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Saturday, November 7, 2009
Better watchdogs for charter schools

Gee, it only took a federal criminal investigation of at least six charter schools and the jailing of one charter official before the state finally moved to improve financial oversight.

Some of the proposed measures are clearly worthy and long overdue. At the same time, the reforms seem so basic that they should have been in the state charter law when it was written 12 years ago.

For example, the reform legislation aims to limit the hiring of relatives. This seems like a no-brainer concept, except in patronage-laden Pennsylvania, where government work has become a family business for many.

Another measure would give school parents the right to ask the court to remove school board members who fail to follow the law. This is another good idea, considering it shouldn't be too much to ask board members to follow the law.

Giving parents the power to act as a check and balance on the board is a good idea. After all, it is their kids who are the ultimate customers of the charter schools. As such, the parents should be free to give some input, raise questions, and ensure school funds are properly spent.

This measure was prompted in part by a dispute at the Agora Cyber Charter School in Devon. After parents there questioned a contract awarded to a management company owned by Agora founder Dorothy June Brown, they were told they could withdraw their kids from the school if they weren't happy with the decisions of management.

Another smart measure would prohibit charter administrators from getting paid through contracts with the local school district that authorized the charter.

Administrators at two charter school were found to have separate contracts with the Philadelphia School District. The local districts need to have more of an arms-length relationship with the charters, rather than be in business with them.

The state reform legislation was proposed by Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin) and Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., West Chester). The lawmakers said the legislation was sparked by stories in The Inquirer that raised questions about contracts and conflicts of interest at several charter schools.

The legislation was proposed one week after the former CEO of Philadelphia Academy, a charter in the Northeast, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for looting about $900,000 from the school.

At the sentencing of former CEO Kevin O'Shea, federal Judge Edwardo C. Robreno rightly called for more government oversight of the taxpayer-funded charter schools so "this type of criminal activity is not allowed to be repeated."

When the charter law was enacted in 1997, the state expected the local districts to monitor the schools. The districts have failed in that role. It is hoped that the state will do a better job.

Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 1:20 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About The Inquirer Editorial Board
Harold Jackson, a winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the civil rights movement. He graduated from Baker University in Baldwin, Kan., in 1975, with a degree in journalism/political science. He has also worked at the Birmingham Post-Herald, United Press International, the Birmingham News, and the Baltimore Sun. He was at The Inquirer in the mid-1980s, returned in 1999, and became editorial page editor in 2007.

Paul Davies is the deputy editor of the Editorial Page. His newspaper career has spanned more than 20 years and includes stints at The Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Daily News. He graduated from the University of Delaware and received a masters in journalism from Columbia University, where he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow. He was born in Philadelphia and still lives in the city.

Tony Auth began drawing while bedridden for a year and a half at the age of five. He graduated from UCLA in 1965 and worked for six years as a medical illustrator while doing three cartoons a week for various college newspapers. Tony has been happily ensconced as The Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist since 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and has won numerous other awards, including five Overseas Press Club Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished service in Journalism, and the Herblock and Thomas Nast Prizes. Tony is married to Eliza Drake Auth, a painter of realistic landscapes and portraits.

Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and a member of The Inquirer’s editorial board. Her column appears twice weekly in The Inquirer and runs regularly in many other newspapers around the United States. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.

Kevin Ferris is an assistant editor on the Editorial Board who oversees the Sunday Currents section and writes a weekly column on a wide range of issues. In his 15 years on the board, he’s handled letters to the editor and the Community Voices pages and has been Commentary Page editor. He started with The Inquirer in 1986, and his assignments have ranged from the copy and news desks to the Chester County bureau and the national/foreign desk.

As an editorial writer for The Inquirer for the past two decades, Russell Cooke has written on a wide range of topics covering government, legal, civic and social issues. Before joining the Editorial Board, he was a reporter in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau.

Editorial writer Dave Boyer joined The Inquirer in 2002. He writes about politics, government, the economy, sports and many other subjects, but draws the line at writing about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." He has won journalism awards and insists bribery was not involved. A native of Allentown, Boyer graduated from Penn State. He and his wife reside in Center City, where they enjoy strolling and paying the wage tax.

Melanie Burney joined the editorial board in January 2008 after covering education at the Inquirer for eight years. She previously worked at the Associated Press in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. She is a graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Josh Gohlke has been The Inquirer’s op-ed editor since last year, editing the daily commentary page and writing occasional editorials. He came to the Inquirer after eight years at The Record of Bergen County, N.J., first as a reporter covering local and state politics and government and ultimately as the deputy editorial page editor. He also worked as a reporter for several smaller papers in New Jersey and California. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Philadelphia.

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