Vice News “School choice is an education reform movement that promotes charter schools and voucher programs as alternatives to traditional public schools. One of the biggest advocates for “choice” over the past two decades, Betsy DeVos, is now serving as President Trump’s secretary of education. VICE’s Gianna Toboni traveled to DeVos’ home state of Michigan to see school choice in action and understand what the future of public education might look like.“
Issues
Education Management Organizations
- Chartered for Profit | Network for Pubic Education
- How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be ‘the Death of Public Schools’
- Network for Public Education Demands Further Regulation of For-Profit Charter School Sector
- The Corporatization of Public Schools | Forbes
- What’s The Matter With For Profit Charter School Management? | Forbes
Academica Corp.
- Academica’s Florida Real Estate Operations
- A management firm is poised to profit off plan to divert local property taxes to charter schools
- Academica Enters Florida’s Voucher Gold Rush
- A South Florida charter school network now runs a small district 500 miles away. Legislators with close financial ties to charters helped make that happen.
- Ben Gamla Charter School Foundation wants to open a virtual Jewish religious charter school in Oklahoma.
- Behind the Florida-based Ben Gamla charter chain is a for-profit management company called Academica, which derives huge annual profits from its connection to more than 200 charter schools across the nation.
- Linda McMahon says school choice expansion is ‘a continuing process,’ but will be up to states
- Other roundtable participants included, among others, Interim Florida International University Interim President and immediate past Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega, Miami-Dade School Board member Monical Colucci, former state Rep. Michael Bileca and charter school magnate Fernando Zuleta.
- Also on hand was former Collier County School Board member Erika Donalds, a pro-charter education activist who is founder and Chair of OptimaEd. Her husband, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, is the presumptive GOP front-runner in the 2026 Governor’s race.
- Is Colorado’s first “public Christian school” eligible for state funding? State education officials say no.
- Riverstone Academy, where more than 30 children attend kindergarten through fifth grade, is authorized by Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, or Board of Cooperative Educational Service, and operated by Pueblo nonprofit Forging Education, which runs a network of religious private schools and home-school enrichment programs.
- The relationship functions through an integrated financial pipeline. When ERBOCES collects public per-pupil revenue from the state for Riverstone’s students, that money passes down to the local board.
- Out of that public cash pool, Riverstone pays Academica a flat, percentage-based Education Service Provider (ESP) fee (typically 10% to 15% of operational revenue) to maintain the school’s administrative infrastructure.
- Millions in Nevada taxpayer dollars support for-profit charter school management organizations, raising oversight concerns
- In Nevada, about one third operate with a for-profit EMO. Florida-based Academica is considered one of Nevada’s most prominent EMOs with 25 schools in the Silver State. There are four charter schools operating in Washoe County that use EMOs: Doral Academy, Pinecrest Academy, Mater Academy and the online school Nevada Connections Academy. All but the Nevada Connections Academy is an Academica school.
Optima Classical Academies
Take Action
- Stop the Charter School Cash Grab | Network for Public Education
Colorado
- 31 Colorado charter schools closed in the last decade. Still, school choice demand is peaking.
- Report: Charter schools undermining Colorado’s public school system
Colorado Charter School Institute
Colorado Springs
- El Paso County to see more co-location schools next year
- D-49 charter school lawsuit alleges student’s medical needs aren’t being met
Denver
- All-girls Denver charter GALS to close its high school due to declining enrollment
- Denver charter focused on inclusion for students with disabilities to close
- Competition or coexistence? Denver school board puts charter school next to district-run school
- Summit Academy will move to Castro Elementary’s building. Castro parents have concerns.
Douglas
- Douglas County Commissioners Strip School District Authority Over Sterling Ranch Schools
- “It Could Cripple Douglas County School District” | Red County, Blue State Podcast
Durango
- ‘Ascent seems to be religious school cloaking true nature
- Ascent’s performance record in its existing charters is questionable. In 2021, U.S. News reported that only 32% of Ascent’s Douglas County students scored at or above the proficiency level in math, and only 57% in reading. Ascent’s scores were inferior to Douglas County’s public schools in both subjects.
- Ascent’s curriculum and the waivers it is requesting are troubling. It does not want to follow the same rules or teach the same curriculum as our other district schools. We need our students to develop common understandings of good citizenship in a diverse society and a full appreciation of our country’s history, scientific realizations and multicultural, multifaith citizenry. In addition to certain automatic waivers from state and local district policies, one of which exempts charters from teacher licensing requirements (meaning that Ascent’s teachers need not be qualified to teach in our public schools), Ascent’s application lists 14 pages of additional requested exemptions.
Jefferson
Pueblo
Elizabeth
- Elbert County charter school won’t open this fall | Colorado Community Media
Summit County
- Superintendent to recommend Board of Education deny charter school request during Thursday meeting
- The first step, according to the letter would be for the board to release its chartering authority to the Colorado Charter School Institute, a statewide public charter school authorizer
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- The first step, according to the letter would be for the board to release its chartering authority to the Colorado Charter School Institute, a statewide public charter school authorizer
Woodland Park
- DAVIS: ‘Bleed it Dry, Then Get the Hell Out’ – The Fight for Tax Dollars in Woodland Park Schools
- Woodland Park school board approves 30-year extension with charter school | The Gazette
- Ben Gamla Charter School Foundation wants to open a virtual Jewish religious charter school in Oklahoma.
- Behind the Florida-based Ben Gamla charter chain is a for-profit management company called Academica, which derives huge annual profits from its connection to more than 200 charter schools across the nation.
States
- Firms belonging to wife of Rep. Donalds grabbed millions in charter school contracts
- Secret recording shows Success Academy CEO pressuring staff to lobby for charter schools
- Third Future Schools will take over three San Antonio ISD campuses next year
Funding & Legislation
- Trump Sidestepped Congress on More Than $1 Billion in Ed. Spending Last Year | EdWeek
- For instance, the Trump administration announced last May that it would increase annual funding for the Charter Schools grant program from $440 million appropriated by Congress to $500 million. But the Education Department didn’t specify at the time where those additional funds were coming from.
- Why America Must Rewrite Charter School Laws Now | The Progressive
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