Profiting From Financings for Charter Schools: SEC Sues Unregistered, Fee-Splitting Municipal Advisor

The public education system in the United States has experienced a series of fits and starts since the time of the American Revolution. Although many of the Founders (think Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, for example) were staunch advocates for education, believing that a democratic government requires citizens who are not only literate, but who can understand and assess matters confronting a government “by the People,” and support intelligent efforts to resolve problems. That said, there was no national consistency in the availability of schooling, with some communities and/or churches (particularly in New England) offering education to America’s young people, funded mainly by the families of those attending classes. The U.S. Constitution lacks any provision mandating education, so the question of government sponsorship for schools remains to this day primarily a state law issue. By the 1830s, American states began to address public education, including requiring some minimum years…