Spending $7 million over a 15-year-period to hire foreign teachers. Paying those teachers as much as $18,000 per year more than their American peers. Awarding multimillion dollar contracts to former employees.
Those are just a few of the allegations that the Turkish government has hurled at the Houston-based Harmony Public Schools in what appears to be a foreign political battle spilling onto Texas soil.
Attorneys representing Turkey filed a 32-page complaint to the Texas Education Agency in May about the state’s largest public charter school network, whose founders are Turkish-American. The document details accusations of discriminatory employment and unethical contract bidding practices, and ties to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government.
“That’s a lot of money flowing out to these affiliated companies and the total dollars are north of we think over $150 million,” said John Martin, attorney with international law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, about Harmony’s vendors. “There’s every red flag there that there is extensive self-dealing going on.”
Harmony’s chief executive officer Soner Tarim said the charter network — which has 46 campuses in Texas including six in Austin — has been unfairly targeted. A majority of Turkish citizens who live in Texas voted against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014 and the government thinks Harmony is behind it, he said.
“This is a baseless attack and it is nothing but harassment,” Tarim said. “I am sad to see a foreign agent … not only harass us but our state agencies. I’d rather spend my time to focus on Texas children.”
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/dispute-over-texas-charter-school-network-involves/nrk5f/
