Jeannie Kaplan, who was an elected member of the Denver school board, has done an amazing job of investigative research on the money that Denver lavishes on two charter chains: Denver School of Science and Technology and Strive. These two chains get the lion’s share of charter funding. Their charters get the best space; other charters are poor relations.
These two chains together have 20 of Denver’s 57 charters. Denver is very generous to its charters, paying their rent and virtually all their costs. The elected school board never approved the arrangement, but that’s a moot point since privatizers now control 6 of the board’s 7 seats.
How cozy is Denver’s power structure with the privatization movement? Very. Consider this:
“So, there you have it. Equal and more equal. A “Compact” intended to “level the playing field” for charters. But as we can see some charters are more equal than others. And as the numbers of charters increases, connections among various Colorado government officials, “reformers” and the Denver Public Schools become even more important and relevant. Just last month the Mayor’s Chief of Children’s Affairs left the city to become – drumroll, please – the Chief of External Outreach for Strive charter schools. Her previous “reform” job was as Colorado’s first statewide Director of Stand for Children. She is following the former DPS Chief of Staff into Denver’s education “reform” world, the latter of whom left the District to become Colorado’s executive director for Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). Denver’s former Manager of Safety is now the DPS General Counsel, followed by the former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives who this month started as the Chief Financial Officer for Denver Public Schools. The former Speaker just happened to be the deciding vote moving “teacher effectiveness” legislation, SB-191, out of committee in 2009. Legislators and voters beware. All the players are in place for a Denver Public Schools lead legislative agenda which will undoubtedly try to further this national “education reform” model. And when you add in a 6-1 nationally financed Board of Education, who needs actual mayoral control of your school board? It will be interesting to follow these new careers as more and more taxpayer money goes to “equal” and “more equal” charters. What would the animals think?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane Ravitch writes:
“Jeannie Kaplan, who was an elected member of the Denver school board, has done an amazing job of investigative research on the money that Denver lavishes on two charter chains: Denver School of Science and Technology and Strive. These two chains get the lion’s share of charter funding. Their charters get the best space; other charters are poor relations.”
But the expression “the lion’s share” (which comes to us from Aesop) means all or nearly all. It is not a merely a quaint way of saying “most of” or “an unexpectedly large part of” or “an unreasonably large part of.”
See the item “LION’S SHARE” in Theodore M. Bernstein’s book _The_Careful_Writer_.
The full post can be found here: http://kaplanforkids.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/all-charters-are-equal-some-charters-are-more-equal-than-others-with-apologies-to-george-orwell-and-the-animals/
The article is an absolute must read to get a fuller picture of Denver Public Education politics. Jeannie has been one of the most fearless fighters for a strong and equitable public school system and I’m thrilled that she is undertaking the new endeavor of shining a light on the horribly mis-managed DPS through her blog.
So really no difference between public and charters -where the big complaint is address drives better resourced schools-urban vs suburban. So why do we have charters if indeed they are all not equally resourced?
Here’s some lovely cronyism and political favors in play in Chicago Ed Reform World:
“Gray’s Local School Council selected Sugrue as principal in the spring. The district did not allow the promotion to go through because Sugrue had failed a principal eligibility assessment twice in the last 12 months, making her ineligible for the position. Officials said she could retake the assessment in three years.
But under a new policy approved at the July 23 Board of Education meeting, the schools chief can appoint an interim principal regardless of whether he or she passed the eligibility assessment, if the person “has a proven record of performance” demonstrating “he or she is exceptionally qualified” to serve the needs of the school. The interim status is indefinite and at the discretion of the CEO.
“According to her LinkedIn page, she has been an education consultant, worked in CPS’ office of new schools, which creates charters, and was a vice president at EdisonLearning, which manages charters for Chicago International Charter School.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-principal-named-after-rule-change-met-20140801-story.html
Thanks for the link. I noted the Rahm Emanuel connection.
So what happens to charters when entire cities are underfunded? Does money that could not be found for the public schools miraculously appear for the charters?
Lets talk Philadelphia for a moment. The public schools may not be able to open in the fall, and the solution of a $2 a pack tax on ciggies stalled – are the charters exempted from all of this or will they not open as well?
Here is the link to Jennifer Kaplan’s blog piece:
Education Reformers love Colorado. They are stacking our school boards and funding local reformer candidates. Some school districts are pushing the envelope with radical policy changes and aggressive (and unqualified) superintendents. The charter school laws are ridiculously relaxed. Although, charter schools are non profit, there is no entity holding them accountable. They regulate themselves, which leaves them vulnerable to abuse. The local media, especially the Denver Post, is silent on all education news, even when thousands of teachers are laid off in Denver and when some of the changes in the classroom are the most radical we have ever seen.
I’m sorry, the blogger’s name is Jeannie Kaplan.
I had not an inkling what school reform was, no clue about privatization and had never heard of DFER, Stand for Children or any similar organization…..until Jeannie Kaplan knocked on my door in Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood a few years ago to talk about the local school board race.
We only chatted for about 15 minutes, but she got me very curious as to why so much outside money was being poured into a school board race….normally pretty boring contests.
This started me on the journey of learning much more about education policy and reform than I really ever wanted.
Every time I hear her name, I’m grateful she knocked on my door and opened my eyes. I wish she were still on Denver’s board, but I’m glad she’s still getting the word out. Thanks, Jeannie!
What a lovely comment. Thank you. And thank you for paying attention and being curious. We will take back our public schools eventually.
Now, it’s clear why harvard university, defender of the “divine right of kings” (which Lincoln warned us against) selected Colorado sen. michael johnston, as commencement speaker for the school of education. Small caps intended.
Thanks Jeannie Kaplan for the work you do.