Two months after a formal complaint against Gülenist Harmony Public Schools in Texas was filed, The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has decided to take the matter into its own hands to see if the charter school network has misused federal and state funds via its ties to the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) led by Fethullah Gülen, the mastermind of the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.
Harmony will also be investigated for misuse of bond money, reportedly $1.9 million, guaranteed by Texas to operate charter schools in Arkansas.
The school network has been asked to show copies of important contracts, bonds, purchasing agreements, vendors and a complete list of employees for the last two years. Harmony will have to answer by August 11.
TEA's probe will also investigate document abuses for fraud, discrimination, and abuse in the Harmony network.
With over 31.000 students, Harmony is Texas's largest charter school operator.
The Gülenist Harmony school network is reportedly financed by over $250 million federal and state tax dollars annually, and operates seven open-enrollment charter school districts serving forty-six charter campuses in Texas.
This probe comes after a formal complaint issued by the international law firm of Amsterdam & Partners back in May was amended this month. The firm accuses the schools of engaging in illegal employment discrimination on the basis of national origin and gender, preference and selection of affiliated vendors in violation of open and competitive bidding requirements, and misuse of public education funds.
"Our own limited investigation reveals that Harmony uses taxpayer funds to finance an illegal H1-B visa scheme that places underqualified Turkish teachers into key positions in its schools, while simultaneously underpaying its more qualified non-Turkish teachers. We have also learned that Harmony misappropriates public funds by routinely engaging in improper self-dealing transactions with affiliated vendors, which has the further effect of preventing local businesses from competing for contracts at Harmony schools," Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP had said on the matter.
Gülenists run a vast network of schools around the globe, but are primarily invested in charter schools in the U.S., which receive government funding but operate independent of the public school system. Dozens of schools associated with Gülenists are facing criticism and are under investigation over the alleged misuse of federal grants and the abuse of a visa scheme being used to funnel foreign teachers into charter schools who are brought from Turkey to live in the U.S.
Residing in Pennsylvania since 1999, Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ)'s ringleader, Fethullah Gülen, is known as the man who controls about 140 schools across the U.S., and the $500 million annual income he gets for these are from the U.S. government, according to some U.S. media reports.
FETÖ's schools in the U.S. are usually gathered under some umbrella organizations and are managed through foundations. As an example, there are 46 schools -- all under the name "Harmony" in Texas, 30 schools under the name "Concept" in and around Ohio and 11 campuses of schools in California under the name "Magnolia".
Some of FETÖ's schools are currently under the FBI investigation for irregularity, unlawful profit, corruption, fraudulent tender and forgery of documents.
The investigations first began on Dec. 11, 2013, after an FBI raid on the Kenilworth Science and Technology Academy in Louisiana's Baton Rouge city and spread to other FETÖ schools afterwards.
The first leg of the FBI investigation was over the irregularity of the 30 Chicago-based "Concept" Schools for transferring more than $5 million U.S. governmental support for the schools to its members. The investigation continues.
While the judicial processes continue over FETÖ's schools in the U.S., the American public has also started to express more inconvenience about the schools, according to U.S. media reports.
Last year, Congressman Raul Grijalva sent a letter to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, demanding a report over investigations on FETÖ's schools.
Also parents, whose children attend those schools, complain that these schools' teachers who come from Turkey "can't speak English" and have no "scientific qualifications," according to media reports.
