Charter chain nixes private jet lease after scrutiny from our union and the media
That didn’t take long — for IDEA charter schools head Tom Torkelson to realize that the multi-million dollar lease for a private jet his board approved was not something that needed to be in the headlines and on social media. (See yesterday’s TxEd in the Media for details.)
Jacob Carpenter at the Houston Chronicle reports that last night the charter chain scuttled the idea after Texas AFT and newspapers questioned the expenditure.
“Opponents of education reform have falsely attacked a prudent management decision, creating a distraction from our core work,” IDEA founder and CEO Tom Torkelson said in a statement Monday evening. “Though at no time public funds would have been used for the aircraft, IDEA has decided not to move forward with the lease.”
Uncertain, however, is whether IDEA is going to stop its current practice of leasing private plane travel by the hour, which costs about the same amount — $160,000/month. So have things changed or not?
While the notion of a private plan traversing the state with IDEA executives and staff flying in luxury is certainly disturbing for a publicly-funded entity educating kids, what may be lost to some in this story is what the plane travel is driving — plans for rapid expansion of the charter chain that will suck money out of neighborhood public schools. IDEA’s CEO is aggressively trying to create what amounts to a separate school system, one that claims to be public but has all the workings of a private company that can profit off of contracts and lease deals, and one that isn’t based on governance with elected representation. Per the Chronicle:
IDEA educates about 53,000 children across five Texas regions and Louisiana, with plans to enroll more than 100,000 students by 2022–23. The state’s largest charter network will open its first four Houston schools in August 2020 and reach into Florida by 2021.
….Following online criticism from the Texas AFT, the state’s largest teachers union, and questions from the Houston Chronicle on Monday, IDEA officials initially defended the deal in a statement.
“It’s not a surprise that a strategy aimed at accelerating growth would come under attack,” the district initially said.
IDEA officials said Monday afternoon that costs associated with the jet would have been paid by IPS Enterprises LLC, a private company wholly owned by the charter network. IPS Enterprises serves as a management organization for IDEA’s campuses outside of Texas.
The Chronicle asked IDEA whether the company receives taxpayer funds via grants or management fees paid by the charter. District officials did not respond to the inquiry.
….The Texas AFT, an ardent charter opponent, swiftly condemned the expense as an example of charter school largesse.
….While IDEA receives the vast majority of its funding from local, state and federal taxpayers, the charter reported about $35 million in grants and contributions from non-governmental sources in 2018–19, equal to 7 percent of its revenue. Bond records show the network’s donors include many of the charter movement’s wealthiest supporters, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
You can read more on charter expansion plans in a column I wrote last year: Are we going to wake up now to confront privatization, or are we going to wake up with a segregated and privatized school system?
By Rob D’Amico, Texas AFT Communications Director
(Follow on Twitter @damicoaustin and @TexasAFT)
