Making money off charter schools. What could go wrong?

by David Safier

This story is from Tennessee. K12 Inc., a for profit online education corporation which has "virtual schools" all over the country, including Arizona Virtual Academy here, needs to operate in volume to make a profit. So it needs, first, to get legislators to let it in and second, get students to sign up.

In Tennessee, K12 Inc.'s lobbyists got a bill through the legislature at the last minute (I imagine they wrote it, though I'm not sure), a "virtual school act" voted for mainly by Republicans, which allowed K12 Inc. to set up shop. Then it created a media advertising blitz to attract students — free computers for your home, textbooks shipped to you, teachers at your service online and over the phone, all that kind of stuff.

But now people in Tennessee are wondering why a school without buildings should get so much funding (They probably don't know yet that K12 Inc. maintains a 50-to-1 student-teacher ratio). They are also worried that one school district is sponsoring the school, which means it get 4% of the state funds that flow to the school, for doing nothing but signing on the dotted line.

K12 Inc. is a serious corporation which takes education seriously, so far as I know, but it takes profits far more seriously. And its top people make serious money.

K12 Inc. compensated its CEO more than $2.6 million last year, its chief financial officer more than $1.7 million, and other top executives several hundred thousand dollars each, according to its latest annual report to shareholders.

That's good education work if you can get it.