Part 5: How (NOT!) to Fix the State's Broken Charter Financing Problem; by Diane Ravitch

Here is the disappointing last of a five-part series called “Cashing in on Charter Schools.”  "The authors wimp out. Charters want to be treated as “public schools” to get money but insist they are “private” when the public wants to review their finances. Read how none of the parties to the transactions wants to open their books. “The dearth of public information means that taxpayers can’t see why the Friends of TEAM Academy, which supports the Newark charter school, has earned millions of dollars in development fees or how that money is spent. They won't know why Uncommon Schools donated millions to North Star Academy but then required that the money be spent on a building owned by a related company. or  why Friends of Marion P. Thomas Charter School signed with a developer that had the Friends pay out $6.4 million in fees as part of a two-building deal."