Charter chain set to spend millions of dollars on luxury jet
The IDEA charter schools governing board recently approved two leases and related expenses that amount to at least $160,000 a month for a private jet, which prompted one board member to stress that they will need “talking points” when questions about the need for such a luxury and possible criticism of it come up.
Those questions are likely to surface after Texas AFT’s Sunday tweet on the subject, which notes that the charter’s private jet will cost cost about $15.3 million over eight years.
The Houston Chronicle and El Paso Times have already jumped on the story:
IDEA charter school’s newest expense: a private jet (Chronicle)
IDEA Public Schools OKs plan to open Zaragoza and Dyer campuses in 2021, leases private jet (Times)
Note that the formal name of the charter is IDEA Public Schools (my emphasis added), but you’re not going to see real public schools spending money like this to carry it’s employees and board members around. If you’re thinking like a Fortune 500 corporate executive, this might all seem normal, but from the perspective of someone running a supposedly public school that already has lower-paid teachers and crowded classrooms, it should sound like a colossal waste of money.
From the Houston Chronicle:
As IDEA Public Schools rapidly expands throughout the southern U.S., the charter district’s leaders have approved a new, expensive way of getting across the country: an eight-passenger private jet.
The governing board of IDEA Public Schools, Texas’ largest charter network, voted earlier this month to sign an eight-year lease on a 2016 Cessna Citation CJ4 jet, with estimated expenses on the aircraft expected to approach about $15 million over the course of the agreement. IDEA officials said they intend to use private donations to cover costs associated with the aircraft, which will allow district leaders to quickly travel between the network’s operating regions and more easily meet potential donors interested in aiding expansion.
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.
….The deal is highly unusual among charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated. The Texas AFT, the state’s largest teachers union and an ardent charter opponent, swiftly condemned the expense Monday.
“This just shows how out-of-touch charter school systems are from the real world and the rest of us,” Texas AFT President Zeph Capo said. “This is the model that we’re going to aspire to for public education across the country? One that spends money that could be used for kids to have a private jet to meet your billionaire buddies’ time schedules? Who even wants to think that’s something the country should aspire to?”
From the El Paso Times:
“I think it will be good though to arm the board with some talking points around this topic so that if we do get some questions, or feedback, or whatever,” [Board Treasurer Al] Lopez said immediately after the vote.
“Why does a school board have a plane,” another board member interjected.
“So we’re all armed with those two or three talking points if we need it,” Lopez continued.
The cost of leasing the 2016 Cessna Citation CJ4, an eight-passenger business jet, is approximately $57,000 a month, according to Carlo Herschberger, senior vice president of finance for IDEA Public Schools. However, fuel costs and costs of contracting a private pilot will bring the monthly total closer to $160,000.
….IDEA board members also voted to spend approximately $44,000 a month for a one-year period to lease a hangar at the Weslaco airport where the private plane will be stored. At the end of the period, IDEA will own the hangar.
It’s not clear yet whether the hanger costs are part of the $160,000 a month. Also, IDEA board members were quick to clarify in their meeting (on video) that the costs were not paid for with state money, but rather “philanthropic” funds. Regardless, that’s a lot of dough to spend carting around — I would assume principally — the charter’s CEO, Tom Torkelson, who rakes in at least $555,000 a year in salary and bonuses (2017 figure). IDEA already had been leasing a private jet on an hourly rate, and the new arrangement will save about $3,000 a month
The extravagant travel arrangements have been a topic of discussion before, as the Texas Monitor reported in September on the charter’s routine of flying its staff first class and allowing spouses and children to accompany staff members on trips. The piece noted:
IDEA Public Schools, based in Weslaco, has allowed the first-class travel perk for six years. That includes footing the bill for the commute of chief financial officer Wyatt Truscheit, who moved from Mission, Texas, to the Los Angeles area in 2013 and comes to Texas every other week, according to tax records. IDEA also pays for Truscheit’s housing while he works in South Texas.
IDEA received $319 million in state funding and $71 million in federal money in 2018 to operate its 61 campuses around the state. With its schools in Louisiana, IDEA runs 96 locations in all.
And here is how I was quoted at the time:
If a public school district were found to be paying for first-class seats and spouses’ tickets, “It would be a scandal,” said Rob D’Amico, spokesman for the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
Such spending on luxury, he said “is a slap in the face to teachers,” who routinely spend hundreds of dollars of their own money every year for supplies for their classrooms and students.
IDEA has big plans breaking ground on new campuses in Texas and recently received $116 million federal grants from the Trump administration to fund that expansion. Added to that is millions of dollars in private and foundation money, which seemed to be one of the reasons the charter’s board members were keen to justify the expenditure.
“We cannot fulfill our commitment to such a large geographic area without having this kind of transportation,” said Board Chair David Guerra, who noted that when he was CEO at IBC Bank they had six private planes.
Board Member Bill Martin added, “In some ways you can say it’s made us money, when we’ve been able to meet with funders in places and times when might not otherwise have been able to. It’s paid for itself.”
Tell all this to your local PTA fundraising committee.
By Rob D’Amico, Texas AFT Communications Director
(Follow on Twitter @damicoaustin and @TexasAFT)
