Kasich Campaign Hit
By Charter School Data Rigging Scandal
by Dr. Susan Berry 5 Sep 2015
Newly-released documents indicate that the husband of
Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential
campaign manager participated with other Ohio Department of Education (ODE)
staff in a coordinated effort to falsely inflate the evaluations of some charter school sponsors.
In July, former state Department of Education Director of School Choice David Hansen – husband of Beth
Hansen, Kasich’s former chief of staff in the governor’s office and now his
presidential campaign manager – resigned after admitting he manipulated
evaluations of some charter sponsors, reports the Columbus
Dispatch. The data rigging allowed the sponsors of
poor-performing online schools to appear to be engaged in adequate supervision
of those schools.
State Superintendent of Schools Richard Ross said the
records show that neither he nor Kasich had any involvement in the data
manipulation. The Dispatch, however, reports “emails show that some
outside the department were asking for explanations.”
“We had a breakdown in our system which undermined the
progress we were making in holding charter schools accountable,” Ross said.
“Excluding e-schools didn’t cross my mind. It’s not what I believe; not what
I’m about.”
Hansen, whose position was created in 2013 by Kasich to
oversee the expansion of charter schools in the state, told
the Associated Press that the state law pertaining to the evaluation of Ohio’s
charter schools was “not a model of clarity.”
“I certainly believed that I was acting in good faith and
that the design created a reasonable and workable reporting process which was
consistent with the goal of the statute as I understood it,” he said.
“Suggestions that my design was somehow ‘illegal’ ignore the ambiguity in the
statute and the design’s goal of accurately evaluating Ohio’s charter sector.”
The controversy comes at a time when Ohio’s charter schools
are under significant scrutiny, with problems of attendance and accountability
surrounding the schools that are billed as an alternative to public schools.
And Hansen himself is not new to data rigging.
As Ohio Political blog Plunderbund
reports, in 2009, while Hansen was president of the Buckeye Institute, he was
also caught
manipulating data about Ohio’s charter schools, yet was still chosen
to be school choice director in 2013. Many of the schools involved were owned
and operated by for-profit company White Hat Management, which itself is owned by David Brennan,
a big donor – through his family’s foundation – to the Institute, to the
Republican Party, and to Kasich’s campaign in Ohio.
Some state lawmakers and members of the state school board
have recommended an independent investigation into the matter, particularly
with some charging Hansen’s manipulations were meant to benefit Republican
donors invested in charter schools and seeking high performance evaluations.
On Thursday, Kasich said he stood behind Ross.
“We will find out exactly what was involved in what he
(Hansen) was doing and why he was doing it,” the governor said. “But we want
top-rated, high-profile charter schools. And when we thought that the numbers
weren’t right, Dick Ross talked to him and he no longer works for the state.”
In a review of the documents, Plunderbund
reported, “Hansen was actively communicating with representatives of charter
school sponsors who would eventually benefit from his data manipulation.”
“It also shows that ODE staff members intentionally
avoided sharing the manipulated calculations via printouts or email, potentially
shielding those calculations from public records requests,” the blog added.
In 2013, when Kasich created Hansen’s new position as state
school choice director, current GOP presidential contender and former Florida
Gov. Jeb
Bush visited Ohio Republican leaders
to discuss education policy and attend a GOP fundraiser.
Bush, the founder and then-chairman of the Foundation for
Excellence in Education (FEE), was in Ohio to push his
national education reform agenda, reported State
Impact, which consists of six main agenda items, one of which is
“adding charter schools, private school vouchers (since struck down by a court)
and online schools to offer parents more choices.”
Additionally, both Bush and Kasich have been avid champions
of the Common
Core Standards.
“If those policies sound familiar, it’s because Ohio GOP
leadership has successfully pursued similar policies,” says State Impact. “In
fact, officials from Bush’s foundation have traveled to Ohio several times in
the past couple years to lobby for those policies.”
Since Bush’s visit, Ohio’s legislature has raised limits on
online charter schools and repeatedly expanded the state’s private-school
voucher programs.
Bush’s interest in expanding charter schools in Florida came
under scrutiny in September of 2014, when the St. Augustine Record reported
that the St. John’s County School District found numerous “errors” in the
charter application of New World Academy.
“I think we identified a number of errors in the application
because it was a generic application that was applied to seven different
districts,” said Tim Egnor, executive director for curriculum services for the
school district. “The numbers for enrollment didn’t make sense, the budget
aspects didn’t make sense, and so now we see that those projections were
probably for larger counties.”
Additionally, district officials questioned a possible
conflict of interest with corporations that were involved in New World
Academy’s application process. Ultimately, the officials were unsure of who was
backing the charter school’s application.
According to the Record, Stephanie Velez, manager of
operations for InterVisual Technology (IVTI), had been appointed a board member
of New World. IVTI
is a nationally accredited private school based in Florida with a physical
campus – American High School – located in Fort Lauderdale. One of IVTI’s
supporters and board advisors was John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, Jr., the former
governor’s son, who enabled the school to establish vigorous business
relationships, networks for investment and real estate opportunities.
In 2013 as well, former Florida schools superintendent
Tony Bennett resigned after the Associated Press reported that it had acquired
e-mails written by Bennett in 2012, while he was running Indiana’s schools. As
the Washington
Post reported, in the e-mails Bennett directed his staff to
alter the state evaluation grade for Christel House Academy, a charter
school that was founded by Christel DeHaan, who has donated more than $2.8
million to Republicans since 1998, including $130,000 to Bennett.
John
Kasich
John
R. Kasich is a presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, and was a frequent contributor for Fox News.
Note: Media Matters
monitors Fox News.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for Media Matters, the Robin
Hood Foundation, the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Robin Hood
Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is a partner with Rocketship Education.
Sheryl K.
Sandberg was a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a funder for Rocketship Education.
Charter
School Growth Fund was a lender for the Rocketship Education.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Arizona
Charter Schools Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Association
of Missouri Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the California
Charter Schools Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Georgia
Charter Schools Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Illinois
Network of Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Indiana
Public Charter Schools Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Institute
for Innovation of Public School Choice.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Louisiana
Association of Public Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Massachusetts
Charter Public School Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Milwaukee
Charter School Advocates.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the National
Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the National
Association of Charter School Authorizers.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the New
Jersey Charter Public Schools Association.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the New York Charter Schools Association, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the New
York Charter Schools Association, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the New York Charter Schools Association, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, was a funder for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a donor for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Robin Hood
Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Newark
Charter School Fund.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Northeast
Charter Schools Network.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Ohio
Alliance of Public Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Pacific
Charter School Development.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Pennsylvania
Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Success
Academy Charter Schools.
Success
Academy Charter Schools is an organization for the charter schools.
Daniel
S. Loeb is the chairman for the Success
Academy Charter Schools, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Clifford S.
Asness supported same-sex marriage
in New York, and a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Robin Hood
Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Tennessee
Charter Schools Association.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Texas
Charter Schools Association.
James
M. Walton is a director at the Walton
Family Foundation, an emeritus life trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University, a trustee emeritus for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the
vice chairman for the Heinz Endowments.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is an emeritus life trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University, a trustee emeritus for the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the
chair for Heinz Endowments, an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and married to John F.
Kerry.
Andrew Carnegie
was the endowed predecessor schools for the Carnegie Mellon University, the founder of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and
the founder of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank).
Heinz Endowments
was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Charter School Growth Fund, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and Achieve Inc.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Charter
School Growth Fund, and the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
He shows us that the Carnegie Endowment, the Ford Foundation,
the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation joined together to
alter American history and take over the whole education system in America, so
the children can be indoctrinated into accepting a World Government.
We are now at the year 1908,
which was the year that the Carnegie Foundation began operations. In that year,
the trustees, meeting for the first time, raised a specific question, which
they discussed throughout the balance of the year in a very learned fashion.
The question is: “Is there any means known more effective than war, assuming
you wish to alter the life of an entire people?” And they conclude that no more
effective means than war to that end is known to humanity.
So then, in 1909, they raised the second question and discussed it, namely: “How do we involve the United States in a war?”
Well, I doubt at that time if there was any subject more removed from the thinking of most of the people of this country than its involvement in a war. There were intermittent shows in the Balkans, but I doubt very much if many people even knew where the Balkans were. Then, finally, they answered that question as follows: “We must control the State Department.” That very naturally raises the question of how do we do that? And they answer it by saying: “We must take over and control the diplomatic machinery of this country.” And, finally, they resolve to aim at that as an objective.
Then time passes, and we are eventually in a war, which would be World War I. At that time they record on their minutes a shocking report in which they dispatched to President Wilson a telegram, cautioning him to see that the war does not end too quickly.
So then, in 1909, they raised the second question and discussed it, namely: “How do we involve the United States in a war?”
Well, I doubt at that time if there was any subject more removed from the thinking of most of the people of this country than its involvement in a war. There were intermittent shows in the Balkans, but I doubt very much if many people even knew where the Balkans were. Then, finally, they answered that question as follows: “We must control the State Department.” That very naturally raises the question of how do we do that? And they answer it by saying: “We must take over and control the diplomatic machinery of this country.” And, finally, they resolve to aim at that as an objective.
Then time passes, and we are eventually in a war, which would be World War I. At that time they record on their minutes a shocking report in which they dispatched to President Wilson a telegram, cautioning him to see that the war does not end too quickly.
John
F. Kerry is the secretary at the U.S.
Department of State for the Barack
Obama administration, married to Teresa
Heinz Kerry, and Cameron F. Kerry’s
brother.
Cameron F. Kerry
is John F. Kerry’s brother, and a
fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Diane
S. Ravitch was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, and is a Common Core educational standards critic.
Race to the Top
is a grant program for the U.S. Department
of Education, and encourages the adoption of the Common Core educational standards.
Achieve
Inc. helped develop the Common Core
educational standards.
Michael
Cohen is the president of Achieve
Inc., and was the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for Achieve Inc, the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Charter School Growth Fund.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Charter
School Growth Fund.
Newton
N. Minow was an honorary trustee at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Mark
A. Angelson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a trustee at the Institute
of International Education.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Donald
F. McHenry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a trustee at the Institute
of International Education.
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a trustee at the Institute
of International Education, Valerie
B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Linda
Vester is a trustee at the Institute
of International Education, and was an anchor for Fox News.
Media Matters
monitors Fox News.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was funder for the Brookings Institution (think
tank), Media Matters, and the NPR.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a
benefactor for the NPR.
John
R. Kasich was a frequent contributor for Fox News, and is a presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election.
Juan
Williams is a host for Fox News,
and was a senior news analyst for the NPR.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the NPR,
the Achievement First, the Arizona Charter Schools Association, the
Association of Missouri Charter Schools,
the California Charter Schools
Association, the Georgia Charter
Schools Association, the Illinois
Network of Charter Schools, the Indiana
Public Charter Schools Association, the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, the Massachusetts Charter Public School
Association, the Milwaukee Charter
School Advocates, the National
Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, the New Jersey Charter Public Schools
Association, the New York Charter
Schools Association, the Newark
Charter School Fund, the Northeast
Charter Schools Network, the Ohio
Alliance of Public Charter Schools, the Pacific Charter School Development, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, the Success Academy Charter Schools, the Tennessee Charter Schools Association, the
Texas Charter Schools Association,
the Charter School Growth Fund, and
is a partner with the Rocketship
Education.
Charter
School Growth Fund was a lender for the Rocketship Education.
Eli
& Edythe Broad Foundation was a funder for the Charter School Growth Fund, Rocketship
Education, Achievement First,
the California Charter Schools
Association, the Pacific Charter
School Development, the Success
Academy Charter Schools, and the Foundation for Excellence in Education.
Daniel
S. Loeb is the chairman for the Success
Academy Charter Schools, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Clifford S.
Asness supported same-sex marriage
in New York, and a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Robin Hood
Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First, and the Success Academy
Charter Schools.
Success
Academy Charter Schools is an organization for the charter schools.
Kevin
Hall is a director at the Success
Academy Charter Schools, the president & CEO for the Charter School Growth Fund, a director
at the Pacific Charter School
Development, and was the coo for the Broad
Foundations.
Broad
Foundations is an affiliated foundation with the Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation, and a partner with the Rocketship Education.
Eli
Broad is a co-founder for the Eli
& Edythe Broad Foundation, and was a contributor for the Washington Coalition for Public Charter
Schools.
Washington
Coalition for Public Charter Schools is a charter school organization.
William H. Gates
III was a contributor for the Washington
Coalition for Public Charter Schools, and is a co-chair for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the New York Charter Schools Association, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, was a funder for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a donor for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Robin Hood
Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Achievement
First.
Anne
C. Dinning is a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation, and was a contributor for the Washington Coalition for Public Charter
Schools.
Clifford S.
Asness a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation, and supported same-sex marriage in New York.
Daniel
S. Loeb supported same-sex marriage
in New York, and is the chairman for the Success
Academy Charter Schools.
Success
Academy Charter Schools is an organization for the charter schools.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Success
Academy Charter Schools, and the Foundation
for Excellence in Education.
Jeb
Bush is the chairman for the Foundation
for Excellence in Education, a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation, a supporter for the Common Core educational standards, a presidential
candidate for the 2016 presidential
election, and was a Bradley Prize recipient from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Lynde
and Harry Bradley Foundation was a funder for the Charter School Growth Fund.
Charter
School Growth Fund is a charter
school organization.
Walton
Family Foundation was a funder for the Charter
School Growth Fund.
Alice
L. Walton is a director at the Walton
Family Foundation, was a contributor for the Washington Coalition for Public Charter Schools, and a major donor
for the American Federation for Children
Action Fund.
Jim
C. Walton is a director at the Walton
Family Foundation, and was a major donor for the American Federation for Children Action Fund.
David L. Brennan
was a major donor for the American
Federation for Children Action Fund, and is the founder of White Hat Management.
White Hat
Management is a charter school
organization.
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