Founder of now-shuttered charter school was charming, played loosely with rules
As the American International School of Utah (AISU) was preparing to open its doors, there was a quiet revolt going on inside the school’s board room. Sources tell Beyond the Books, that before the doors opened all but one of the original AISU board members had resigned, in part because of the school’s founder and executive director, Mike Farley.
Farley is a man with supreme confidence, not only in himself but in the school he created, AISU. He saw the school, which was located at the old 49th Street Galleria in Murray, as a model of what the future of education could look like.
Those who worked with Farley tell Beyond the Books, he can be charming and convincing on one hand, and abrasive with a tendency to play loosely with the rules on the other.
AISU may have been Farley’s brainchild, but after only three years as executive director, he had already worn out his welcome and was fired by the new board in June of 2017. The board accused him of embezzling and misusing school funds. The board even had its law firm conduct an investigation.
They sent their findings to the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Farley denies any wrongdoing, and although the AG’s office did investigate the claims, no charges were ever filed.
In December 2018, as new AISU board members faced an intense grilling from the State Charter School Board, Farley, although no longer affiliated with AISU, was there in spirit.
“One of the main red flags was the initial school director and how he was using funds,” then board chair, Kent Burgraff told the charter school board.
Burgraff was trying to convince the board not to place AISU on warning status because of its financial and academic struggles. The board later did vote to place the school on the list.
Although the scarlet letter hung over the school, many charter school watchers thought AISU was turning the corner and might soon be financially viable. Then in April, the bottom fell out for AISU.
An audit revealed that the school had misspent nearly $500,000 in federal and state special education money. The two entities were demanding their money back, and AISU officials, who felt they would never come up with that money, voted to shut down the school instead.
Many argued the problems with the special education spending occurred under Farley and again blamed the former executive director for their problems. Farley said:
I’m confident that the funds were expended as intended for staff members who were working specifically with special ed students.
Farley also says that the school lost its way after he was fired. He says there were plenty of creative ways the school could have remained solvent, including an opportunity to buy the old Galleria building, and refinance the school's debt.
“So we invested in laying this foundation, and once the foundation’s laid they (most recent board members) were not even able to maintain the school operations over the next two years,” Farley said.
People familiar with AISU’s rental agreement say the school would have never been able to come up with the money, an estimated $30 million, necessary to buy the building, making Farley’s plan untenable.
Farley also insists that the school didn’t have to close. He said the board could have just gone out and found more investors, as he did in the early days of AISU. Farley raised $5 million through the federal government’s EB-5 Visa program.
Foreign investors could invest money in certain kinds of business and could find themselves on a fast track to get a green card. So far, none of those Visas have been granted and all those investors may want to be paid back.
Earlier this week, a reconstituted AISU school board met at the state Capitol. They are tasked with finding out how much money AISU has and which of its creditors will get paid back. Farley, who spends most of his time in China, made an appearance at the meeting, making a pitch to the board to not forget those people who had already invested in the school.
“I’m definitely the scapegoat,” says Farley in the wake of AISU’s woes. When asked if the school would still be in operation if he was in charge, Farley answered, “absolutely.”
