KIPP charter schools open up to invite credibility

Against a backdrop of scandals at other Philadelphia charter schools, one charter organization has devised its own system to provide more accountability.

KIPP Philadelphia Charter Schools recently launched Open Book. With this project, KIPP is putting financial records, budgets, salary information, audits, test scores, minutes of charter board meetings, and biographies of board members on its website for the public to view.

"We're not trying to say that we're perfect, but there are no conflicts of interest here," said Marc Mannella, chief executive officer and founder of KIPP Philadelphia. "We want everyone to see who is on the board and how it works."

KIPP Philadelphia operates four charters in North and West Philadelphia and on Vine Street just north of Center City. It began in the city with fifth through eighth grades. The district gave it permission to begin adding elementary and high school grades last year.

Those charter schools are part of a network of 99 schools affiliated with the nonprofit, California-based Knowledge Is Power Program, which focuses on preparing students for college. The schools are scattered across 20 states and Washington.

Mannella, who opened the first KIPP charter school in Philadelphia in 2003, said Open Book had been created in response to weak reporting requirements of Pennsylvania's 1997 charter school law and news accounts that at least 18 of the city's 74 charters were under federal investigation.

For example, a former board president and a former CEO of Philadelphia Academy Charter School in the Northeast were sent to federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud charges. And last month, a federal grand jury indicted the former board president and CEO at New Media Technology Charter School, alleging they stole $522,000 in taxpayer funds.

A year ago, the city Controller's Office announced that an investigation of 13 charters had found apparent conflicts of interest, unusual CEO salary arrangements, and complex real estate deals in which charters leased facilities from related organizations.

Mannella said Open Book could help restore public confidence in charters.

"The need for transparency is even greater here in Philadelphia, where the charter movement's promise of more accountability in exchange for more autonomy has not yet been realized," Mannella wrote on Open Book.