#AnotherDayAnotherCharterScandal
The Charter School Business
Palisades Charter High School takes money from a program meant for small businesses without a plan of how it will be spent.
“get the money while the getting’s good”
- Palisades Charter High School Board Member
The approximately twenty-seven million small businesses in the United States are an essential component of the American economy, generating nearly 50 percent of our GDP. When COVID-19 shut down the American economy, these businesses were especially hard hit and began shedding employees. This contributed to an unemployment level “not seen since the Great Depression”.
In order to soften the blow to the economy, Congress passed the Payroll Protection Program (PPP). This is “a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.” If these businesses avoid layoffs and pay cuts, there are provisions included that allow these loans to be written off, turning them into grants.
While Congress originally put $350 billion into the program, “the money quickly ran out during a rocky start to the process marked by complaints”. When…
