KUTV Sure has a lot of Baloney

This is a copy of our Facebook Post from June 6, 2019 pointing out the Baloney in another attack.  (Sorry these are pretty long responses, but I believe you deserve the real facts)

I suppose the “There you go again!” quote by Ronald Reagan is too long ago for many people to remember, but there are days I SO want to use that quote. Chris Jones from KUTV ran yet another “expose” about my supposed “self-dealing” with charter schools. I provided Chris with all the documentation proving that such a claim is ridiculously false, including the federal bureaucracy’s own guidance, showing that the schools I work with followed all program rules. Actually, it would be great to have Chris investigate USAC (the federal bureaucracy), which is operating in violation of its own rules and harming Utah public schools in the process. I suppose that didn’t serve his purposes, though.

Since you won’t be getting them from KUTV, I want you to have the facts, so I’ve included them below, along with all the supporting documentation. If you have questions, please IM, email or call me. I will be happy to talk to you about this issue. Also, don’t forget my town hall on June 15th.

Here are the facts:

There is a federal program (E-Rate) that helps schools and libraries pay for technology upgrades. There are a lot of rules governing this program and the rules are complicated enough that most schools hire a consultant to help them with the process. My company, Charter Solutions, does not do that kind of consulting, nor do we hire vendors for any charter school. Decisions on purchasing are made by the school administration or board regarding vendors, outside consultants, and items or services to purchase. All this is done completely outside the services that Charter Solutions provides. Here are the facts that I outlined for Mr. Jones. These were emailed to him along with documentation to back up these statements.

• Charter Solutions did not hire H-Wire to do any work for Treeside Charter or any other charter school. In fact, Charter Solutions had no decision-making power at Treeside, has no decision-making power at any charter school, and did not hire H-Wire for any purpose at any charter school.
• I do not have any role within H-Wire. In fact, I am not an officer, manager, employee, or anything at H-Wire, other than an original investor in the company. I have never had any role in its decisions, processes, or services, and am no longer an investor.
• Charter Solutions’ staff plays no role in E-Rate, the program in question. In fact, we specifically opt out of any involvement in any aspect of E-Rate because we were aware of the potential conflict, disclosed the potential conflict to the school, specifically declined when requested to provide information about E-Rate, all following the published guidance and rules for the program. (All documentation is attached to this post.)

An overreaching federal agency denied funding for this school citing a conflict of interest on my part. As you can see from the attached documents, they did that ignoring their own rules, without reviewing the evidence (they didn't even bother to call the school or the independent consultant), and without even a claim that anyone involved did anything wrong. The real story here is of a rogue federal agency that is targeting a Utah public school that did everything right.