Carpetbagging Americas Public Schools: The Radical Reconstruction of Public Education [Paperback]

Carpetbagging America's Public Schools probes the financial intrigue underlying the charter school industry. This book is a forensic accounting analysis of the financial effects of twenty years of charter schools and vouchers on the publics investment in public education. Written from an insiders perspective by an early advocate for charter schools, the work exposes the underbelly of the radical deregulation of our public schools.Curt Cardine over the past 45 years has been a teacher, principal, and superintendent of public and charter schools in New Hampshire and Arizona. Mr. Cardine has owned private businesses and has advanced degrees in Organization and Management with an expertise in school finance.

Curt Cardine has written an important book about the ripoff of the American taxpayer and the destruction of public schools by the rapacious, profit-driven charter school movement. He demonstrates why authorities must establish clear standards for academic and financial accountability for these schools, or close them down and return their students to public schools. Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education; author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System

With the founding premise that public schools belong to the public, Curt Cardine offers a cogent investigation of the misappropriations and egregious abuses of public education options afforded through the current policy context. Cardine focuses on Arizona charter school data, citing startling statistics while simultaneously attending to the nuances of the 23% of the cases studied [that] behave(d) in an ethical and fiscally sound manner. Charter school critics and proponents alike would do well to attend carefully to the various dimensions of Cardines analysis. Kim Carter, Executive Director of the Q.E.D. Foundation

Arizona should be a beacon to the nation for what happens when you allow school choice to run rampant with little oversight. Curtis Cardil&