San Antonio is set for a major expansion of privately managed charter schools. Several national chains will open there, welcomed by the mayor and the business community. The San Antonio Express News published an opinion column by an advocate for the corporate charter chains, but refused to print Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig’s succinct rebuttal.
Despite the blue-sky promises of the charter industry, Heilig writes, the vast majority of Latino and African-American students are prepared for college in public schools. The Stanford CREDO study showed that charters in Texas underperform the state’s public schools. Don’t believe the tales of 100% graduation rates and 100% college-admission rates, he warns. They mask high attrition rates.
For example:
“Same story with BASIS. At the original campus of BASIS charter school in Tucson, Ariz., the class of 2012 had 97 students when they were 6th graders. By the time those students were seniors, their numbers had dwindled to 33, a drop of 66 percent.
“So what happens to families who get churned out of charters like KIPP and BASIS? They end up back at their neighborhood public schools, who welcome them with open arms as they do all students, regardless of race, class, circumstance or level of ability.”
Why not tell the truth about charters? They do not accept the same students. They have high attrition rates. When they enroll the same students, they get the same results, so they get rid of low-performing students. It works for some kids, who can attend a schol where there are few if any kids with disabilities, English learners, or troublemakers. But it creates a dual system that harms public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And call them what they are – corporate schools.
LIES! They lie with a straight face!
New charter case out of Ohio where a for-profit charter school management company tried to claim status as a “political subdivision”.
The Court disagreed (thank goodness) but it raises huge issues. Can you imagine if they eventually win one of these? A for-profit company will be a “political subdivision”, akin to a village, city or township.
Amazing how far this has gone and no one seems willing to address the issues, let alone regulate the private entities. The whole charter question public or private, is being shoved off on courts.
Lawmakers have just completely relinquished responsibility for these privatized schools. Judges are (essentially) writing the charter school code on a case by case basis, which is the absolute worst way to govern anything.
Charter management companies want the “political subdivision” designation because it gives them immunity from lawsuits:
“Constellation and Patrick Flanagan contend they are immune from liability
to appellee under immunities afforded political subdivisions and their employees under
Ohio’s Political Subdivision Tort Liability Act, R.C. Chapter 2744.
In the August 28, 2012 judgment, the trial court overruled appellants’ motion for summary judgment and ruled that Constellation was not a political subdivision and therefore not entitled to immunities granted political subdivisions under R.C. Chapter 2744. The trial court also ruled that since Patrick Flanagan, as an employee of Constellation, did not work for a political subdivision and, therefore, he did not qualify for immunity as an employee of a political subdivision. ”
No one at the state level is running these schools. In the absence of that, judges are being forced to write charter school regulations on the fly, by developing a body of case law.
Ridiculous. It’s a complete abdication of duty by lawmakers. They’re “relinquishing” these schools so they don’t have to do their damn JOBS.
Click to access 2014-ohio-428.pdf
Scary, thank you for informing us.
Ohio legislators have no shame, nor conscience. They can look Ohio military veterans in the eye, thanking them for their service, while taking away their voting freedom. With gerrymandering, it will be difficult to build a coalition in the statehouse to advocate for public education. Until the children of Melinda and Bill Gates’ attend a testing factory, the families of veterans, should insist on something other than corrupt charters and Pearson/Microsoft-designed testing and curriculum, for their children.
So our newspaper industry now lies by omission. Anything for a buck.
and in other (bad) news….
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/02/3752502/nc-schools-study-on-virtual-charters.html
Cyber-charters are a real problem for public schools in Ohio. They contribute hugely to the churn of low income kids in and out of school. The kids leave for the cyber-charter and return to the public school way behind. The public school has to spend all their time on remediation for kids who were vulnerable anyway.
It’s an unmitigated disaster in this state, and we’ve had them for a decade.
It doesn’t get better.
It’s not just Ohio. I am finding the exact same thing in Utah. We’ve only had them for about five years, but the kids who come back to school from these cyber charter “schools” are WAY behind!
‘Free Speech’, except that of the corporate type, loses its meaning, when public access is denied to alternative views. We will see more of this over time.
Heilig is correct that it is the quality of the students which trumps almost every other factor.
The inconvenient truth: Big Tree is scared of Small Axe.
The saddest part is that they completely exploit the poorest children.
more bad news from NC:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/03/3755085/students-scrambled-by-nc-charters.html
I feel for these students, but at this point in the school year, they should have figured out how to keep the school open a few more weeks. All of a sudden state regulators are worried about protecting tax payer money – but what about the effect this will have on the schools these students “scramble into”? For sure these students won’t enroll in another charter school. They will end up at their neighborhood school and this is an extra work load on teachers and a distraction to the students.
I hope these student test scores are not used to the evaluation of the schools.
With all the criticism of charter and private school on this blog,
I’m curious, what percentage of teachers who have THEIR children in these schools?
Secondly, should public school teachers be required to send THEIR children to traditional public schools?
Followers of this blog should be aware of what public school teachers think of charters and public schools, by the actions not by their rhetoric.
Over 90% of kids attend public schools. Including me and mine. I could have afforded to send my kids to private schools and I did look into it. Turned out, public schools were better- by a lot.