[Vision2020] Fiscal Failures at Charter Schools
Dale Courtney
dale@courtneys.us
Tue, 29 Jul 2003 14:14:57 -0700
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Recently, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute did a review of charter school
overseers. Check out:
<http://www.edexcellence.net/tbfinstitute/authorizers.html>
http://www.edexcellence.net/tbfinstitute/authorizers.html
Note #1: Idaho Charter schools were not part of the study because they were
deemed to have insufficient legal or fiscal autonomy so that they it was
questionable as to whether they should be called charter schools at all. The
law allowing charter schools in Idaho was so loaded with strings that there
is some question as to their ability to operate independently.
Note #2: the Moscow Education Association, at one of their recent meetings,
discussed ways of shutting down the local charter schools to force students
back into the public schools to increase state aid.
Rose, I wish you the best in trying to resolve these issues. It could be a
watershed action in Moscow.
Best,
Dale
_____
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com] On
Behalf Of DonaldH675@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 July, 2003 13:37
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Fiscal Failures at Charter Schools
Dear Visionaries,
One aspect of public education rarely discussed on this list is the charter
school. Charter schools are public schools paid for with public monies that
must meet state standards regarding achievement but which have a great deal
of latitude in how education is delivered. Locally, Moscow School District
"holds" the charters of Renaissance Public Charter School and Moscow Charter
School, but it has no statutory authority to address internal governance.
MSD conducts an annual review of the local charter schools which includes
audited financial records and educational testing scores, among other items.
Recently, at an MSD Board meeting preliminary approval for the year was
granted to Moscow Charter School and was withheld from Renaissance Charter
School.
Charter school board members are not directly elected by the parents of
charter school parents or by the tax-payers in the charter school's
district. Rather, they are generally self-selected by school founders and
evolve over to time to include members nominated and voted for by the
sitting board members. A system of self-selection can make for a system
rife with abuse. Our local legislators have made gallant attempts to
sponsor legislation that will correct this glitch, but so far, the state
legislature has not been able to enact a statute that will remedy the
situation.
Renaissance Public Charter School, which my grandchildren attended until
recently, is facing a huge deficit. (Approximately $18,000 was overspent
during last year's budget, they have a $9,000 holdback from the state, and
they misappropriated $5,000 from a grant that must be paid back.) This
deficit is the result of very poor financial management, state educational
holdbacks, lack of Board oversight, and a declining student population. It
is not due, which is the excuse offered by director Susan Seaman, to lower
than expected daily attendance, or - and this is a deliberate
misrepresentation she favors - a planned downsizing because the school
buildings are small.
RPCS is blessed with an extraordinary faculty and cursed by fiscally
irresponsible administrators, and a historically disinterested board. (Not
all board members were disinterested, however they learned very quickly that
they did not hold a voting majority and were simply outvoted when
disagreements arose. Three of these board members, who represented the
Lets-Not-Do-Business-As-Usual party have recently resigned.) On the other
hand, a long serving board member, Ray Richmond has proudly summed up his
duties by saying "our job is to rubber stamp the director." He plans to
continue on the Board until 2005 - at which time he will have served 6 +
years.
Unfortunately, while the truly wonderful teachers are working their bums off
to serve their students and giving Idaho tax payers the best bang for their
buck imaginable (they are paid well under the local teacher pay rate) the
administrator, many Board members, and the financial / business manager are
diligently at work wasting our tax dollars.
As a taxpayer and sensible adult, it did not make me happy to learn that
during the Christmas Break of 2001 the school director and her husband were
treated by the Board to an overnight stay at the Coeur d' Alene Resort (the
Fantasy in Lights Package for $295.00) as a reward for her work after only
four months on the job. I have copies of the minutes in which Susan Seaman,
the director, thanks the board for "a memorable evening." I have a copy of
the flyer detailing the holiday package chosen, a copy of the payment
voucher, and a written admission on school letterhead from the business
manager that the trip was paid with general education funds. (Without the
Freedom of Information Act, neither you nor I would know anything about this
grotesque abuse of state funds.)
The school's treasurer and the school's business manager arranged this
little trip; the school's director happily accepted it. Is this beginning
to sound like the Mayor of Boise? When this information was made public (to
the parents in the school), the parties involved dashed off to the school
attorney to construct a defense for themselves. Apparently they believe
that paying back the money and sending a contrite letter to the prosecutor
will absolve them of liability. I hope this is not the case, and I also
hope that our tax dollars will not be used to pay for their defense.
Perhaps you will be equally cheered to learn that the business manager
hired, supervised and paid her husband for off again on again handyman work
around the school. With one minuted exception, this work was done without
the direct knowledge or oversight of the Board. (By the way, the business
manager is also an ex-officio board member. Can you say ethics problem? I
think you can.) Most of the Board members who presented the school director
with the "appreciation" trip vigorously defend the business manager's hiring
of her own husband as well as his generous rate of pay, despite their
ignorance of his employment. I understand that, under pressure, the Board
has agreed not to hire him in the future. Still, if the terms are as
liberal for you as they were for him, here's what you can expect to be paid
for the following odd jobs:
8-19-02: Labor $175, Material $0; Comments: Stow unwanted books & Mat'ls
9-18-02: Labor $200, Material $0; Comments: Expecting visitors from Boise
Spruce up doors, windows, trash, grounds
9-24-02: Labor $75; Materials $5; Comments: Put up tv
9-25: Labor $50; Materials $5; Comments: Repr doorlock H/S
Our ex-handyman is not the only employee who benefits from the board's
selective generosity. The director, Susan Seaman's salary this year will is
in excess of $68,000 (plus benefits and she will also have a lovely travel
budget for her endless jaunts). FYI, there are currently less than 70
students enrolled in the school. The business manager, Carol Kampenhout,
pays herself in excess of $19.00/hr plus overtime (roughly 40,000 -
45,000/year.) She is unable/unwilling to tell us how many hours she plans
to work.
MSD officials have been courteous and responsive to the concerns of
Renaissance Public Charter School parents. They have lived up to the letter
and, in my opinion, the spirit of the current Charter School law. RPCS has
been routinely audited and has passed the audits. The money in and money out
part balances. But an audit that reveals the kind of information that I am
sharing is not required, and certainly Moscow School District had no way of
knowing about it. Despite these horrific examples, Moscow School District
has done a good job in monitoring financial oversight at the school, but
their hands are tied. The director and Board members of RPCS have
repeatedly warned parents and supporters not to report these problems to the
district - and until this summer have generally stifled dissent. (Okay
guys, imagine trying to shut me up by threats - in your dreams.)
By statue, the only enforcement mechanism the district has is to remove the
charter, thus closing the school. If management and Board membership issues
could be addressed, we could avoid throwing the baby out with the bath
water.
Many concerned parents and supporters of Renaissance have spent the summer
asking the Board to address our concerns. We won't be receiving an
appreciation gift for our hard work. Instead, we are characterized by the
director, Susan Seaman, as "well poisoners" and "troublemakers". Some board
members prefer to use obscenities when referring to us, or, dismiss us as
liars. ) Seasoned readers of Vision 20/20 can imagine how deeply hurt I feel
by these unkind words : ) Moreover, the RPCS Board is right in their
assertion that we can bring these problems into the light but we can do
nothing about them. We have no power to force board responsiveness, and
hence no power to effect changes.
Therefore, I am asking that readers of Vision 20/20 to support legislation
that will increase accountability for Board members of charter schools by
having direct elections from their constituency. I also ask that those
readers who are interested in fiscal responsibility and accountability from
our public schools join with the concerned parents and supporters of
Renaissance School and demand the immediate resignation of Susan Seaman, the
school director; Carol Kampenhout, the Business Manager, Ray Richmond, Board
Member and Deborah Lind, Acting Board President. Please feel free to email
me privately with any questions or documentation of my allegations.
Best,
Rose Huskey
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<DIV dir=3Dltr align=3Dleft><FONT color=3D#800000>Recently, the Thomas =
B. Fordham=20
Institute did a review of charter school overseers. Check out:<SPAN=20
class=3D581290621-29072003> </SPAN></FONT><A=20
href=3D"http://www.edexcellence.net/tbfinstitute/authorizers.html"><FONT =
color=3D#800000>http://www.edexcellence.net/tbfinstitute/authorizers.html=
</FONT></A>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800000><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><X-TAB></X-TAB><FONT color=3D#800000><SPAN =
class=3D581290621-29072003>Note #1:=20
</SPAN>Idaho Charter schools were <U>not</U> part of the study because =
they were=20
deemed to have insufficient legal or fiscal autonomy so that they it was =
questionable as to whether they should be called charter schools at all. =
The law=20
allowing charter schools in Idaho was so loaded with strings that there =
is some=20
question as to their ability to operate independently. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800000><SPAN class=3D581290621-29072003>Note #2: =
</SPAN>the=20
Moscow Education Association, at one of their recent meetings, discussed =
ways of=20
shutting down the local charter schools to force students back =
into the=20
public schools to increase state aid.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D581290621-29072003><FONT color=3D#800000>Rose, I wish =
you the=20
best in trying to resolve these issues. It could be a watershed action =
in=20
Moscow. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=3D#800000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=3Dleft><FONT color=3D#800000><FONT size=3D2><FONT=20
size=3D3>Best,</FONT><BR></FONT><FONT face=3D"Vladimir Script"=20
size=3D5>Dale</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #800000 2px =
solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=3DOutlookMessageHeader lang=3Den-us dir=3Dltr align=3Dleft>
<HR tabIndex=3D-1>
<FONT face=3DTahoma size=3D2><B>From:</B> vision2020-admin@moscow.com=20
[mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com] <B>On Behalf Of=20
</B>DonaldH675@aol.com<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, 29 July, 2003=20
13:37<BR><B>To:</B> vision2020@moscow.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> =
[Vision2020]=20
Fiscal Failures at Charter Schools<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT face=3Darial,helvetica><FONT lang=3D0 face=3DArial =
size=3D2=20
FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF">Dear Visionaries,<BR><BR>One aspect of public =
education=20
rarely discussed on this list is the charter school. Charter =
schools are=20
public schools paid for with public monies that must meet state =
standards=20
regarding achievement but which have a great deal of latitude in how =
education=20
is delivered. Locally, Moscow School District "holds" the charters of=20
Renaissance Public Charter School and Moscow Charter School, but it =
has no=20
statutory authority to address internal governance. MSD conducts =
an=20
annual review of the local charter schools which includes audited =
financial=20
records and educational testing scores, among other items. =
Recently, at=20
an MSD Board meeting preliminary approval for the year was granted to =
Moscow=20
Charter School and was withheld from Renaissance Charter=20
School.<BR><BR>Charter school board members are not directly elected =
by the=20
parents of charter school parents or by the tax-payers in the charter =
school's=20
district. Rather, they are generally self-selected by school founders =
and=20
evolve over to time to include members nominated and voted for by the =
sitting=20
board members. A system of self-selection can make for a =
system=20
rife with abuse. Our local legislators have made gallant =
attempts to=20
sponsor legislation that will correct this glitch, but so far, the =
state=20
legislature has not been able to enact a statute that will remedy the=20
situation. <BR><BR>Renaissance Public Charter School, which my =
grandchildren=20
attended until recently, is facing a huge deficit. =
(Approximately=20
$18,000 was overspent during last year's budget, they have a $9,000 =
holdback=20
from the state, and they misappropriated $5,000 from a grant that must =
be paid=20
back.) This deficit is the result of very poor financial =
management,=20
state educational holdbacks, lack of Board oversight, and a declining =
student=20
population. It is not due, which is the excuse offered by director =
Susan=20
Seaman, to lower than expected daily attendance, or - and this is a =
deliberate=20
misrepresentation she favors - a planned downsizing because the school =
buildings are small. <BR><BR>RPCS is blessed with an extraordinary =
faculty and=20
cursed by fiscally irresponsible administrators, and a historically=20
disinterested board. (Not all board members were disinterested, =
however=20
they learned very quickly that they did not hold a voting majority and =
were=20
simply outvoted when disagreements arose. Three of these board =
members, who=20
represented the Lets-Not-Do-Business-As-Usual party have recently =
resigned.)=20
On the other hand, a long serving board member, Ray Richmond has =
proudly=20
summed up his duties by saying "our job is to rubber stamp the=20
director." He plans to continue on the Board until 2005 - at =
which time=20
he will have served 6 + years.<BR><BR>Unfortunately, while the truly =
wonderful=20
teachers are working their bums off to serve their students and giving =
Idaho=20
tax payers the best bang for their buck imaginable (they are paid well =
under=20
the local teacher pay rate) the administrator, many Board members, and =
the=20
financial / business manager are diligently at work wasting our tax=20
dollars.<BR><BR>As a taxpayer and sensible adult, it did not make me =
happy to=20
learn that during the Christmas Break of 2001 the school director and =
her=20
husband were treated by the Board to an overnight stay at the Coeur d' =
Alene=20
Resort (the Fantasy in Lights Package for $295.00) as a reward for her =
work=20
after only four months on the job. I have copies of the minutes =
in which=20
Susan Seaman, the director, thanks the board for "a memorable =
evening." =20
I have a copy of the flyer detailing the holiday package chosen, a =
copy of the=20
payment voucher, and a written admission on school letterhead from the =
business manager that the trip was paid with general education =
funds. =20
(Without the Freedom of Information Act, neither you nor I would know =
anything=20
about this grotesque abuse of state funds.)<BR><BR>The school's =
treasurer and=20
the school's business manager arranged this little trip; the school's =
director=20
happily accepted it. Is this beginning to sound like the Mayor =
of=20
Boise? When this information was made public (to the parents in =
the=20
school), the parties involved dashed off to the school attorney to =
construct a=20
defense for themselves. Apparently they believe that paying back =
the=20
money and sending a contrite letter to the prosecutor will absolve =
them of=20
liability. I hope this is not the case, and I also hope that our =
tax=20
dollars will not be used to pay for their defense. =
<BR><BR>Perhaps you=20
will be equally cheered to learn that the business manager hired, =
supervised=20
and paid her husband for off again on again handyman work around the =
school.=20
With one minuted exception, this work was done without the direct =
knowledge or=20
oversight of the Board. (By the way, the business manager is =
also an=20
ex-officio board member. Can you say ethics problem? I =
think you=20
can.) Most of the Board members who presented the school =
director with=20
the "appreciation" trip vigorously defend the business manager's =
hiring of her=20
own husband as well as his generous rate of pay, despite their =
ignorance of=20
his employment. I understand that, under pressure, the =
Board has=20
agreed not to hire him in the future. Still, if the terms are as =
liberal=20
for you as they were for him, here's what you can expect to be paid =
for the=20
following odd jobs:<BR><BR>8-19-02: Labor $175, Material $0;=20
Comments: Stow unwanted books & Mat'ls<BR>9-18-02: =
Labor $200,=20
Material $0; Comments: Expecting visitors from Boise Spruce up doors, =
windows,=20
trash, grounds<BR>9-24-02: Labor $75; Materials $5; Comments: Put up=20
tv<BR>9-25: Labor $50; Materials $5; Comments: Repr doorlock =
H/S<BR><BR>Our=20
ex-handyman is not the only employee who benefits from the board's =
selective=20
generosity. The director, Susan Seaman's salary this year will is in =
excess of=20
$68,000 (plus benefits and she will also have a lovely travel budget =
for her=20
endless jaunts). FYI, there are currently less than 70 students =
enrolled=20
in the school. The business manager, Carol Kampenhout, pays =
herself in=20
excess of $19.00/hr plus overtime (roughly 40,000 - =
45,000/year.) She is=20
unable/unwilling to tell us how many hours she plans to =
work.<BR><BR>MSD=20
officials have been courteous and responsive to the concerns of =
Renaissance=20
Public Charter School parents. They have lived up to the letter =
and, in=20
my opinion, the spirit of the current Charter School law. RPCS =
has been=20
routinely audited and has passed the audits. The money in and money =
out part=20
balances. But an audit that reveals the kind of information that =
I am=20
sharing is not required, and certainly Moscow School District had no =
way of=20
knowing about it. Despite these horrific examples, Moscow School =
District has done a good job in monitoring financial oversight at the =
school,=20
but their hands are tied. The director and Board members of RPCS =
have=20
repeatedly warned parents and supporters not to report these problems =
to the=20
district - and until this summer have generally stifled dissent. =
(Okay=20
guys, imagine trying to shut me up by threats - in your dreams.)<BR>By =
statue,=20
the only enforcement mechanism the district has is to remove the =
charter, thus=20
closing the school. If management and Board membership issues =
could be=20
addressed, we could avoid throwing the baby out with the bath=20
water.<BR><BR>Many concerned parents and supporters of Renaissance =
have spent=20
the summer asking the Board to address our concerns. We won't be =
receiving an=20
appreciation gift for our hard work. Instead, we are characterized by =
the=20
director, Susan Seaman, as "well poisoners" and "troublemakers". =
Some=20
board members prefer to use obscenities when referring to us, or, =
dismiss us=20
as liars. ) Seasoned readers of Vision 20/20 can imagine how deeply =
hurt I=20
feel by these unkind words : ) Moreover, the RPCS Board is right =
in=20
their assertion that we can bring these problems into the light but we =
can do=20
nothing about them. We have no power to force board responsiveness, =
and hence=20
no power to effect changes. <BR><BR>Therefore, I am asking that =
readers=20
of Vision 20/20 to support legislation that will increase =
accountability for=20
Board members of charter schools by having direct elections from their =
constituency. I also ask that those readers who are interested =
in fiscal=20
responsibility and accountability from our public schools join with =
the=20
concerned parents and supporters of Renaissance School and demand the=20
immediate resignation of Susan Seaman, the school director; Carol =
Kampenhout,=20
the Business Manager, Ray Richmond, Board Member and Deborah Lind, =
Acting=20
Board President. Please feel free to email me privately with any =
questions or documentation of my allegations.<BR>Best,<BR>Rose=20
Huskey<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>
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