Many Delaware charter schools failed a recent inspection on financial, organizational, and governance transparency. No charter school received a perfect score on this inspection. The ones who failed did so miserably.
Delaware law is very clear about what charter schools are required to do. Other public meeting laws in Delaware, which have been supported through legal opinions on FOIA complaints, are very clear as well. Last night, I went through every single charter school website to look for eight things: Their monthly financial information was up to date (July 2016), they posted their last annual audit (2015), they posted their IRS 990 Tax Form (as a non-profit), they posted their board agenda for their most recent meeting, they posted their board minutes (based on when they had their last meeting and were able to approve those minutes), they put an agenda up for their Citizens Budget Oversight Committee, they put up the minutes for their CBOC meetings, and a Delaware Department of Education representative was present at those CBOC meetings.
Most of the Delaware charter schools failed this inspection. One of them (considered to be a very successful charter school) didn’t pass any category. Some charter schools feel as though they don’t have to meet during the summer and prepare for the new school year. There was no charter school that received a perfect score. I understand things slow down in the summer, but not meeting is inexcusable in my book. Some charters need to do a lot of work on their websites. Hunting and pecking to find information is not in the vein of transparency.
The most disturbing aspect is the apparent lack of oversight coming from the Delaware Department of Education. More specifically, the Charter School Office. They may monitor the charters, and I’m glad a DOE representative is attending most of their CBOC meetings, but where is the public transparency of that monitoring? Jennifer Nagourney worked very hard to get this aspect turned around with charters. I would hate to see her hard work disappear.
The way CBOC laws are written, quarterly meetings are okay. But some charters meet monthly. I’m not going to dink you if you don’t meet every single month. I think districts and charters should have monthly CBOC meetings. A quick note about IRS 990 tax filings: these can vary on the tax year. If a school had their 2014 return on there, I counted them as being in compliance. If it was older or they didn’t have any tax filings on their website, they got hit. This is required by law. Only one charter school in Delaware is not required to file a 990: Newark Charter School. I don’t agree with it.
*This article has been updated to include Great Oaks Wilmington which was inadvertently left out of the original article.
Academia Antonia Alonso
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2012
Board Agenda: 7/27/16
Board Minutes: June 2016
CBOC Agenda: June 2016
CBOC Minutes: June 2016
DOE Rep: Yes
Academy of Dover
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2014
Board Agenda: 8/25/16
Board Minutes: June 2016
CBOC Agenda: 8/25/16
CBOC Minutes: June 2016
DOE Rep: Yes
Campus Community School
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None (searched, said “access denied”)
Board Agenda: 8/30/16
Board Minutes: June 2016
CBOC Agenda: 8/30/2016
CBOC Minutes: 5/5/2016
DOE Rep: Yes
Charter School of Wilmington
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/16/16
Board Minutes: June 2016 (no meeting in July)
CBOC Agenda: 5/18/16
CBOC Minutes: 5/18/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: none (has standard agenda)
Board Minutes: June 2016 (no meetings in July or August)
CBOC Agenda: May 2016
CBOC Minutes: April 2016
DOE Rep: Yes
Delaware Design-Lab High School
Financials: May 2016
Yearly Audit: n/a
990: n/a
Board Agenda: 8/22/16
Board Minutes: 5/26/16
CBOC Agenda: None
CBOC Meeting: 4/25/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Delaware Military Academy
Financials: 6/30/16
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None (no search button on website)
Board Agenda: 6/27/16
Board Minutes: 5/23/16 (states no meetings in July or August)
CBOC Agenda: None (has standing agenda)
CBOC Minutes: June 2016
DOE Rep: No
Early College High School
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2014
Board Agenda: 8/25/16
Board Minutes: 4/28/16
CBOC Agenda: 7/21/16
CBOC Minutes: 4/28/16 (states no quorum at May & June Mtgs)
DOE Rep: Yes
EastSide Charter School
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/17/16
Board Minutes: 6/16/16
CBOC Agenda: 7/26/16
CBOC Minutes: 7/26/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Family Foundations Academy
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2012
Board Agenda: 7/27/16
Board Minutes: 6/16/16
CBOC Agenda: 7/25/16
CBOC Minutes: 4/26/16
DOE Rep: Yes
First State Military Academy
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: n/a
990: n/a
Board Agenda: 8/23/16
Board Minutes: 7/26/16
CBOC Agenda: 6/24/16
CBOC Minutes: 6/24/16
DOE Rep: Yes
First State Montessori Academy
Financials: 2/29/16
Yearly Audit: None
990: None
Board Agenda: 9/1/16
Board Minutes: 5/26/16
CBOC Agenda: None (Standard Agenda)
CBOC Minutes: 5/19/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Freire Charter School of Wilmington
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: n/a
990: n/a
Board Agenda: 8/17/16
Board Minutes: 6/16/16
CBOC Agenda: 6/20/16 (noted August mtg canceled)
CBOC Minutes: 6/20/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Gateway Lab School
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2014
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/16/16
Board Minutes: 5/24/16
CBOC Agenda: 7/19/16
CBOC Minutes: 2/16/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Great Oaks Wilmington
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: n/a
990: n/a
Board Agenda: 7/27/16 (schedule shows 8/22 board meeting, no agenda)
Board Minutes: 7/27/16
CBOC Agenda: None (shows area for this but none listed)
CBOC Minutes: None (shows area for this but no minutes listed)
DOE Rep: None
Kuumba Academy
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2014
990: None
Board Agenda: 5/12/16
Board Minutes: 5/12/16 (states no meeting held in June)
CBOC Agenda: 7/12/16
CBOC Minutes: 7/12/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Las Americas Aspiras Academy
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2014
Board Agenda: 8/25/16
Board Minutes: 5/26/16
CBOC Agenda: 8/22/16
CBOC Minutes: 6/20/16
DOE Rep: Yes
MOT Charter School
Financials: None
Yearly Audit: None
990: None
Board Agenda: 6/14/16
Board Minutes: 5/25/16 (June Mtg. Canceled)
CBOC Agenda: None
CBOC Minutes: None
DOE Rep: None
*website states for further information to call the business office
Newark Charter School
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: not required
Board Agenda: 8/16/16
Board Minutes: 7/19/16
CBOC Agenda: 5/17/16
CBOC Minutes: 5/17/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Odyssey Charter School
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2011
Board Agenda: 8/17/16
Board Minutes: 6/21/16
CBOC Agenda: 7/20/16
CBOC Minutes: 6/26/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Positive Outcomes
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2014
Board Agenda: 7/20/16
Board Minutes: 5/18/16 (no meeting in June)
CBOC Agenda: 7/20/16
CBOC Minutes: 7/20/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Prestige Academy
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/16/16
Board Minutes: 7/19/16
CBOC Agenda: 8/16/16
CBOC Minutes: 2/16/16
DOE Rep: None
Providence Creek Academy
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/23/16
Board Minutes: 7/26/16
CBOC Agenda: 8/18/2016
CBOC Minutes: 8/18/2016
DOE Rep: Yes
Sussex Academy
Financials: June 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: FY2014
Board Agenda: 7/27/16
Board Minutes: 6/15/16 (no August meeting)
CBOC Agenda: 5/17/16
CBOC Minutes: 5/17/16 (says next meeting won’t be until October)
DOE Rep: None
Thomas Edison Charter School
Financials: July 2016
Yearly Audit: FY2015
990: None
Board Agenda: 8/15/16
Board Minutes: 7/18/16
CBOC Agenda: 9/14/16
CBOC Minutes: 3/2/16
DOE Rep: Yes
Charter schools are public schools. You set some autonomy based on how the laws are written. But you still have to adhere to the law. You don’t live in a separate bubble in Delaware. On one hand, charters beg to be treated the same, and on the other, they beg to be treated different because of that “autonomy”. I don’t buy the excuse that any single charter school in this state doesn’t know about these requirements. If you open a bank, you better believe that bank looks into all of the operating laws they have to adhere to.
These inspections didn’t even get into the meat of your board minutes. A lot of you feel you don’t really have to give any detail. Some of your CBOC meetings don’t list which members are community representatives. I gave many of you bad scores if you haven’t had a CBOC meeting in over three months. Even if you don’t have a quorum, you still have to post minutes. And MOT… really? Call the business office to get more information? Just because you do great on Smarter Balanced doesn’t mean you are immune from transparency. Last year, the Charter School Accountability Committee found nothing wrong in MOT’s charter renewal process. They were approved unanimously for renewal without this subject EVER coming up.
I could file a ton of FOIA complaints today. I’m not going to. I’m going to give you until September 30th to correct these things. If I don’t see any improvement or very little, I start filing.
There were five charter schools who I felt, even though they got hit on one thing, have made a sincere effort to be transparent: Academy of Dover, Campus Community School, First State Military Academy, Las Americas Aspiras, and Providence Creek Academy. Honorary mentions go to Newark Charter School, Positive Outcomes, Sussex Academy, and Thomas Edison. But the rest of you need a lot of work. Sadly, some of you haven’t come far when I did this two years ago and a Valentines Day blitz inspection in 2015 and then another inspection in July 2015. Some actually did worse. Out of all the charters that did well on these inspections, they included most of the Kent and Sussex County charters but only two New Castle County charters. That I don’t get. I beat up on charters a lot. But I am getting around to beating up on districts more as well. I will give all of you a very fair warning: record your meetings and put the recordings up in seven business days. Kilroy may be quiet now, but he didn’t fight for the “all boards must record” legislation for kicks. He will monitor if you are doing this, and if you aren’t… watch out!
Perhaps Kendall Massett with the Delaware Charter Schools Network will agree or not agree with me on these transparency issues. But I believe, as a non-profit that supports charter schools, this should be their fight as well. Charter schools are at a crossroads right now. Many states are issuing moratoriums on charter schools. Delaware did this a year and a half ago. They can either operate as public schools or face the wrath of public perception. I don’t believe ALL charters are like the ones depicted on the John Oliver Show last weekend. But we all know Delaware could have easily been portrayed on that episode with some things that have happened here. Some of the charter schools in this inspection: don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because of this article. Know that I know things and you are on my radar.
The Season Of Myths 