Up North Progressive

In a letter sent out to the parents of students attending Charyl Stockwell Academy for-profit charter school, Chuck Stockwell demanded parents punish the area real public school districts by voting no on their millage elections because it’s not fair they can raise money like any other government entity, and he can’t because he runs charter schools that are managed by a private company.

Question: Was Charyl Stockwell Academy the only school Stockwell sent this letter to, or did the parents of the other 19 for-profit charter schools managed by CS Partners receive this letter too?

To have such a vicious take on how Michigan funds public schools and for-profit charter schools by demanding money to pay teachers and vote no on public school millage elections, it makes one wonder what’s going on with CSA’s finances. A look at the 2018-2019 budget for the school shows the breakdown of assets and payments the school will deal with this coming year.

Remember in Chuck’s letter when he said CSA only had $7.6 million to operate for the 2018-2019 school year? According to this approved by the Board of Directors budget, there’s actually $10 million and change projected for the coming school year. That works out to just over ten grand per enrolled kid. There may be adjustments in the future depending on fourth Friday count and so on, but very few school districts, public or charter, have as generous a bottom line as CSA’s. Remember however, CSA is a for-profit charter school and only a fraction of that $10 million will be spent on your kids’ education.

The $250 per child “donations” to go towards keeping teachers happy in Stockwell’s letter could be for the CSA Education Foundation. The purpose of this 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is for the “retention of trained educators.” In the foundations’ 2010 tax filings, gross assets in 2009 were $59,639.

On page two of the 990, the amount spent on 42 teachers in 2009 was $20,600 in retention grants. Works out to about $490 per teacher.

So why does Chuck need parents at CSA to fork over $250,000 so he can pay his teachers this year when that amount is already listed in the 2018-2019 budget? CSA Education Foundation only files the “postcard” 990 because even up to 2016 they have never exceeded the amount that would require the long form 990. So the $250 per student clearly is not a donation as Chuck Stockwell characterized them in his letter.

So many questions.

The most infuriating thing about Chuck’s Stockwell’s letter is that he’s mad that real public schools can use their authority as a governmental entity to vote to raise funds to pay for infrastructure, but he can’t because his charter school isn’t a public school district. He channels that anger into a letter sent to his customers – the parents of CSA’s students – and demands they punish public schools for something that is perfectly legal for them to do.

And give him more money so he can pay his teachers this year.

Why is it infuriating? Because Chuck thinks it’s up to the taxpayers of Michigan to subsidize his mortgage payments on private property. It is not the job of any Michigan taxpayer to pay Chuck Stockwell’s, CS Partners or any of the other LLC’s he’s filed with the State of Michigan’s debts for his charter school business. He manages 20 charter schools bringing in millions of taxpayer dollars that magically become private assets once they go into CS Partner’s bank accounts.

Chuck Stockwell’s former partner, Dr. Steve Ingersoll, considered himself an entrepreneur when he embezzled $3.5 million dollars from Grand Traverse Academy to fund his Renaissance project in Bay City. Not only did he attempt to create a charter school, but a company town where his teachers and employees would work and live. When Ingersoll and his family decided to raid a loan from Chemical Bank to cover up the embezzlement, the Feds swooped in and sent him packing to prison where he belonged. A quick search engine query into charter schools and fraud will prove Dr. Steve Ingersoll is not an isolated case. The gall of people like Ingersoll and Stockwell insisting they’re entitled to our tax dollars is what makes for-profit charter schools so infuriating. But pensions for teachers? Larceny!

Chuck Stockwell, you have lived for decades on the largess of the taxpayers of Michigan. You enjoy a comfortable standard of living while demanding your students’ parents, many of them probably unable to afford any real vacation at all, while you spend your winters in Cancun and your summers on your waterfront property in Traverse City hand you more money for your business. Have you no shame at all?