Charter School News Roundup

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has a digital education division called Amplify. A Bloomberg News article, “News Corp.’s $1 Billion Plan to Overhaul Education Is Riddled With Failures,” outlines the company’s efforts to cash in on education without positive results. Read more here.

Other news:

• In New York, Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy is under scrutiny for polarizing tactics. Parents and students are coming out and telling stories of harsh punishment and the schools’ inability to work with children with special needs.Read more here and here.

• In Florida, a charter school operated by Imagine Schools was sold for $6.6 million to a New York communications company. Now, the school will lease from the new owner, which is expected to “get a 10-percent annual return on investment with the school as a tenant.” Earlier this year Imagine Schools was ordered to pay a $1 million judgment related to “self dealing” real estate schemes. Read more here.

• A new report details “fraud and waste totaling more than $200 million” of taxpayer funds in the charter school sector. However, “the total is impossible to know because there is not sufficient oversight of these schools.” Read more here.

• A Chicago-based documentary series examines the expansion of charter schools in the fifth episode. (See video, above.) The School Project examines a variety of public education topics and the growing trend toward privatization of public schools. Read more here.