Many charter schools are actualy government subsidized private schools

WHEN SCHOOLS PURSUE PROFITS
Strange things can happen, like $600 fees

As statewide budget cuts have hit the bottom line at all public schools, some charters have been accused of cutting costs and boosting revenue at the expense of children and parents.

It’s a story Tuli Chediak knows well. As her daughter was preparing to graduate from the International Studies Charter High School in Miami earlier this year, Chediak was notified that she had failed to complete the 120 hours of volunteer service required of all parents. Her family was told to pay $600 — $5 for each hour — or their daughter could not graduate, Chediak said.

The mother had signed paperwork promising to complete the volunteer service, a common requirement at private schools and some charters. But Chediak said the school offered few opportunities to complete the service. The contract said nothing about a fine or withholding her daughter from graduation, she said.

Chediak refused to pay and complained to the school district, which declined to get involved. The school ultimately allowed her daughter to graduate, and blamed the dispute on a miscommunication. But the experience left Chediak and other parents who were asked to pay frustrated.

“There are people taking advantage of parents,” she said. “It shouldn’t be that way.”

The Balere Language Academy saved cash by teaching nine seventh-graders in a wooden storage shed on campus, records show. One report by the school district said students “had difficulty putting their legs comfortably under the desks.”

The school denied it, but district photographs show colorful posters, a whiteboard and student papers hanging from the walls. The shed is no longer used for classes.

Arts & Minds boosted its bank account for several years by charging student fees for basic classes like math and reading — a violation of state law, school district officials said. The district complained about the practice in September, prompting Arts & Minds administrators to return all checks received from parents this school year.

Parents at Arts & Minds, a school that has relied on loans from its landlord and founder to stay in the black, had also complained that the school did not have enough books for its students, and some classes had no teachers for the first five weeks of this school year.

The complaints aren’t new: Earlier this year, school administrators were photocopying textbooks, until the school’s then-principal questioned whether this violated copyright laws, governing board minutes show.

Insiders at the Mavericks High of South Miami-Dade, a Homestead charter school for at-risk students, also say the school has broken state law to bring in more money.

Kelly Shaw, a former career coordinator at the school, filed a whistleblower suit in June accusing school administrators of defrauding the school district by inflating student attendance and enrollment figures, to increase the amount of money the school collected.

A former Mavericks teacher, Maria del Cristo, filed a separate suit accusing the school of improperly charging fees to students enrolling at the school. Through their attorney, Shaw and del Cristo declined to comment.

Lauren Hollander, the CEO of the school’s management company, Mavericks in Education Florida, denied the allegations, and said both women had been fired “for cause.” The lawsuits are still pending.

Miami-Dade school district officials said they never heard of the allegations.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/v-fullstory/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html#ixzz1gJzr4wti