by David Safier It's a long, complicated story. Here's the short version. For-profit Imagine Schools, the biggest charter school corporation in the country, buys property and school buildings through one of its subsidiary organizations, sells them to a private property trust, usually Entertainment Properties, which rents the properties back to Imagine, which then rents them … Read more
by David Safier An individual can give $200 to a public school — or break it up among a number of schools — and get 100% of it back at tax time. Once again, that's 100% back, no cost to you. A couple can give $400. You have to do it by December 31. Remember, … Read more
by David Safier Atlanta had a huge standardized test cheating scandal that rocked the city's schools. Now it's the turn of the Dougherty school system, also in Georgia, according to an Education Week story (subscription only). The investigation showed cheating took place in at least 11 of 26 schools in the district, which is located … Read more
by David Safier Arizona has 18 charter schools run by Imagine Schools, the nation's largest charter school chain. Two Imagine Schools in St. Louis were shut down because they were doing such a lousy job. The other four in the city are on probation. Do Arizona's Imagine Schools suffer the same deficiencies? I don't know. … Read more
by David Safier In rural West Virginia, the American Federation of Teachers (yes, the AFT, that evil organization which is only interested in making its lazy teachers rich [he said, sarcastically]) is spearheading a five year, public-private partnership it calls "Reconnecting McDowell." "McDowell" refers to McDowell County, an area ravaged by the poverty, unemployment and … Read more