Suit: D.C. charter operators dumping 350 special needs kids after diverting funds to their for-profit company

Options former chief executive Donna Montgomery

In D.C., Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan filed a civil lawsuit against several Options Charter School  managers and a former board member accusing them of diverting millions of dollars from the school to two for-profit companies they owned and operated.

He's trying to stop the Public Charter School Board (PCSB) from closing of the school, which would leave hundred of special-needs kids out in the cold.

It’s enough that they face enormous challenges, including blindness, dyslexia and severe emotional disorders. Now, the more than 350 special-needs children at Options Public Charter School must suffer cavalier charter officials who apparently have little regard for their academic futures. -- Washington Post

In her Post opinion piece, Jonetta Rose Barras asks:

Is the PCSB dumping children to improve its schools’ ratings? In 2013, Stanford University researchers found, “The charter sector [nationwide] is getting better on average not because existing schools are getting dramatically better. It is largely driven by the closure of schools.” The District has closed 35 charter schools since 1996. 

 In the comments section of the article, drbilllemoine writes:

It should be plain by now that charter schools favor those evading majority black schools, old and poorly maintained buildings, aiming to discredit public schools and legally populate elitist school enrollments. I was there when home schooling started and saw charter schools start in the deep south, but it's not limited to the old confederacy states as we know. Instead of rehashing the processes of re-segretation by some dimension, let's look at the alternative that works for everybody.