Killing Public Education By Charter

At Governor Beshear's Tax Reform Committee public hearing in Louisville last night, one speaker listed charter schools as one way to reform Kentucky's archaic, regressive and inadequate tax system. The utterly false assumption being that charter schools would save money. She said this after at least a dozen previous speakers had pleaded for more funding for public schools.

Let's get this straight right now: charters are not a better kind of public school. They are not a way to improve public schools. They are a path that leads indirectly but inevitably to the end of pluralistic, democratic public education.

Daniel Denver at The Nation:

Philadelphia schools are at the epicenter of a nationwide struggle. As high-stakes standardized tests increasingly decide which teachers get fired and which schools stay open, charter schools — often mired in scandal and failing to outperform public schools — consume the funding of long-underfunded districts. Now the state has a radical plan to close sixty-four public schools, possibly privatize the management of those that remain, and weaken or break employee unions.

SNIP

Anissa Weinraub, a teacher and activist with the Teacher Action Group, says: “We need to stop the plan, force our elected officials to prioritize funding that actually and equitably meets the needs of the children of our city, and then demand that the resources, time and commitment be given to what our schools need—school change from within, with educators, students and communities leading the plans for change.”

In Texas, charter school salesmen aren't even trying to hide their real agenda. TPM:

Claiming that God “has given [her] the jurisdiction to operate with dominion” and that running schools was “a divine assignment,” Cheryl Washington has, according to the San Antonio Current, channeled millions in both federal and state funds into building the Shekinah Learning Institute, which she founded in 1996. The SLI now comprises 13 taxpayer-funded schools across the state, receiving over $17 million in taxpayer funds and helping educate approximately 2,500 “at-risk” students, according to agency filings reported by the Current.

However, as detailed in recent media reports, Washington’s 16 years as an educator have seen myriad accusations of pushing religion in the public classroom. Americans United for Separation of Church and State recently detailed the investigation its undertaken into Washington’s methods and beliefs.

Yes, god-bothering at tax-payers' expense, but only after they use the teachers as scapegoats.

Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars:  
 

Here's an idea: let's look at inequality as a problem. Why shouldn't everyone have access to quality education regardless of zip codes? Let's look food insecurity, where one in five children goes without a single daily decent meal. Let's look at the disparity in parental involvement and try to figure out a way to get parents invested in their kids' education. Let's give teachers more autonomy over their classrooms. Let's stop wasting money on private testing organizations and looking at for-profit charter businesses as the silver bullet that "fixes" education. All of these forces have far more to do with the state of education today. And I think reform in these areas will immediately yield better results than the ability to fire the bottom 10 percent of teachers.

But let's also stop framing this debate as to what's best for children is de facto not good for their teachers.

This year a charter school bill failed in the Kentucky General Assembly. Since then, the push for charter schools has accelerated nationwide, and next year the bill is likely to pass.  Unless we stop it.  Few in Kentucky seem to understand what a catastrophe it would be.