I realize that everyone has to make a living somehow. But I’m sorry…. you steal taxpayer money that was supposed to be used to educate children, and you shouldn’t be allowed to get paid with taxpayer money for… educating children.

Rosella Tucker was charged last month with embezzling over $300,000 from a Milwaukee Public Schools charter school, New Hope Institute of Science and Technology. And now she’s running Sherbro Educational Services LLC… which tutors children under the No Child Left Behind Law. She’s got 27 kids at $1,795 a pop… for a total of over $48,000 of federal money. Not a bad gig, if you can get it.

The tutoring company is one of about 25 that are listed on the MPS website…. advertised to parents as tutoring options. You get on the list by applying with the Departement of Public Instruction, which Tucker did in June.

Tucker’s pending case is a federal one, with the potential for 20 years if she’s convicted. $300,000 isn’t chump change. She established New Hope Institute of Science and Technology in 2003 as a subsidiary of her corporate, New Hope Child Development Inc. From 2003 through 2005, it’s alleged that she took $300,000 out of the school, using the money for things such as an SUV and furniture. The school’s charter was revoked in February 2006 because of unpaid bills and unlicensed teachers.

In March 2006, DPI ordered Tucker to pay back $740,000 that she had received in voucher money over two years for Milwaukee Parental Choice Program school, Tucker’s Institute of Learning. Surprise, surprise… she filed bankruptcy a couple months later.