Maybe, if we weren't hemorrhaging PUBLIC FUNDS into these "professional privateers" profiting off of the backs of, and (far too) often at the expense of our children, there would be more resources available for public schools. Schools which can be held accountable. NOT enterprises that represent as though they are the next best thing to a private school (but yet not) that actually teaches the same curriculum as public schools in the county.
In this article in the Miami Herald you can see what the public is up against:
"The story is repeated across the state: Charter schools, which are public schools run by private groups, have received more than $760 million from state taxpayers since 2000 according to an Associated Press analysis of state Department of Education records. Schools can use the money for construction costs, rent payments, buses and even property insurance.... (Does this sound familiar??)Yet charter schools in 30 districts have wound up closing after receiving as much as $70 million combined in such funding, the AP’s analysis showed.....
Taxpayers usually can’t recover the capital money invested in those schools because most of it has been spent on rent or leasing costs. The Department of Education reported it has taken back just $133,000 in the last three years from schools that closed.
“That’s definitely a concern as a taxpayer,” said Jaime Torrens, chief facilities officer for Miami-Dade schools. “If a school closes, whatever property was built with these public dollars, it doesn’t come back to the public. It remains with the owner of property.”
Seriously, Bernie Madoff would have loved this!
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