Indiana officials who boost the benefit of charter schools claim they are held to the toughest standards in the United States, but a loan state officials made to an Indianapolis charter school facing a precarious financial situation is raising concerns. According to the IBJ. Tindley Accelerated Schools received an $8.7 million loan recently from the state, which represented half of its annual operating budget, as the school faces a cash crunch and two of its most recent treasurers quit amid questionable spending by its high-flying CEO, Marcus Robinson.
Hayleigh Colombo's report says the state loan, the largest of any granted under a new loan program offered by the state to charter schools, came as the school faced a cash crunch that caused it to eliminate some positions at its six schools and Robinson faced criticism of his lavish spending on travel outside the state where he's flown first class and stayed at first-rate hotels. In its application for the loan, the charter school system overstated its revenues, saying it needed additional money to "buy more time to grow enrollment" while it deals with "a short-term cash crunch." Some board members tell Colombo they are concerned about Robinson's management of the school and its ability to repay the state loan.
Board members told Colombo that the charter school network planned to spend more than it took in during each of the last three months. The IBJ was able to obtain credit card records of the school that showed its CEO spending lavishly during the past two years on first-class airfare and staying at luxury hotels like the Ritz Carlton and Waldorf Astoria. The school network even billed more than $10,000 for personal fitness training of its staff, which Robinson told the IBJ they were too busy to use. The board's most recent treasurer, Eric Stovall, said he resigned because he wanted nothing to do with Robinson's "unethical behavior." "He was living lavishly when he was on the road representing Tindley and that was inconsistent with the values necessary in order to serve the population we were serving," said Stovall, a managing director at a Chicago financial advisory firm. "If you’re a public-company CEO, maybe that’s OK. But a CEO of a nonprofit has no business staying at five-star hotels and flying first class."
The school network paid Robinson to frequently travel to New York where he was completing work at Columbia University on his doctoral program. The 43-year old Robinson claimed he needed to fly first class because of a back problem he had. John Neighbours, a board member who is also a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, the same law firm that serves as outside counsel to IPS, says the board has taken steps to curtail Robinson's future travel budget. "We don’t feel he needs to do some of the travel he was invited to do," Neighbours said. "As much as he’s become a well-regarded charter school leader, [travel] is not important right now because we need to be focusing on enrollment, how our schools are being run, and our academics."
Oddly, when Colombo spoke to Tindley's board chairman, Jan Guffin, he claimed he was unaware of any issues about excessive spending by Robinson. "The board doesn’t spend a lot of time on that," Guffin said, although he added, "We look at all the records routinely." Colombo notes that a recent State Board of Accounts report raised concerns about a lack of internal controls over financial reporting. management of outsourced bookkeepers, preparation of an accurate schedule of expenditures and late submission of financial reports it's required to provide to the Mayor's charter schools office.
The 2012 tax return filed by Tindley, the most recent one publicly-available, pegged Robinson's annual salary at over $210,000. He received additional non-taxable benefits and retirement benefits worth more than an additional $20,000, bringing his total compensation to over $231,000. The school reported over $110,000 in travel expenses in 2012. Meanwhile, the school enrollment target was at only 75% of its goal, and its expenditures were on a path to outpace revenues by $1.5 million. One board member raised concerns about borrowing money it could not repay. "If we borrow money from the Charter [School] Growth Fund and the state and we don’t get our enrollment up, that means we have no money to pay them back," Jo Anne Rutigliano wrote in an email obtained by IBJ. "So what happens to us when we renege on all of our loans? Is the board protected? Will we be sued?"
I don't think the board members of Tindley have anything to worry about. Indiana officials are bought and paid for by the education profiteers behind these charter schools. State lawmaker simply forgave $91.2 million in loans it previously made to charter schools before throwing another $50 million in loans their way this year. The money is essentially a blank check. They don't give a damn how the money is spent and these school officials at the charter school trough know it.
10 comments:
Yet Zionsville schools must continuously pass referendums to maintain our standards due to lack of funding from the state. I'm sick of this misuse of funds.
A meeting of the phony Mutz Charter School Board is very similar to a promotion where the gullible are given a free meal to sit through a pie-in-the-sky dog and pony show. After IPS providing transportation, use of facility space, and lunch services, the most pointed question directed toward an applicant is what does IPS receive in return. Not to violate the principle of 'other people's money', or giving anything tangible, the answer - information. And then there is the Mutz concern that the investors receive a fair return for their efforts. I guess if charter school infiltration can survive the fail 'em and flip 'em Tony and Tina Bennett scandals then it is open season for whoever wants to run our public schools. There is just too much outside money being directed at privatization, and full complicity at the state level, to do whatever it takes to reward those draining taxpayer funds.
Crony-Capitalism at all levels these days. What tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive. The webs are there once in a while for all to see, but our Elected Officials keep filling the trough with more tax dollars.
Not to be critical Flogger, as you correctly identify the problem but we need to use the right terminology. It's crony statism. Unlike statism, capitalism isn't coercive by design or fascist; but an idea rooted in values traded between the sovereign.
To Pete Boggs @ 5:03: thank you for this edification and clarification. I wish more persons correctly understood the definitions and the distinction between the two.
Capitalism is State Sponsored Usury, actually. You will note the proof that Islam is a Christian Heresy by the fact that there is no usury in any Muslim Land. What they stole from the Old and New Testament included the civilized ban on usury...much to the chagrin of The West, who would very much like to fasten Usury on the Muslims.....
Please, my God, stop using the word statism in every post or we are all going to vomit. Stop. No more statism. Nobody uses that word. Nobody. Except you. Every day. In every post. Its literally killing us. Stop saying statism. I'm begging you.
Heinrich Pesch’s association of capitalism with usury will be familiar to anyone who has read much of E. Michael Jones’ work on the history of capitalism. For most others the statement is meaningless since usury is an obscure and irrelevant concept in the world of the free market. Most Arab countries have creative ways of working around prohibitions on interest, or just use Western banks. Usury isn't really an important concept in the world these days. And capitalism's definitions really don't include this oddball one of Pesch's.
Way to be a Statist, Anon 4:46.
Indiana Constitution, Article 11, Section 12:
"The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank; nor shall the credit of the State ever be given, or loaned, in aid of any person, association or corporation; nor shall the State become a stockholder in any corporation or association."
Further proof Pence is a RINO. The loan program itself is illegal.
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