In today’s newsletter: How taxpayer money ended up at private religious schools in 12 states; the subject of a ProPublica investigation fined $2.5 million; the struggle to open child care centers; and more from our newsroom.
Private letters reveal the strategy behind the decadeslong quest — successful in 12 states and counting — by politicians, church officials and activists to make taxpayer-funded school vouchers available not just to the poor but to the wealthy.
Feds fine Baker College $2.5 million for deceptive marketing that left students with debts and regrets
Citing "substantial misrepresentation" of career outcomes, the U.S. Department of Education has fined Michigan’s Baker College $2.5 million. The federal review of the fast-growing school was launched following a joint investigation by ProPublica and the Detroit Free Press in 2022 that detailed the college’s low graduation rates and the heavy debt that many students shoulder. For decades, the college promoted a near-100% employment rate that was based on shaky, self-reported data, and it regularly spent more on marketing than on financial aid.
President Jacqui Spicer said in a statement that the college maintains that it did not commit any misrepresentations and that the settlement contains no admission of wrongdoing. Some former students have cheered the news of the penalty and settlement, while others think federal officials could have gone further.
“I had a little bit of extra money. Somebody has to care about the families around here”
— Stephen Casner, who helped his wife, Heather, open up a child care center in rural Anna, Illinois, in 2022.
The state has lost 4,300 child care providers in a decade, and about 70% of rural Illinoisans live in a child care desert, forcing tough choices on parents. Some drive 100 miles a day or more to find care, others leave the workforce. Those like the Casners who are hoping to open new centers face big challenges, from steep startup costs to overwhelmed licensing offices.
