Tag: Charter School Accountability

Charter Operators Must Disavow Threats and Calls for Violence

Board of Education Action Meeting:  October 19, 2023

by Lisa Haver and Deborah Grill

For the second time in a week, charter operators held a rally in front of school district headquarters. At the first, State Senator Anthony Williams, speaking on behalf of the African American Charter School Coalition, targeted a district employee, disparaged Board President Reginald Streater, and called for violence at the next board meeting. Williams, a frequent beneficiary of charter supporter Jeffrey Yass,  accused Streater of harming children while acting “like he’s Mr. Black Man of America”. Williams also issued a veiled threat to Charter Schools Office Director Peng Chao, calling for his removal. He then incited violence against board members, district staff, and community members when he told charter supporters that he wanted to see “chairs flying around” at the next board meeting. 

No member of the Coalition disavowed Sen. Williams remarks when they returned to the steps of 440 just before Thursday’s action meeting. In her testimony, Lisa Haver reminded board members that this was not the first time that the charter operators had made unfounded accusations against Charter Schools Office staff and that the board failed then, as it does now, to defend them. She urged board members to have the “decency” to stand up for their own employees against these attacks. None of the board members responded. 

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Charter CEOs Collecting High Salaries, Benefits and Bonuses

by Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, and Lynda Rubin

Three of the six most highly paid administrators identified in String Theory’s most recent tax information are members of the Corosanite family:  Chief Executive Officer Angela Corosanite, Chief Information Officer Jason Corosanite, and Director of Facilities Thomas Corosanite. Their total salary and compensation, as listed in the charter management organization’s  2021 IRS 990, comes to almost $900,000. String Theory manages only two schools in the city, but the company has six administrators making over $100,000 in salary and compensation. In addition, each school has its own CEO. Why does a network of only two schools need so many highly-paid administrators? 

There are no guidelines for charter compensation, that is, no schedule of salary steps as there is for district principals and administrators.   Ad Prima charter, a small charter school with 600 students, has a CEO, a principal and a “site director” on staff, all paid over $100,000.00 in salary and compensation. Community Academy charter has a CEO, deputy CEO, a Chief Academic Officer and deputy CAO. Pan American, an elementary school with 750 students, lists eight administrators. Folk Arts Cultural Treasures (FACTS), on the other hand, has one administrator making over $100,000. Global Leadership Academy is a two-school network. Each school has its own CEO–one making more than the district’s superintendent, the other making slightly less. GLA’s principal  made over $11,000 more than a district principal with seven years or more of principal experience.  

Click here to continue reading and to find out what the CEO and administrators of each charter make in salary and compensation.

Philadelphia’s school board must take charter school standards seriously — and act when they’re not met | Opinion

Some charter operators continue to rake in six-figure salaries — higher than the district superintendent — despite documented failures.

The following commentary was written by APPS co-founder Lisa Haver and published in  Billy Penn on August 16, 2023

The playground at Universal Daroff Charter School, which closed just before the 2022-23 academic year began. (Aubri Juhasz/WHYY)

At its action meeting this Thursday, the Philadelphia Board of Education will vote on whether to approve 5-year renewals for up to 19 charter schools. 

Unlike other local districts, Philly’s school board holds no public hearing to review the performance of charters before deciding whether it’s beneficial to students and the community to fund them for another five years. Rarely does the board vote for non-renewal. 

The projected cost of renewing all 19 schools up for a vote, based on the district’s 2022 budget, is more than $470 million over the next five years. Of the 14 charters the board has already indicated it will renew, eight failed to meet academic standards. Instead, their rating falls in the Charter Schools Office’s middle category, “approaches standards,” which allows schools that score above 45% to squeak by.

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Board Must End Practice of Renewing Substandard Charters

by Lisa Haver, Deborah Grill, Lynda Rubin, Ilene Poses

At its August 17 action meeting, the Board of Education will vote on the renewals of nineteen charter schools. After just one brief presentation by the Board’s Charter Schools Office at the June meeting, Board President Reginald Streater announced Board recommendations for fourteen of the19-school cohort, directing CSO Director Peng Chao to negotiate renewal contracts with the operators of those schools. Thus, without any Board vote or any public hearing, the Board decided in effect to renew most of the charter schools, despite the fact that only one had met standards in all three major categories. Streater made no recommendation for the remaining five, all of which had received a “Does Not Meet” rating in at least one category. 

Should the Board vote to renew all nineteen, the district would be spending approximately $470 million over the next five years.  Of that, approximately $20 million will be spent on CEO salary and compensation. Review of the CSO renewal evaluations shows that:

  • 13 did not rate “Meets” in Academics
  • Board recommending renewal for 8 of the schools rate below “Meets” in Academics
  • 5 of the 19 schools have been operating under expired agreements
  • 3 of the 4 schools in their first term rate “Does Not Meet” in academics
  • 9 of the 19 are well below authorized enrollment

Continue here to read information on each school up for renewal