The board of education in Shelby district decided that the organizational and financial links between the foundation and the schools to be opened were contradictory, the curriculum was insufficient and it was copied from another FETÖ-linked school in Washington, D.C., the Harmony Public Schools.
On the other hand, the FETÖ-linked foundation's annual revenue is a staggering 4,1 million dollars, 3,4 million of which is federal and state funding appropriated for the students' educational costs.
FETÖ runs one of the biggest charter school networks in the U.S. with over 140 schools all across the country.
FETÖ's schools in the U.S. are usually gathered under an umbrella organization and are managed through foundations. As an example, there are 46 schools, all operating under the "Harmony" name in Texas, 30 schools under the "Concept" name in and around Ohio and 11 school campuses under the name "Magnolia" in California.
Fetullah Gülen, a fugitive preacher living in self-imposed exile in the States since 1999 runs the shady cult, which tried to overthrow Turkey's democratically elected government last July.
Many schools run by the cult are under Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scrutiny for infraction of rules, corruption, tender fraud and forgery of documents.