Plunderbund » David Brennan

The “e” in e-schools apparently doesn’t stand for “education”

ModernEsquire — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:30:32 +0000

InnovationOhio has released a new report that examines the nexus between e-schools’ academic performance (or lack thereof) and yet their political popularity with Republicans that might, just might be, influenced by the rather large campaign donations made by e-school businesses, like… White Hat Management executive David Brennan.

Among the findings of the report:

Of Ohio’s 7 state-wide E-schools (which account for 90% of all E-school enrollment), six are not even rated “effective” by the Ohio Department of Education. 5 of the 7 have graduation rates worse than Cleveland Municipal Schools, which has the lowest graduation rate of all traditional [...]

Carlo Loparo vs. David Brennan in For-Profit Charter School Battle?

Joseph — Tue, 18 May 2010 04:00:37 +0000

Over the years I’ve written more than a few posts here at Plunderbund bitching and moaning about the horrible job Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature has done implementing our charter school system.

There are, of course, a few successful schools. But these minor successes are easily overshadowed by the many horrible and disastrous failures directly resulting from the intentionally limited oversight and amazingly loose restrictions imposed on schools that never had any chance of being successful in the first place. It seems anyone can get public money to start a school and there is little or no requirement to define or track [...]

‘All Children Matter’ PAC Gets Lawyered Up

Joseph — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:28:50 +0000

Anyone want to guess which Republican Attorney is representing All Children Matter, the David Brennan-related PAC that just got fined by the Ohio Elections Commission for illegally funneling contributions through Virgina?

Go ahead guess. It’s not that hard…

Yep. It IS Bill Todd – former Republican Candidate for Columbus Mayor.

No surprise here though since Todd got a huge portion of his Mayoral campaign contributions from David Brennan.

For-Profit Charter Schools Have Tax-Free Status???

Joseph — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:13:24 +0000

What the hell is up with this???

The Ohio Federation of Teachers wants the IRS to investigate charter school operator White Hat Management, contending the private company has violated the terms of the tax-free status assigned to many of its schools.

The union alleges that at least 25 Life Skills Centers and Hope Academies operated by White Hat don’t qualify for tax-exempt status because many of them share board members, trademarks and contracts.

Under IRS rules, to keep a tax exemption board members need to be unaffiliated with the management company and have authority over their own budgets, curriculum [...]

Mary Taylor Slaps Brennan’s White Hat for “Abusive Business Practices”

Joseph — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:36:05 +0000

I’m almost starting to feel bad for David Brennan- he just can’t seem to catch a break.

Even Mary Taylor, our Republican State Auditor, who received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Brennan family, is beating on Brennan and his for-profit charter school business…

State Auditor Mary Taylor slapped 19 community schools operated by White Hat Management in Akron for abusive business practices.

A spokesman for her office said this was believed to be the first time a for-profit charter school in Ohio had been cited for abuse in an annual audit.

The audit complained [...]

Husted and Mandel Controlled by Profiteering Charter School Barons?

Eric — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:43:52 +0000

Jill gives us the rundown over at Progress Ohio. We’ve covered a great deal about the charter school scam here at Plunderbund and the continued profiteering amidst failure after failure. Jill makes a very good point: charters are not bad in and of themselves. What they’ve been turned into is. Leave it to a bunch of wingnuts and un-checked Republican power brokers to turn something good bad.

Follow the money and understand the arrangement behind the headlines and the political rhetoric. (Graph made at Ohio Money Tree)

Pretty good report on Brennan and White Hat [...]

Husted and Co. Hate Poor Kids

Eric — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:05:54 +0000

OK, they don’t hate poor kids. They hate investing in keeping poor kids healthy. It’s pure conjecture at this point as to whether or not they actually hate the kids themselves…

From today’s Dispatch:

The governor’s plan to provide health insurance for some of Ohio’s neediest families likely will be dropped by House Republicans to pay part of their proposed increase in state aid to higher education.

What does John need the money for?

House Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering, needs roughly $150 million to fund three higher-education initiatives: $100 million in new scholarships; $34 million more in funding [...]

Why Kevin Coughlin Cares About Vouchers

Joseph — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:31:58 +0000

After Strickland’s State of the State speech, ONN’s crack political reporters were on the scene at the State House to find out what people like State Senator Kevin Coughlin thought of the speech.

Not suprisingly, Mr. Coughlin hated the school voucher cut and the proposal to eliminate for-profit schools- what he calls the ‘proposal to eliminate school choice’.

He claims to be puzzled by the choice since most of the people who benefit from the vouchers are “inner city … african american families” aka: Strickland’s “own constituencies”. (what is he saying? Blacks only vote for Democrats?) Which, [...]