I have been very vocal in regard to my concerns with charter schools. I have consistently warned about fraud and the lack of regulation; therefore, I have been closely monitoring HB2833 filed by Rep. Mark White (R–Memphis), which aims to allow charter school corporations to apply directly to the State Charter School Commission, bypassing local school boards.
Charter schools are big business. Many of them seemingly have ties to Fethullah Gülen. If you aren’t familiar with that name, you can watch the documentary Killing Ed: Charter Schools, Corruption and the Gülen Movement in America to find out more.
“In the United States, there are currently 167 charter schools that are likely linked with the Gülen Movement in 26 states and Washington D.C., making it one of the largest charter school organizations in the country,” according to debsedstudies.org.
One charter school in Tennessee, Memphis School of Excellence, has been linked to Gülen.
This school is located in the same district in which Rep. Mark White serves.
In 2015, Phil Williams of News Channel 5 penned an article exposing Tennessee lawmakers who were treated to free foreign trips to Turkey. Among those were Rep. Mark White [R-Memphis/Shelby Co.], Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver [R-Lancaster/Smith, Trousdale and DeKalb counties] and Sen. Brian Kelsey [R-Germantown/Shelby Co.].
White, when asked if it matters to him who is paying for the trip, is quoted in Williams’ article as saying, “Yeah, we’ll find that out . . . Like I say, I just have not had a chance to—we’ve been so busy in session—just haven’t had a chance to look into that yet.”
Hundreds of U.S. politicians were involved in these trips, to the tune of $15,000–$30,000 per person. See who was involved from your state here.
So, what is the significance of all of this? It seems a little ironic that the sponsor of HB2833, Rep. Mark White, along with Terri Lynn Weaver, who sits on the House Education Instruction Subcommittee, as well as Sen. Brian Kelsey, who happens to be the bill’s Senate sponsor, all partook in a trip to Turkey sponsored by Turkish organizations with ties to Gülen.
Rep. Mark White, Sen. Brian Kelsey and Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver
Even more frightening is the fact that a member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) has admitted that the group formed a special unit for infiltrating the U.S. military through its members recruited from charter schools, just like it did with the Turkish military.
It’s time to talk Turkey, lawmakers! Did Rep. Mark White ever have a chance to look at who was funding his expense-paid trip to Turkey?
I hope that every person reading this will take a hard look at the list of U.S. politicians involved in these trips and their associations to Gülen. This is just one of the many and very frightening issues with the charter school industry. This is dangerous territory for our nation as a whole. This is not the answer to the problems facing education.
It’s time for us to demand accountability, to stop the fraud in its tracks, and most importantly to prevent those with nefarious intentions from getting their foot in the door by using our children.
