Sunday November 3, 2002
Clovis CART's "Business Model"
Not What it Used to be!
By Howard Hobbs  PhD, President
Valley Press Media Network

     Related column: CUSD Moral Lapse

      CLOVIS -- Many local taxpayers would like to take a closer look a what the Center for Advanced Research and Technology is calling its "CART business model." CART is now a joint-venture between the Clovis Unified School District and Fresno Unified School District.
     Every business owner is quite familiar with how businesses are run, with costs of doing business and profit/loss statements. A business model for a school program, however, is not that simple. Take for example, the brief statement of how a public school program in Clovis, CA became a money-making business competing with the private sector.
     The Clovis Advanced Research Technology [CART] while publicly touting its long-term objective as being a long-term, community-based education program is subtly organized and operated as a business seeking an economic return from public funds used to set it up and operate it.
     The major roadblock for CART's continued fiscal future is a "creative financing" scheme involving so called "tax-deductible" qualified private business contributions that would cover operational costs now covetred by Clovis Unified School Board, Fresno Unified School Board and California Department of Education Alternative Schools program.
    The CART Website describes its ultimate business objective as the sale of its educational program franchise "...throughout the United States and the world."
     In the meanwhile, a lesser strategy of the CART franchise will apparently be to sell zero interest bonds and presumably will pay them back with interest. In this way, CART leadership implies that it will be able to finance operations and repayment some small portion of school district monies advanced by Clovis Unified School Disrtrict operational costs for the CART 80,000 square foot alternative school building in Clovis.
     If CART hopes it can borrow all the funds needed to keep its program afloat until the first fanchise is sold they should be prepared for a long cold winter. To speed things up, CART is moving ahead on QZAB bonds that are yet to be sold and issued.
     The California Department of Education has announced its intent to sponsor local school program access to interest free financing through the use of private sector tax incentives. However, proceeds are to be used for repair and renovation, equipment and other qualified educational purposes. Qualified LEAs are encouraged to apply to this program for the 2002 authorization. Speed Memo.
    Work at CART's executive offices is ostensibly governed by a seven member Joint Powers Authority Board. According to published materials, CART's business plan entails franchise sales throughout the state, region and all around the country. The engine of finance in the scheme is not just loans through the mechanism of special, Bonds, but extra special bonds with zero interest.
     According to its published documents, CART is actively soliciting the private sector franchise strategy as a sort of tax-shelter investment to attractive business capital throughout the United States and the world.
     The CART fiscal model is a dramatic departure from that of public schools and colleges that tax payersd are accustomed to such as the Central Valley Business Incubator and the resources of the Entrepreneurial Training program are educational programs for university students at local colleges and universities.
    It is theoretically impossible that CART students and some volunteer local businesses will realize any tangible mutual benefits by sharing ideas and research projects in its CART alternative school or that CART classes will rise to the level of community college or university accredited programs.
     CART is to be commended for settinng high academic and performance standards for itself, but even if these were achieved, one wonders how CART officials could see this acievment as a business plan. Evidence of its desire to enveigh the business model, CART also touts its intent to sell tax-exempt bonds to raise cash to pay for the best of everything.
    A recent memorandum from Timothy L. Jones, Asst. Chief, tax-exempt bond branch of the US Department of Treasury has been supplied to this newspaper explaining Treasury's procedures involving misuse of private business contributions received prior to the issuance of the bonds qualification.
     Before qualified zone academy bonds can be issued, according to our source, is the local educational agency (as defined in section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) must obtain written commitments from private entities for qualified contributions with a present value (as of the bond issue date) of not less than 10% of the proceeds of the bond issue.
    CART, it seems, has transformed its alternative high school program into a franchise marketing business right under the nose of the Clovis Unified School Board and with the aid and comfort of some heavy-hitters in Fresno County, including, education officials with little or no business experience, one local college business school and some softhearted local business leaders who ought to know better.

    [Editor's Note: The federal Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, created by Congress in 1997, makes $400 million in zero-interest bonds available to districts each year for the creation of "academies" housed in school building additions facilities--along with needed equipment, curriculum, and staff training. Academies, in this sense, are schools or programs within a school that enter into partnerships with local businesses to enhance the curriculum, increase graduation and employment rates, and better prepare students for college or the workforce.
     In August, the CART "CEO's" contract was extended for two more years. Taxpayers may not be aware of the  Qualified Zone Academy Bond through which about 95% of the proceeds are to be used for a qualified purpose by an eligible local education agency. These bonds could be issued by the State or by the school district and might be used by local promoters in the future to finance CART type programs. According the congress QZAB Bond legislation has been on hold since in 1997.
    In the Rules and Regulations section of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations that provide guidance to holders and issuers of qualified zone academy bonds. These proposed regulations reflect changes made by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-34, 111 Stst.788 (1997), and affect holders and issuers of qualified zone academy bonds.
     The text also provides a notice of public hearing on these proposed regulations. DATES: Written comments must be received by April 7, 1998. Outlines of topics to be discussed at the public hearing scheduled for May 27, 1998, must be received by May 6, 1998. ADDRESSES: Send submissions to CC:DOM:CORP:R (REG-119449-97), room 5226, Internal Revenue Service, POB 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044. Submissions may be hand delivered between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to: CC:DOM:CORP:R (REG-119449-97), Courier's Desk, Internal revenue Building, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Alternatively, taxpayers may submit comments electronically via the Internet by selecting the "Tax Regs" option on the IRS Home Page, or by submitting directly to the IRS site.
     The public hearing will be held in Room 2615, Internal Revenue Building, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The CART Website contains the following disclosure: "CART the Business Model. CART is organized on a business model...The business plan for CART includes a franchise strategy designed to scale the initiative throughout the United States and the world".
     The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the role and function of education as: "..the action or process of educating or of being educated; also a stage of such a process and the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process ."]

Friday November 8, 2002
USC's
CART EDUCATION
By Howard Hobbs  PhD, President
Valley Press Media Network

      CLOVIS -- At the University of Southern California there is a Center for Advanced Research in Technology. It is concerned with the development, evaluation, and deployment of new technologies for education.
   The USC Center businesss model is part of the Information Sciences Institute, the national leade rand developer of technology for education. That entity was established to encourage new technology development initiatives, and to facilitate the transfer of successful technologies into educational practice.
     USC officials told Clovis Free Press reporters this week. "We believe that software and networking technologies are developing to the point where they can potentially have a broad and dramatic impact on education and training... this potential will not be realized without close cooperation of educational technologists and educational practitioners".
     USC's staff take an active role in assisting teachers and training schools in introducing new educational technologies into their curricula, and evaluating their impact on student performance. These studies help train educators in identifying effective intellectual technologies and serve to inform and guide further technology development.
    The USC multidisciplinary center includes artificial intelligence specialists, multimedia designers, cognitive psychologists, and educational researchers.
     Other sources of information can be accesssed by clicking on the following links provide information about conferences, publications, and general discussions of teaching with electronic technology.

AACE: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education

An international, non-profit educational and professional organization dedicated to the advancement of the knowledge, theory, and quality of learning and teaching at all levels with information technology

Access and/or Quality? Redefining Choices in the Third Revolution

By Stephen C. Ehrmann, who directs the Flashlight Program at the nonprofit TLT Group. This article appears in the September/October issue of Educom Review.

As We May Think

The original 1945 Atlantic Monthly article by Vannevar Bush often credited with getting the whole information revolution underway.

Beyond "Cool" Analog Models for Reviewing Digital Resources

By James Rettig, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Beyond the Hype

A one-day colloquium organised by the Humanities Computing Unit, University of Oxford, held at the Oxford Union Debating Chamber on April 23, 1998. [No long seems to be available]

CHUM 650: Computing and the Humanities

An online course taught by Eric Johnson at Dakota State University. Take a look at Eric Johnson's essay, "The World Wide Web, Computers, and Teaching Literature."

Columbia Guide to Online Style

By Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. In addition to providing rules for citation, Walker and Taylor also give complete guidelines for formatting documents for online publication and for electronically preparing texts for print publication.

Computer Skills for Info Problem-Solving

A paper by Michael B. Eisenberg and Doug Johnson, one of a series of publications in the fields of library science and information technology available from ERIC/IT Digests, at Syracuse University

Doing Research

A resource of the Colorado State University Libraries

ENG 570: Electronic Texts and Images

A hands-on introduction to the role of electronic texts and images in humanities research and teaching, designed and taught by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum. The focus of work for the Fall 2000 semester will be on the collaborative design and production of a scholarly electronic archive based on materials housed in the Library Special Collections department at the University of Kentucky — specifically the Peal Collection, which contains unpublished letters and manuscripts from figures such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, Maria Edgeworth, and the Shelleys.

Evaluating Web Resources

By Jan Alexander and Marsha Ann Tate, Wolfram Memorial Library, Wiedner University.

Guidelines for Educational Uses of Networks

Maintained on the Learning Resource Server by the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

History in the Raw, a rationale for teaching with primary source documents

Maintained by The National Archives and Records Administration as part of The Digital Classroom project

How to do research on the Internet

An online tutorial created by the Library of Monash University

Interactions

The termly electronic journal of the Educational Technology Service, at the University of Warwick

Internet Access, Usage, and Policies in Colleges and Universities

This paper by Robert A. Fleck, Jr. and Tena McQueen analyzes the responses to a recent survey of campus computer center directors. Published in First Monday: Peer Reviewed Journal on the Internet.

Kathy Schrock's Critical Evaluation Surveys

An aid for teachers using World Wide Web sites, especially with K-12 classes, part of Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

Memex and Beyond Web Site

The Memex and Beyond web site is a major research, educational, and collaborative web site integrating the historical record of and current research in hypermedia. The name honors the 1945 publication of Vannevar Bush's article "As We May Think" in which he proposed a hypertext engine called the Memex.

Mission: Critical

Critical Thinking Web Pages at San Jose State University, a project of the Institute for Teaching and Learning. The goal of Mission: Critical is to create a "virtual lab," capable of familiarizing users with the basic concepts of critical thinking in a self-paced, interactive environment.

The new frontier: Spoken word, written word, cyberword

A comparative analysis of two major information revolutions: the Gutenberg revolution and the revolution brought about by today's fundamental changes of information and communication technologies. Presented by Francis A. Waldvogel, President, Board of Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, Zürich/Lausanne, Switzerland, as a key-note lecture at the 19th ICDE World Conference in Vienna, Austria, June 20-24, 1999. Published in Eurodl: European Journal of Open and Distance Learning.

No Frills in the Virtual Classroom

This article by Andrew Feenberg is one of three that discuss issues surrounding campus uses of the new technology appearing in the journal published by the American Association of University Professors, Academe (Volume 85, Number 5), September-October 1999.

Online Teaching: Tools & Projects

A report by the Virtual Seminars for Teaching Literature Project at Oxford University

A Case Study: Teaching on the WWW--Isaac Rosenberg's 'Break of Day in the Trenches', a tutorial written by Stuart Lee

The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive, marked up by Paul Groves

RDN Virtual Training Suite

The Resource Discovery Network Virtual Training Suite is a set of online tutorials designed to help students, lecturers and researchers improve their Internet information skills. The tutorials offer self-directed learning, take around an hour each to complete, and include quizzes and interactive exercises to lighten the learning experience.

Reading Hypertext and the Experience of Literature

A peer reviewed article by David S. Miall and Teresa Dobson, published in Journal of Digital Information, volume 2 issue 1 (2001-08-13). Evidence from empirical studies suggests that hypertext may disrupt reading. In a study of readers who read either a simulated literary hypertext or the same text in linear form, the authors found a range of significant differences: these suggest that hypertext discourages the absorbed and reflective mode that characterizes literary reading.

Content and Technology in the Digital Library

An article by Gregory Crane, Brian Fuchs, Amy C. Smith, and Clifford E. Wulfman appearing in Cultivate Interactive Issue II.

Strengthening use of electronic teaching technology

Funded by Department of International Development and issued in May, 1999, by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, this report addresses issues and challenges related to the use of electronic teaching technology to enhance educational opportunities in developing countries.

Teaching with Electronic Technology

Wherein the author of this web site delivers himself of a few modest thoughts on the subject of teaching and technology for Knowledge Quest (May/June 2000), the Journal of the American Association of School Librarians.

Technology and Second Language Teaching

The Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) promotes the advancement of second language teaching throughout Canada by creating opportunities for professional development, by encouraging research and by facilitating the sharing of information and the exchange of ideas among second language educators.

The Technology/Content Dilemma

A paper by Shelley Goldman, Karen Cole, and Christina Syer, Institute for Research on Learning, Menlo Park, CA, presented at the Department of Education's Conference on Educational Technology, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology, Washington, DC, July 12-13, 1999.

Technology Tools for Today's Campuses

A CD edited by James L. Morrison presents a wide variety of perspectives on using instructional technologies. Sponsored by Microsoft Corporation's Higher Education Group and Horizon at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

TENET: The Texas Education Network

An exemplary resource for K-12 teachers, students, and parents, TENET is a state initiative begun with funding from the Texas Education Agency.

Using the World Wide Web in K-12

by Douglas N. Gordin, Louis M. Gomez, Roy D. Pea, and Barry J. Fishman, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University

World Wide Web Usability

A special issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

Several articles have relevance for teachers using the World Wide Web, but especially "Experience with developing multimedia courseware for the World Wide Web: the need for better tools and clear pedagogy," by David Benyon, Debbie Stone, and Mark Woodroffe.

Technology Enhanced Learning, University of Maryland, College Park

ICONS: International Communication and Negotiation Simulations

Honors 218C - The Hero and Society

Honors 269J - The Beat Begins: America in the 1950s

Teaching Resources on the Web, Georgetown University

American Studies Crossroads Project

Electronic Archives for Teaching American Literatures

Labyrinth, Resources for Medieval Studies

Old English Pages

Educational Technology Services, University of Pennsylvania

James J. O'Donnell's Teaching Demo

New Tools for Teaching Support Site

Text Analysis with Compare, by Jack Lynch, Graduate student in English

Center for Instructional Technology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

New Chalk, a Bi-Weekly Featuring Instructors' Use of Networked Technologies

CIT Infobits

Spanish 3 and Spanish 4 at UNC-CH

Center for Instructional Technologies, The University of Texas, Austin

The World Lecture Hall

Computer Writing and Research Lab

Currents in Electronic Literacy

Courses online

Educational Technology Services, University of California, Berkeley

Humanities Interest Group

Sunday November 3, 2002
Clovis CART's "Business Model"
Not What it Used to be!
By Howard Hobbs  PhD, President
Valley Press Media Network

     Related column: CUSD Moral Lapse

      CLOVIS -- Many local taxpayers would like to take a closer look a what the Center for Advanced Research and Technology is calling its "CART business model." CART is now a joint-venture between the Clovis Unified School District and Fresno Unified School District.
     Every business owner is quite familiar with how businesses are run, with costs of doing business and profit/loss statements. A business model for a school program, however, is not that simple. Take for example, the brief statement of how a public school program in Clovis, CA became a money-making business competing with the private sector.
     The Clovis Advanced Research Technology [CART] while publicly touting its long-term objective as being a long-term, community-based education program is subtly organized and operated as a business seeking an economic return from public funds used to set it up and operate it.
     The major roadblock for CART's continued fiscal future is a "creative financing" scheme involving so called "tax-deductible" qualified private business contributions that would cover operational costs now covetred by Clovis Unified School Board, Fresno Unified School Board and California Department of Education Alternative Schools program.
    The CART Website describes its ultimate business objective as the sale of its educational program franchise "...throughout the United States and the world."
     In the meanwhile, a lesser strategy of the CART franchise will apparently be to sell zero interest bonds and presumably will pay them back with interest. In this way, CART leadership implies that it will be able to finance operations and repayment some small portion of school district monies advanced by Clovis Unified School Disrtrict operational costs for the CART 80,000 square foot alternative school building in Clovis.
     If CART hopes it can borrow all the funds needed to keep its program afloat until the first fanchise is sold they should be prepared for a long cold winter. To speed things up, CART is moving ahead on QZAB bonds that are yet to be sold and issued.
     The California Department of Education has announced its intent to sponsor local school program access to interest free financing through the use of private sector tax incentives. However, proceeds are to be used for repair and renovation, equipment and other qualified educational purposes. Qualified LEAs are encouraged to apply to this program for the 2002 authorization. Speed Memo.
    Work at CART's executive offices is ostensibly governed by a seven member Joint Powers Authority Board. According to published materials, CART's business plan entails franchise sales throughout the state, region and all around the country. The engine of finance in the scheme is not just loans through the mechanism of special, Bonds, but extra special bonds with zero interest.
     According to its published documents, CART is actively soliciting the private sector franchise strategy as a sort of tax-shelter investment to attractive business capital throughout the United States and the world.
     The CART fiscal model is a dramatic departure from that of public schools and colleges that tax payersd are accustomed to such as the Central Valley Business Incubator and the resources of the Entrepreneurial Training program are educational programs for university students at local colleges and universities.
    It is theoretically impossible that CART students and some volunteer local businesses will realize any tangible mutual benefits by sharing ideas and research projects in its CART alternative school or that CART classes will rise to the level of community college or university accredited programs.
     CART is to be commended for settinng high academic and performance standards for itself, but even if these were achieved, one wonders how CART officials could see this acievment as a business plan. Evidence of its desire to enveigh the business model, CART also touts its intent to sell tax-exempt bonds to raise cash to pay for the best of everything.
    A recent memorandum from Timothy L. Jones, Asst. Chief, tax-exempt bond branch of the US Department of Treasury has been supplied to this newspaper explaining Treasury's procedures involving misuse of private business contributions received prior to the issuance of the bonds qualification.
     Before qualified zone academy bonds can be issued, according to our source, is the local educational agency (as defined in section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) must obtain written commitments from private entities for qualified contributions with a present value (as of the bond issue date) of not less than 10% of the proceeds of the bond issue.
    CART, it seems, has transformed its alternative high school program into a franchise marketing business right under the nose of the Clovis Unified School Board and with the aid and comfort of some heavy-hitters in Fresno County, including, education officials with little or no business experience, one local college business school and some softhearted local business leaders who ought to know better.

    [Editor's Note: The federal Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, created by Congress in 1997, makes $400 million in zero-interest bonds available to districts each year for the creation of "academies" housed in school building additions facilities--along with needed equipment, curriculum, and staff training. Academies, in this sense, are schools or programs within a school that enter into partnerships with local businesses to enhance the curriculum, increase graduation and employment rates, and better prepare students for college or the workforce.
     In August, the CART "CEO's" contract was extended for two more years. Taxpayers may not be aware of the  Qualified Zone Academy Bond through which about 95% of the proceeds are to be used for a qualified purpose by an eligible local education agency. These bonds could be issued by the State or by the school district and might be used by local promoters in the future to finance CART type programs. According the congress QZAB Bond legislation has been on hold since in 1997.
    In the Rules and Regulations section of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations that provide guidance to holders and issuers of qualified zone academy bonds. These proposed regulations reflect changes made by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-34, 111 Stst.788 (1997), and affect holders and issuers of qualified zone academy bonds.
     The text also provides a notice of public hearing on these proposed regulations. DATES: Written comments must be received by April 7, 1998. Outlines of topics to be discussed at the public hearing scheduled for May 27, 1998, must be received by May 6, 1998. ADDRESSES: Send submissions to CC:DOM:CORP:R (REG-119449-97), room 5226, Internal Revenue Service, POB 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044. Submissions may be hand delivered between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to: CC:DOM:CORP:R (REG-119449-97), Courier's Desk, Internal revenue Building, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Alternatively, taxpayers may submit comments electronically via the Internet by selecting the "Tax Regs" option on the IRS Home Page, or by submitting directly to the IRS site.
     The public hearing will be held in Room 2615, Internal Revenue Building, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The CART Website contains the following disclosure: "CART the Business Model. CART is organized on a business model...The business plan for CART includes a franchise strategy designed to scale the initiative throughout the United States and the world".
     The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the role and function of education as: "..the action or process of educating or of being educated; also a stage of such a process and the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process ."]

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