WASHINGTON – Imagine charter schools in seven states and the District of Columbia have received more than $11 million from the federal stimulus program this year.
Including $971,950 sent to Imagine schools in Fort Wayne and $493,689 given to Imagine schools in Indianapolis, facilities throughout the country received a share of the stimulus money that was funneled through state education departments.
Distributed on a formula basis, schools received money to help prevent teacher layoffs, to pay for catch-up programs for low-income children and to underwrite the cost of education for children with special needs.
Imagine Schools is an Arlington, Va.-based company that is the subject of a Journal Gazette series that examined the company’s operating procedures. The series found that the parent company appears to make decisions about local charter school policies – including curriculum and hiring – instead of the boards of the charter schools.
In all, Imagine schools in Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia received $11.3 million, according to reporting filed on the government’s Web site that tracks stimulus money.
Several states where Imagine charter schools are in operation – Colorado, Georgia, Florida, New York and Maryland – did not report that they provided grants to the charter schools.
The reporting on the government’s Web site is done by recipients of the money; in this case, state education departments.
