Blending religion, taxes

Questions raised about school's funding, huge overhead, lax oversight

Nancy Mitchell and Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

State tax money flowing into the controversial Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op is not only supporting religious programs, it appears to be keeping some religious schools alive.

A private Christian school in Lakewood, for example, collects $160,000 rent annually for its two small Hope computer classrooms - or nearly twice the amount of the school's yearly mortgage.

Hope, an online charter school, is a fast-growing network of 81 learning centers across Colorado. Some say its teaching model is the wave of the future; others question the innovative school's use of tax dollars - it will get more than $18 million to teach 3,711 students this year - particularly when half of its centers have some religious tie.

Several other religious schools that run Hope online centers on their campuses are spending twice as much on overhead - buildings, administration - as they are on instructing the at-risk kids the charter school says it is targeting.

Those are among the issues uncovered in a Rocky Mountain News examination of Hope. Among the other findings:

• Hope's background checks of the adults working with students appear less than vigilant. Tamara Quansah, who controls a taxpayer- funded budget of more than $600,000 at a Hope learning center in Montbello, admitted to a misdemeanor charge alleging welfare fraud in Jefferson County in 1995.

• Big money is backing Hope, but Hope President Heather O'Mara declines to identify the donors. The nonprofit Foundation for Academic Innovation has given or loaned Hope more than $3.7 million in the past two years, according to records obtained by the News under state and federal public records laws.

• The usual mechanisms to oversee Colorado charter schools appear to be lacking with Hope, which obtained its charter from the tiny Vilas School District, hundreds of miles from Denver. Two of Vilas' five school board members have never seen a learning center, and Hope's own governing board has met only three times in two years.

O'Mara is expected this week to announce changes at Hope learning centers, following an internal investigation sparked by critical media reports.

It's unclear whether the reforms will be enough to assuage some Democratic lawmakers who appear to have targeted Hope for closure. Democrats now control the state legislature and the governor's office.

A report by the Office of the State Auditor, initiated by outspoken Hope critic Sen. Sue Windels, the Democratic lawmaker from Arvada who chairs the Senate Education Committee, is due Dec. 11 and could deal a heavy blow to the school. Sources interviewed by state auditors predict the report will deliver stinging criticism.

Exposing a pressing need

O'Mara and other supporters say the media scrutiny and politics swirling around Hope are ignoring the real issue - that thousands of kids are filling its learning centers because they're falling through the cracks in traditional public schools.

Manuel Domingez, 15, is one of these kids. He spent a year at Denver North High School before trying West this fall and deciding that wouldn't work, either. He sat out a few weeks before enrolling last month at a Hope center run by the Latin American Research and Service Agency or LARASA.

"At North, they don't care. If you didn't go to class, they didn't care," said Domingez, who was still growing out the slit in his eyebrow that denotes gang affiliation. "Here, I pay attention. I try to do my work. You don't want to ditch. You want to stay in school."

O'Mara said she created the Hope model for the Manuels, for the students who don't fit into regular classrooms or who live in areas where the schools are poor. Many of those approached by Hope to run the centers were community advocates or groups already operating small schools or after-school programs.

It's by chance, not design, she said, that many of the centers are affiliated with churches.

"We didn't seek them out," O'Mara said. But she said there was a shared "common mission" in better educating at-risk kids.

The News found at least half of the 81 learning centers have some religious tie, whether they're located in a religious school, operated by a pastor or affiliated with a ministry. For example, the secular- sounding E-cademy Learning Center is run by New Covenant Christian Church in east Denver.

O'Mara said Hope policies clearly state tax money given to centers cannot be used for religious purposes, in keeping with a constitutional prohibition against using public money "for any sectarian purpose."

But Hope documents obtained by the News may explain why confusion lingers in some centers, including one placed on probation last month by O'Mara for possibly teaching religion in Hope's computer classrooms.

Hope's "student outreach" plan shows recruiters were directed to a variety of community gatherings, including churches. Suggestions on where to recruit include "a. Church bulletins, b. Vacation Bible School" and - several letters of the alphabet later - "l. Pulpit messages."

Individual centers also had to submit recruitment plans with their applications. One, Med Prep Academy in Denver, wrote "each team member will meet with at least 2 churches and talk to the congrestion (sic) and have applications filled out on the spot."

And in a Hope presentation marked "confidential" that was shown to churches and other prospective centers, the promise is this: "By operating a Hope-approved learning center, you improve your resources without relinquishing the control of your school."

The Rev. William T. Golson, of True Light Baptist Church in Montbello, said his congregation was solicited and told "it is a school where they basically come in and set the whole thing up. They have the computers, the instructors . . . all we had to do was furnish the facility and some kind of an administrator."

Golson and his congregation decided against running a center, he said, saying they felt rushed. Hope didn't dwell on church-state issues, he said, but it was made clear that "we could not use (Hope money) to proselytize."

Checking back records

Eleven years ago, Tamara Quansah admitted in court to lying to Jefferson County social workers so she could receive thousands of dollars of food stamps and other welfare benefits.

Today, she is "pastor of administration" at Love Christian Fellowship Educational Center in Montbello, one of Hope's largest learning centers. It has 176 students - and a taxpayer-funded budget of $629,552 this year.

Quansah, then 34, was charged with felony theft for allegedly claiming to have no income when she was a secretary at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She agreed to pay back $2,258 and perform community service. In exchange, the count was dropped to a misdemeanor.

Two years later, in 1997, she and her husband, George, started Love Christian Fellowship, a private school that added a Hope center in 2005.

"I was already paying it back when I was charged," Tamara Quansah said when asked about the case. So why plead guilty? "You can't argue with the system," she said, adding of the case, "It needed to go away."

O'Mara said she did not believe the charge against Quansah would have prevented her from obtaining a teaching license in Colorado, which is Hope's standard on background checks. As for financial oversight, she said, "Hope monitors the finances" at Love Christian and other centers. O'Mara was not aware of the court case filed in 2005 against Love Christian Fellowship for fire code violations.

Then, a fire department inspector wrote to the Quansahs that "it does not appear that the school, grades K through 12, is in compliance with basic life safety codes" and demanded "immediate corrective action."

Court records show it took more than a year for the Quansahs to comply, with the inspector at one point stating "children do not occupy the center until all life safety issues are addressed."

Tamara Quansah said the delays occurred because the school was caught between two city departments - one demanding a certificate of occupancy before the fire alarm system could be installed, the other saying the system needed to be in before the certificate could be issued - but that the building is now up to code.

It's uncertain whether Hope officials would have taken any action if they had detailed information about the Quansahs' troubles.

Last month, the News asked about a Med Prep Academy mentor with a felony record. Center director Shelli Anderson and O'Mara acknowledged they knew the mentor had a record but were waiting for him to straighten it out. Brent D. Moland, who had worked at the center for 10 months, was fired only after the News asked about him.

A few days later, the News reported on the history of Gerald L. Dare, who was approved to run six Hope learning centers the same month the state Charter School Institute denied his application to run his own charter school, citing concerns about old allegations of child sex assault and the honesty of his application.

Hope officials said they knew nothing about his old case - which Dare vigorously refutes - or the rejection of his charter school application, although both were covered in local newspapers and easily found in a Google search. Dare remains in charge of 850 students and a taxpayer-funded budget of $3 million.

Last week, in response to a records request by the News, Hope turned over fire inspection reports for nearly all of its 81 centers. Two centers have serious fire code issues. One, Destiny Academy, usually located on South Broadway in Englewood, has moved its students to another center while repairs are made. Another, Excel Institute in northeast Denver, was warned by a fire inspector in May and August that it must address life safety issues before the school could continue.

O'Mara said Hope received verbal approval from a fire inspector that it was OK to have children at Excel while upgrades were made. Among the changes to be announced this week, she said, will be the use of compliance teams who are checking to ensure all paperwork, including basics such as fire inspection reports, is up to date.

"We're going to continue improving our policies and procedures," she said. "There are things that need to be improved and done differently, and we will do that."

A question of oversight

By law, only the Vilas School Board has clear authority over Hope.

But Dennis Thompson, the school board president, admits there's plenty he doesn't know about the charter - such as who's behind the Foundation for Academic Innovation, the group that has granted Hope some $3.7 million of loans and donations in the past two years.

"I've heard of them," Thompson said by telephone from the tiny town in southeastern Colorado, "but I don't know who they are. I didn't know they'd given that much, to be honest."

Denver oilman Alex Cranberg, a major Republican donor and school voucher advocate, said he is a financial contributor to Hope. He said he is not the only one.

Records obtained by the News show the foundation gave Hope $384,266 of start-up money before the school officially opened in fall 2005. The foundation loaned or donated an additional $3.4 million from Aug. 3, 2005, through June 30. Hope paid about half that money back during that time.

Federal tax records list O'Mara's Littleton home as the foundation's address and O'Mara as its executive director. A single donor's name and address are neatly blacked out, as the law allows, and Hope is its only recipient.

Few questions seem to flow - at least publicly - from Vilas to Hope, and other mechanisms created in law to oversee the charter appear to be lacking.

Thompson is one of the three Vilas board members who have visited learning centers, the closest of which is two hours away in Pueblo. The two other board members have never seen one.

In a Vilas board meeting last month, the first since critical reports about Hope were published, O'Mara easily answered the handful of questions asked.

"I'm confident the program will go forward," she said cheerfully, explaining the issues are "a result of being a new and innovative program."

Afterward, several board members said they believe they are responsible for Hope - O'Mara and her central staff - but not for the centers themselves.

So what about Dare, the learning center director who was denied his own charter school? Or Moland, who was fired for his felony background? "That's Hope's problem," said board member Ed Kinslow.

Hope's charter contract with Vilas states the school's board of directors "will be accountable" for the school. But its three members - Hope chief operating officer Joyce Gietl, Vilas Superintendent Joe Shields and former University of Colorado football standout Charles "CJ" Johnson - have met only three times in the past two years.

It's also uncertain how objective two of the three members, Shields and Gietl, might be in supervising Hope. Gietl, in essence, is supervising herself. Shields, who runs Vilas schools, has a vested interest in Hope's financial success. Shields, acknowledging the potential conflict, said he is in the process of resigning from Hope's board.

O'Mara said Hope is just beginning to create another oversight mechanism required by state law, a school accountability committee made up of parents, teachers and community members.

What the school does have is a core of supporters who clearly believe in its mission, whatever the critics might say.

"Whatever the problem is, I'm sure Hope can go back to the drawing board and work on it. I don't think the government should take Hope away from these children," said Raquell Martin, who has two children at the Quansahs' Love Christian Fellowship center.

Martin moved her oldest daughter, Conswalla Wilson, into Hope two years ago and added her kindergartner this year. Conswalla was failing in the anonymity of a big public high school, her mother said.

"Had the government been looking at the public schools, we would not need Hope," Martin said. "Hope wouldn't come through a door that wasn't open for them."

Hope faces

• Heather O'Mara, president of Hope Online Learning Academy: Created the Hope model for students who struggle in traditional classrooms or who live in communities where the public schools are poor. She previously worked for Englewood-based Jones Knowledge, founder of the nation's first fully online university.

• Gerald L. Dare, director of six Hope learning centers: Approved by Hope the same month the state Charter Schools Institute denied his application, citing concerns about old allegations of child sex assault and the honesty of his application. He denies the allegations.

• Joe Shields, superintendent of tiny Vilas School District, where Hope gained its charter to operate: Says he's in the process of resigning from Hope's board of directors because of potential conflicts. The other board members are Hope official Joyce Gietl and former CU football standout Charles "CJ" Johnson.

How the money flows

$5,865: Amount in state education funding flowing this fall to the Vilas School District for each of the 3,711 students enrolled in the 81 learning centers operated by Hope Online Learning Academy Co-op. Hope obtained its charter from Vilas, a tiny school district in southeastern Colorado.

$950: Amount Vilas withholds per student annually to cover the costs of online curriculum, delivery and support to Hope and for administering Hope's charter.

$4,915: Amount Hope receives per student from the state, minus the Vilas cut.

$3,577: Amount Hope passes on per student to its learning centers. A center with 100 students, then, would receive $357,700.

$1,338: Amount Hope keeps per pupil for salaries for its central staff, including 16 Hope teachers, and other services, such as technology support, it provides to learning centers.

How Hope works

Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op, based in Centennial, isn't the first online charter school in Colorado, but it is unique.

• How other online schools operate: Schools, such as Colorado Virtual Academy in the Adams Five-Star School District, are generally home-based, with students working on lessons via computers at home and one or both parents helping.

• Hope's technique: Students go to learning centers — there are 81 throughout the state — and work at computers there. The centers typically are staffed by a director and by mentors, who work alongside students to answer questions or help if they get stuck.

• Staffing and students: Hope employs 16 teachers, who travel from center to center to support the mentors. Mentors are required to have two years of college, the equivalent of classroom aides in traditional public schools. Hope advertises a mentor-to-student ratio of 1-to-18. Its teacher-to-student ratio, with 16 teachers and a fall enrollment of 3,711, is 1-to-231.

• Expectations: Students can work at their own pace but must spend at least four hours each day studying, both on the computer and offline with tasks such as reading and writing.

• Curriculum: The online curriculum was created by Compass Learning, a Texas-based education technology company, for kindergarten through eighth grade. A curriculum created by teachers in Vilas, the school district in southeastern Colorado that holds Hope's charter, is provided for high school students.

mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245