On the recordMay 9, 2014
The Castor amendment directs the Secretary of the Department of Education to develop and enforce conflict of interest guidelines for any charter school receiving assistance under this law. These guidelines must include disclosures of any person affiliated with the charter school that has a financial interest in the charter school. We all know that a conflict of interest is a situation in which an individual who has an obligation or duty to act for the benefit of the public--in this case, students and schools--exploits that relationship for personal benefit--typically for money--if the individual tries to perform that duty while, at the same time, trying to achieve a personal gain. In the context of charter schools, there have been very serious cases all across the country over the past few years involving conflicts of interest in charter schools. Despite the overriding duty and responsibility to students and schools, individuals have acted to benefit or enrich themselves with public money--taxpayer money. In my State of Florida, we have had a number of cases of conflict of interest in the approval and operation of charter schools. Recently, the Department of Education raised serious questions in an audit about expenditures of money and conflicts of interest of Florida's largest charter school management company. The preliminary audit report findings are very disturbing.…
