

With interest.

[seand]

Yes, but many will fight it: Court says school required to disclose financial records - delcotimes.com

School spokesman Bruce Crawley . . .

There's a name I wasn't expecting to see in that story. So let me follow this, outspoken former ally who fell out with Street and became a leading Katz supporter, runs a charter school in Chester (Republican one-party mirror image of Dem patronage heavy one-party Philly). Hmmmmm. Something makes me think there might be something worth looking at there.

I wish someone would make a huge rating chart for charters to show which are formed by people with an actual academic mission and which are all politicos of all different stripes helping themselves to contracts.

[annie]

Ya think?

More teachers tell of cheating at Philadelphia's Cayuga school - Philly.com

With the 2012 PSSAs looming, the state recently told Philadelphia and three area charter schools - Chester Community Charter, Imhotep Charter, and Philadelphia Electrical and Technical Charter - to tighten their testing procedures.

Inside Chester Community Charter: Drawing praise, money, criticism - Philly.com

Gureghian now lives in Gladwyne and is a Republican power broker. He is the Montgomery County GOP finance chair and contributed $334,000 to Corbett's campaign for governor; he was the largest individual donor. He served on the governor-elect's transition team education and transportation committees

Special-education students make up an unusually large percentage of school enrollment - 26.7 percent last school year, well over the state average of 15.2 percent and Chester Upland's 21.3 percent. About 40 percent of special-needs students are identified with "speech or language impairments" - generally a mild disability; the state average is 16.2 percent.

The charter gets $25,528 for every special-education student from Chester Upland - more than 2.5 times the amount it gets for district regular education children. Critics question whether the school overidentifies special-needs students to get more money.

[seand]

Gureghian . . . served on the governor-elect's transition team education and transportation committees

Gee the two areas this governor has not exactly been known to be a whirlwind on. Interesting.

Cayuga . . .Chester Community Charter, Imhotep Charter, and Philadelphia Electrical and Technical Charter - to tighten

So Chester is city of Chester/DelCo R patronage/contracts factory, Philadelphia Electrical is Johnny Doc and the IBEW (whose students appeared in his campaign ads when he ran for State Sen).

Who are the politcios in Cayuga and Imhotep?

[annie]

Gee the two areas this governor has not exactly been known to be a whirlwind on. Interesting.


So Chester is city of Chester/DelCo R patronage/contracts factory, Philadelphia Electrical is Johnny Doc and the IBEW (whose students appeared in his campaign ads when he ran for State Sen).

Who are the politcios in Cayuga and Imhotep?

Cayuga is a district school. So all/none of them? Tony Williams is on Imhotep's board but he's probably on the board of a lot of charters around here.

[seand]

Besides being inspired by the guy who invented Kwanza Imhotep I see intermittently follows the spelling ideology that spelling Afrika like Dutch, Russian and German European colonizers is somehow more magically anti-colonial that spelling it like French and English ones (i.e. with a "c") which is sort of a pet peeve of mine. (I mean don't people realize how awful the Afrikaaner's were to indiginous South Africans, even if Bronx-born Afrika Bambata did invent hip hop?)

What is the "Afrikan" approach to teaching math and science exactly?

I see Crawley and and Hardy Williams Sr. are on the national board. Don't know much about the other names.
Imhotep Institute Charter High School

[Freckles]

I totally think part of it is also being a little butthurt that they weren't able to rent their building from their founder or a person tied very closely to school the way many charters do.

Actually, they do (see page E-2 on): http://www.philadelphiacontroller.or...FullReport.pdf

Also, FTC students have needed access cards the entire time the school has been in the Arsenal. I don't know if the $45 charge is new this year or if attention is just being brought to it this year, but in its early years, the school did not charge students for the ID card. Sounds like yet another way for them to try to make more money.

[seand]

Actually, they do (see page E-2 on): http://www.philadelphiacontroller.or...FullReport.pdf

I suppose Annie has looked at this before but just skimming it, it sort of boggles the mind that the Controller isn't tasked to audit each and every school in this document. Gotta love the CEO getting $200k a year to run a school for 100 students while another for 1200 students only makes $130.

Worth a read.

[annie]

I suppose Annie has looked at this before but just skimming it, it sort of boggles the mind that the Controller isn't tasked to audit each and every school in this document. Gotta love the CEO getting $200k a year to run a school for 100 students while another for 1200 students only makes $130.

Worth a read.

I accept the compliment of being assumed omniscient but I had not actually seen this. Working of my City Council budget testimony for tomorrow right now and this info might make its way in though 3 minutes isn't a whole lot of time.

[annie]

SRC approves five more charter renewals | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

I imagine Rep. Waters is going to be making some calls today as the charter he sits on the board of, SW Leadership Academy, did not get renewed (delayed vote).

But the most interesting thing out of the renewals was finding out Green Woods Charter has an economically disadvantaged rate of 17%. HOLY ****! That must be the lowest rate out of any publicly-funded school in the city. And that, my friends, is how you get your charter the best SPI score. You locate in the woods (not easily public transit accessible) and require parents to pick up and drop off the application in person during school hours and give sibling preference. Jesus.