More Charter Schools? Let’s Have an Illinois “Sunshine” Law

A charter school is a private school that operates with public money. In Illinois, there don’t appear to be laws that regulate the ethics of running a private business with taxpayer money-- i.e., financial disclosures made by owners and operators of schools, enforced by criminal penalties. There should be this type of "sunshine” (transparency) law.

Gov. Rauner should know. He was on the Board of Directors of the SUPES Academy in Wilmette. SUPES bills itself as an expert on training principals how to manage and lead better in schools. This private "academy" got a $23 million no-bid contract to train principals in Chicago Public Schools in 2013. At the time, Gov. Rauner was on the SUPES Board.

SUPES got the bid by bribing a Chicago Public School administrator, Barbara Byrd Bennett. Here’s how the deal worked: If she got SUPES the contract, SUPES would pay her about $2.3 million under the table.

SUPES is not a charter school—but it shows what can go terribly wrong when private educators try to gain access to public money. At this point, Byrd-Bennett and the two SUPES owners have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and are awaiting sentencing.

In April 2015, Gov. Rauner faced some tough questioning from a Chicago Tribune reporter.

This post closes with a quote from Kim Geiger, Juan Perez, and John Chase’s article in the Chicago Tribune (April 20, 2015) (http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-cps-contract-emanuel-rauner-met-0421-20150420-story.html).

On Monday, Rauner was asked about his views on the role private foundations should play in public education policy, given the federal investigation into the SUPES contract. At first Rauner said the education fund wasn't involved in bringing SUPES to CPS.

"That particular group, which I don't know anything about, was brought in, I believe, by the CEO of the schools. It wasn't brought in by the fund, by the foundation. I don't know," Rauner said during an appearance before an education writers group at a River North hotel.

When a questioner pointed out that the education fund he was part of was involved with SUPES, Rauner tried another tack.

"My experience with the public education fund has been mostly good. Although I will say this, the fund didn't make many of its own decisions as much as it was a facilitator for what the mayor or the schools or the leadership wanted to do," the governor said. "It was a little bit more of a support group rather than a truly independent group. And that was a source of frustration for me over time."

But records show that Rauner was a key player in the group and that the group played a key role in bringing the executive training program to the public schools.

Rauner's family foundation gave the Chicago Public Education Fund $500,000 in 2012, according to federal tax records, and Rauner said Monday that he and his wife have given the fund "many millions of dollars" over the years. Rauner also was chairman of the nonprofit for a time and said he served on the board for at least 10 years.