Charter, subject of Republic investigation, will allow public comment.

Academy, subject of Republic probe, reverses itself

The public is allowed to speak about American Leadership Academy’s budget and millions of tax dollars going to its founder’s businesses after all.

In a sharp reversal, the East Valley charter chain on Friday night said it would hold a special meeting Saturday evening to allow the public to comment on its $71 million budget, which includes teacher pay raises.

The move came after The Arizona Republic reported on azcentral.com that ALA had refused to allow public comment at its Thursday budget meeting, possibly violating the state’s Open Meetings Law.

At least three people came to speak on the budget after a Republic investigation, first published online Wednesday, found businesses tied to ALA founder Glenn Way had made millions of dollars building campuses for the charter chain.

The Republic found that Way or his companies, thanks partly to Arizona’s favorable charter-school laws and lucrative no-bid deals with ALA, have made millions of dollars building, leasing, selling and managing the 12-school chain. Way was ALA’s board chairman until last year.

The ALA board refused to let the public speak Thursday, citing advice from its attorney. One of its executives also confronted Jim Hall, a charter-schools watchdog, who wanted to speak.

Hall, a former public-school administrator who leads Arizonans for Charter School Accountability, told ALA officials that state law requires public comment at budget meetings for charter schools, but he was ignored.

Hall previously filed a complaint against ALA, triggering the state Charter Board to conduct an investigation of ALA’s finances. Hall analyzed financial records American Leadership submits to the Charter Board and the Internal Revenue Service, and claimed the charter had “significant errors and omissions that could be hiding millions of dollars in waste and possible fraud.” ALA has denied any wrongdoing. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office on Thursday night invited anyone refused the opportunity to speak to file a complaint with its office.

“There is so little oversight of charter schools in Arizona that even lawyers for charter owners advise them to ignore the law. Complaints to the attorney general and the Charter Board apparently convinced ALA that they are not above the law and must hold a public hearing to answer questions about their 2019 budget,” Hall said. “We look forward to asking the ALA governing board about serious omissions in their proposed 2019 budget.”

ALA’s refusal to allow public comment is in stark contrast with other bodies handling taxpayer funds. State legislative hearings, and the meetings of school boards and city councils, nearly always allow public comment, especially when the expenditure of public money is being discussed.

Two teachers from Gilbert Public Schools also had wanted to speak Thursday, but were denied the opportunity.

“It has come to the board’s attention that the board failed to allow members of the public to address the board during the public hearing on the adoption of the 2018-2019 budget on Thursday, July 12, 2018,” ALA said in a statement. “In an abundance of caution, ALA will hold another public hearing.”

The hearing was to be held Saturday night at ALA’s headquarters, 1750 E. Riggs Road in Gilbert.

The pay raise the charter chain is offering teachers will increase the average ALA teacher salary to $41,641.

That’s about $11,000 less than what Gov. Doug Ducey projects the average Arizona teacher salary ($52,725) will be this academic year, following significant funding increases to public schools across the state.

American Leadership’s teachers were paid, on average, $37,389 in 201617, according to records ALA filed with the state Department of Education. That was about $10,000 less than the average for traditional public schools.

ALA teachers on average made even less last year. Records show the average pay in 2017-18 was $36,814.