Last December, The Advance published a story about IDEA Public Schools’ decision to cancel its plans to lease a corporate jet for eight years valued at $16 million (life of the contract). Apparently, a state teachers union was questioning the high-flying contract and so was The Houston Chronicle. There have been other examples of the charter school’s apparent propensity for “living large.” In September of 2018, The Advance News Journal published a story about IDEA’s central office administrators getting paid an average salary of $200,249 vs. the state average of $102,300. For that story, IDEA’s CEO Tom Torkelson declined comment. That ...