Scrutiny In The Media > Mesa Charter School Corporation Operator Edkey Inc



Most recently the Edkey Corporation, receiving $31 Million dollars in state education funds to operate 17 campuses in Arizona has been in the media spotlight , notably in  series of reports from ABC 15 investigations .

With the upcoming Arizona special election on May 17 for voters to approve Prop 123 that's on the ballot, perhaps some more attention might be of interest to voters both to take a look at the special statewide election and for the local election campaign of Edkey charter school executive Jerry Lewis going after a seat on the Mesa City Council for District 3.
In this image to the left, posted on Twitter by Jerry Lewis on March 31, 2016
Great night of phoning for Prop123. Pleased with # of people across AZ voting YES on May 17 to support education.
In the interest of disclosure, shouldn't have Mr.Lewis declared that that the education corporation he works for stands to benefit from voter approval of Prop 123?
Interestingly there is only one comment added to the post
S A M‏@scottymotech Apr 3

@JerryLewisAZ it's a scam and let's the politicians off the hook for breaking the law and stealing from our kids and schools

Jerry Lewis has experience in accounting, as noted in the almost immediate endorsements from former mayor Scott Smith [who left office to run for governor getting defeated by Doug Ducey] and a simultaneous by John Giles on 17 Sept 2015 for Lewis's announcement as a candidate for the Mesa City Council. Did somebody or somebodies get Lewis to run? Ya gotta be curious about that, especially in the timing. Lewis in that announcement is stated as being an assistant superintendent [he has no teaching degree] while other documents show he is a chief executive officer for the charter school corporation.

In an abstract published on March 15, 2015 Edkey appears to be sole member of limited liability companies [LLC] registered in Pima County while Lewis has been a resident here in Mesa and Maricopa County for 34 years.

Edkey operates this charter school here in Mesa shown in the image to the right.

Pathmark Academy's curriculum and educational foundation are based on Mormon religious principles according to some reports.

 

Abstract
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long term rating on the Pima County Industrial Development Authority, Ariz.'s $17.9 million series 2014 education facility revenue bonds issued on behalf of multiple separate limited liability companies (LLCs), the sole member of each of which is Edkey Inc. (Charter School Operator) (Edkey) to 'BB' from 'BB+'. The outlook is negative. At the same time, we lowered our long-term rating to 'BB' from 'BB+' on the authority's $44.4 million series 2013 education facility revenue bonds, which are on parity with the series 2014 bonds and were also issued on behalf of multiple, separate LLCs, also with Edkey as the sole member of each. The lower rating reflects our view of Edkey's lower-than-projected enrollment,...

Source: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/3133956/pima-county-industrial-development-authority#rela0

Jerry Lewis is probably best well-known for getting fellow Mormon Russell Pearce booted out of office over SB 1070, then a short 2-year stint in the AZ State Legislature where he failed to win re-election in a 2012 campaign where John Giles was the co-chairman to keep him in that office. He's now "itching to get back into politics", but has some hurdles to overcome now in light of this reporting from five years ago:

I came away from the meeting feeling sorry for Jerry Lewis. He seemed to be a male version of Olivia Cortes, over his head and caught in the middle of a struggle hard core left wingers are waging against a powerful state senator. Someone got Olivia to run. Another someone got Jerry Lewis to run.

Jerry Lewis started out the meeting telling everyone that, yes, he was fired from two jobs since leaving his accounting firm and that he was fired at gunpoint from one of those jobs. He acknowledged that his school was involved in a (nearly two million dollar) fraud lawsuit and that he had been implicated by a disgruntled former employee in giving out items contributed to his school to use in a yard sale. Allegedly one person netted a thousand dollars from those yard sale items . . .

Jerry Lewis did have supporters there but in questions from the floor you could see that many in the audience were seething with rage at his candidacy. Galen Updike, the former President of the Arizona Senate prior to Russell Pearce winning that honor from his Senate colleagues, pointed out in the first question from the floor that Jerry Lewis could never be elected again in LD 18 if he took out Russell

In that regard, Jerry Lewis was asked if he would run again and he was very uncomfortable with that question saying he would make a decision when it came time to run.

He told us he had served in a “high church calling” and he was Seminary and Institute teacher. He acknowledged he had no teaching credentials but he loved to teach religion more than any thing else.

Source: http://sonoranalliance.com/2011/10/29/jerry-lewis-randy-parrazs-puppet-in-over-his-head/

Here's one more academy operated by Edkey LLC

Good source: