Tell Congress: Stop funding for-profit-run charters

For-profit charter school operators exploit a legal loophole — collecting federal education dollars meant for students and putting them into their own pockets. The Championing Honest and Responsible Transparency in Education Reform (C.H.A.R.T.E.R.) Act,  introduced by Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro, Susan Bonamici, and Adelita Grijalva, would stop federal tax dollars from going to charter schools run by for-profit corporations. 

We need your help to get their colleagues on board.

Here is what you can do.

• Send a letter: Click the button below to send a letter directly to your Representative that asks them to sign onto the C.H.A.R.T.E.R. Act.
• Then make the call: Call your Representative’s office and say: “I’m urging Representative [Name] to co-sponsor the C.H.A.R.T.E.R. Act, introduced by Congresswoman DeLauro to protect taxpayer education dollars from for-profit operators. This bill would stop for-profit charter corporations from siphoning federal education dollars away from students and into their own pockets.  You can find your Representative’s phone number here.

Why does this matter? 
Under Secretary McMahon, previous regulations have been rolled back, and the nonprofit façades of for-profits are getting grants to expand. Some for-profits run more than 100 schools, setting up related vendors, real estate corporations, or nonprofit management organizations to maximize their take while keeping taxpayers and parents in the dark. Others operate just a few schools, using the for-profit to hide transactions. 

The recent collapse of Epic Charter Schools in Oklahoma, run on a “minimize cost, maximize profit” concealment scheme, is a stark warning of where charter profiteering leads.

The CHARTER Act would close this loophole once and for all, amending the ESEA and IDEA to prohibit federal funds from going to any charter school that contracts with a for-profit entity to operate, oversee, or manage the school — whether directly or through a nonprofit intermediary. With House Republicans proposing half a billion for the Charter School Program, these protections cannot wait.

Every letter and every call move the needle. Tell your representative to get on board with a reform that makes sure tax dollars go to students, not profiteers. Then make the call: Call your Representative’s office and say: “I’m urging Representative [Name] to co-sponsor the C.H.A.R.T.E.R. Act, introduced by Congresswoman DeLauro to protect taxpayer education dollars from for-profit operators. This bill would stop for-profit charter corporations from siphoning federal education dollars away from students and into their own pockets.  You can find your Representative’s phone number here.