by David Safier NOTE: Since Imagine School at Superstition made news by firing 11 of its 14 teachers, I’ve been writing about it, reading up on Imagine Schools and talking to people who know more than I do. This is the third in a series of posts trying to make sense of the nation’s largest … Read more
by David Safier Librarians think unwisely restricting access to books is a bad idea. They made that clear when the American Library Association and affiliated groups condemned the selective book banning at TUSD (Yes, it's still a ban, even when the books are accessible to some in TUSD, if you forbid/ban certain teachers from using … Read more
by David Safier
NOTE: Since Imagine School at Superstition made news by firing 11 of its 14 teachers, I've been writing about it, reading up on Imagine Schools and talking to people who know more than I do. This is the third in a series of posts trying to make sense of the nation's largest charter school corporation which has drawn more controversy for its practices and low student achievement scores than any other (Here are the first and second posts). What I write may be incomplete or incorrect in places. If you have information to add, please leave comments or email me at safier@schooltales.net. I keep all email correspondence confidential.
Dennis Bakke, Imagine Schools' founder and CEO, began his career in the energy business. After helping guide energy deregulation through the Carter Administration, he began AES (Applied Energy Services). AES expanded at breakneck speed, using deregulation and huge long term loans to buy power plants around the world. When ENRON, another company that made its fortune by taking advantage of energy deregulation, imploded, AES buckled under the weight of its loan obligations, and its stock price tumbled from $70 to $1. Bakke fled the corporation a very rich man with his faith in the expansionist model and his business acumen still intact.
Bakke decided to use some of his wealth to invest in charter schools, a deregulated corner of government funded public schooling where he could put his expansionist model to work. He had absolutely no background in education, though his wife had been a teacher. He relied on the belief that a master of free enterprise like himself could make any business venture work. Business is business, he must have figured, whether it's power plants or schools. [Note from an educator: The business of education is not business. It's education.]
In 2004, Bakke bought a failing charter school company and renamed it Imagine Schools. Instead of taking a few years to learn how schools work educationally and financially, he rushed headlong into what he knew best — business expansion. Bakke began with the 25 schools he purchased. The next year, he opened 9 new schools. Four years later, his educational empire had grown by 48 schools. At 73 schools, nearly triple the original number, Imagine is the largest charter school corporation in the country. It appears from reading Imagine's annual reports, Bakke actually opened more than 48 schools during those years, but some Imagine schools closed while others defected, deciding to sever ties with Imagine and go it alone.
by David Safier SOS Ken Bennett is delighted. He's hoping he can use "the rule of law" to kill the one cent sales tax renewal initiative before it gets to the voters. His office claims it has no choice. The problem is, the paper version of the initiative submitted to the SOS is different from … Read more
by David Safier Look who's happy about getting 5 million dollars of that nasty Obama money to improve the AZ Dept of Ed data systems. John Huppenthal. Arizona is one of two dozen states receiving federal grants to improve their data systems. The $5 million grant to Arizona, along with up to $6.6 million in … Read more