I’ve heard it said that spending money on public education is “throwing money at the problem” (as if the solution to an aging bus fleet is to spend less money on buses). I generally do not agree with that assertion, because it’s pretty obvious that a lot of the problems facing our public schools are connected to funding. Education isn’t cheap!
Having said that, there does seem to be one area where South Carolina seems to be “throwing money at the problem” – charter schools. Have a look at this Greenville News article about Restoring the Minds Math and Business Academy, one of South Carolina’s less-than-successful charter schools.
One-third of the 43 groups in the state that have received grants of $20,000 to plan one of these publicly funded independent schools never opened, costing taxpayers at least $280,000, according to the state Department of Education.
Now that’s throwing money at a problem. What have we gotten for our $280,000? We could have gotten buses or teachers. But we didn’t.
But let’s look at one of the charter schools that did open – Restoring the Minds Math and Business Academy.
Some charter schools that do open, such as Restoring the Minds Math and Business Academy, draw from a $200,000 start-up grant but go out of business before they finish a school year.
That giant flushing sound you just heard was your tax money, which could have gone for for more buses and more quality teachers, going down the toilet.
This particular charter school was run by Martha Evans, pastor of Resurrected Treasure Ministries. This church also runs a private school using the ACE curriculum, a holy-roller curriculum that’s a combination of bad pedagogy and bad science.
Why did their charter school close? Their charter was revoked for many reasons, according to the the Greenville county school board. They accuse the school of
(1) Material violations of the conditions, standards, and procedures provided for in the charter, as demonstrated by these failures:
- Failure to operate according to a year-round calendar
- Failure to provide single-gender classes
- Failure to utilize school uniforms
- Failure to comply with State curriculum standards
- Failure to comply with provisions for special education teacher
- Failure to follow employee grievance and termination procedures
- Failure to follow student discipline procedures
- Failure to implement innovative ideas, techniques, and methodologies
- Failure to implement interdisciplinary learning
(2) Failure to meet or make reasonable progress toward pupil achievement standards identified in the charter application, as demonstrated by the following:
- Failure to comply with State curriculum standards
- Failure to assess and implement individualized academic plans
(3) Failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management, as demonstrated by the following issues:
- Failure to maintain records of financial transactions or receipts of bills paid
- Failure to comply with routine procedures and standards for compensating employees
- Inflation of enrollment numbers
- Failure to comply with SASI reporting procedures
- Failure to secure payment for out-of-district students
(4) Violations of provisions of the law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted, as demonstrated by the following:
- Failure to submit proper reports, conduct manifestation determinations, handle discipline, comply with IEP’s, provide compensatory education, and provide instruction from a qualified teacher in violation of IDEA, section 504, and the ADA
- Failure to employ certified teachers for at least 75% of the school’s teaching staff in violation of section 59-40-50(B)(5) of the South Carolina Code
- Failure to test and provide instruction to students with limited English language proficiency in violation of the fourteenth amendment, title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974
- Failure to comply with audit procedures and requirements in violation of section 59-40-50(B)(3) of the South Carolina Code
- Failure to comply with student attendance requirements in violation of section 59-40-50 (B)(2) of the South Carolina Code
I’ve highlighted a few things above. It looks like the school already had corruption problems (shady handling of funds and inflation of enrollment numbers) and quality problems (lack of certified teachers and substandard curriculum). This is what we’re pulling money away from our public schools to fund?
Something to think about …