Safeguards Badly Needed for Gulen Charter Schools

by Donna Garner

On 9.28.11, the U. S. Department of Education announced that it has awarded $1,431,929.00 to Harmony Charter Schools in Texas to open seven new schools, The USDOE also awarded $9,463,103.00 for KIPP Foundation to open 18 new schools in various parts of the country including Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.

The good news is that in this last round of charter schools approved by the Texas State Board of Education at its September 2011 meeting, no new Gulen-Cosmos Foundation-Harmony Charter Schools applied.  Hopefully by the time that they submit their applications for any more new schools, our elected leaders will have taken a more cautionary approach and will reject any future Gulen-Cosmos Foundation-Harmony Charter Schools in Texas. Unfortunately, we already have 36 here in Texas.

The differences between Harmony and KIPP are immense. KIPP has a proven record of academic success while Harmony Charter Schools is tied to Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist imam, and is a part of the Gulen network that is indoctrinating students into Islam using our tax dollars to do it. [To gain more insight into the Gulen-Cosmos Foundation-Harmony Charter Schools, please go to the articles posted at the bottom of this e-mail.]

The Texas House Investigating Committee has been charged with investigating the Harmony Charter schools, and I heard from several Texas legislators yesterday that the investigation is occurring as we speak.  I trust that this committee is doing a worthy job that will satisfy the Texas voters.

The U. S. Congress is in the midst of voting on SB 1566 “Empowering Parents Through Quality Charter Schools Act.” When this bill comes up for further Congressional consideration, I hope that charter school safeguards will be implemented into the bill. The same holds true for future charter school legislation in Texas; the charter school safeguards must be an important part of any piece of charter school legislation.

Why the safeguards?  When charter school legislation “blesses” good, solid, legitimate charter schools such as KIPP, the same legislation also “blesses” the Gulen Charter Schools and their nefarious and deceptive agenda.

We must have charter school legislation with safeguards in place both at the state and federal levels that will make sure our taxpayers’ dollars are not going to support an Islamist agenda.

Americans need to demand that their Congressmen and state legislators implement charter school safeguards.  Here are two sets of charter school safeguards that have been proposed by various experts.

1. That a financial audit conducted under generally accepted accounting practices by an independent, reputable auditor be required – and publicly available – from any charter school operator applying for bond guarantees or other financial incentives;

2. That the name, address, and citizenship of all board members and key administrators applying for said guarantee(s) or other financial incentives issued by the state be recorded and made available to the public;

3. That the funds in the underlying bonds or other financial incentives to privately owned, publicly financed schools are to be used solely for schools within Texas;

4. Severe criminal penalties for fraudulent activities involving bond guarantees or other financial incentives issued by states – such as a Class 2 Felony for criminal or securities fraud violations.

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Safeguards proposed in the 82^nd Legislative Session in Texas but that the Texas Legislature did not pass:

1.  Proof of U. S. citizenship for all charter school operator board members and top five highest-paid administrators. (Public ISD trustees must be U. S. citizens.)

2.  Names, titles, and biographies posted online for all charter operator board members and top five highest-paid administrators.

3.  Check registers posted online. (Over 70 % of local ISD dollars are online.)

REFERENCE ARTICLES

8.29.11 — “Islamic Village Planned for Dallas, Texas” by Donna Garner –

http://educationviews.org/2011/08/29/islamic-village-planned-for-dallas-texas/

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8.1.11 — “Gulen-Led Coup — Turkey Falls to Islamists” by Donna Garner –

http://www.voicesempower.com/gulen-led-coup-turkey-falls-to-islamists/

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Winter 2009, pp. 55 – 66 — The Middle East Quarterly — “Fethullah Gülen’s Grand Ambition: Turkey’s Islamist Danger” by Rachel Sharon Krespin, director of the Turkish Media Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Washington D.C.

http://www.meforum.org/2045/fethullah-gulens-grand-ambition

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7.22.11 — “Wrong Person Takes the Fall — Another Gulen Situation” — by Donna Garner

http://educationviews.org/2011/07/22/wrong-person-takes-the-fall-another-gulen-situation/

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List of Gulen Charter Schools in the United States:

http://turkishinvitations.weebly.com/list-of-us-schools.html

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7.17.11 — “Another Turkish Charter School in Trouble” by Donna Garner –

http://educationviews.org/2011/07/17/5358/

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7.14.11 — “How Blind Can People Be?” by Donna Garner –

http://libertylinked.com/posts/7745/how-blind-can-people-be—/View.aspx

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7.10.11 — “Are Taxpayers Paying for Free Trips to Turkey?” by Donna Garner –

http://libertylinked.com/posts/7714/are-taxpayers-paying-for-free/View.aspx

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6.19.11 — Austin American-Statesman article by Laylan Copelin and Mike Ward, “Some Texas Lawmakers Have Second Thoughts about Turkey Trips” –

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/some-lawmakers-have-second-thoughts-about-turkey-trips-1548440.html

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6.29.11 — Texas Legislature Investigating Gulen/Cosmos Foundation/Harmony Schools:  http://libertylinked.com/posts/7624/tx-investigating-gulen/View.aspx

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6.30.11 — “Personal Accounts: Gulen Harmony Schools” by Donna Garner

http://educationviews.org/2011/06/30/personal-accounts-gulen-harmony-schools/

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7.14.11 — “Harmony Science Academies Tied to Gulen Charter Schools” by Donna Garner –http://libertylinked.com/posts/7744/harmony-science-academies/View.aspx

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“The Gulen Movement — How It Operates in Turkey and in the U. S.” —  Parts 1, 2, 3 — YouTube

Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izjnSb0owbI&feature=related

Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eD19xG-7rM&feature=related

Part 3:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Vwt_LIrAc&feature=related

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1. GOV. PERRY, TEX. LEGISLATORS, GULEN-HARMONY SCHOOLS
2. BREAKING: GULEN TURKISH CHARTER SCHOOLS TO BE INVESTIGATED IN TEXAS
3. Planned Protest at Gulen Harmony School of Political Science
4. TEXAS’ TURKISH SCHOOLS SPEND ALMOST $6 MILLION IN 3 YRS. ON TRAVEL
5. Harmony Charter Schools — Not Really ‘Miracle Schools’ ”