Julian Vasquez Heilig says that parents shopping for a charter school should not trust the salesmen, because every child they enroll is a sale. In effect, trust them as much as you would trust “a sweaty used-car salesman.”
Heilig offer a Citizens Template for judging charter schools, including college admissions and persistence, teacher turnover, whether all school staff are certified, and multiple issues of access and equity.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It will be fascinating to see how history views the reform/charter movement. Something like the Tea-Pot Dome affair and other schemes that raked the taxpayer in favor of someone getting rich.
Some history teachers believe education is being used to stimulate the economy
Lets just hope that charter schools don’t develop into commission based pay…then we would all be screwed.
With some modifications these would also be fine questions to ask of admissions people at any private school, college or university. Paying full tuition at a private school in NYC is like buying a new car every year as is full tuition at most private colleges and universities.
I should add that this would also be a good set of questions to ask before you buy into a school catchment area. Would the school your student attends if you buy or rent 600 block of the street be better than the school your student attends if you buy or rent on the 500 block of the street?
Agreed. Great questions to ask of any public school. How much of this data currently is available in Texas for all public schools?
Also, how much of this data is available for colleges and universities in Texas?
Many of these would be great questions to ask about colleges & universities as well as K-12 public schools.
And why are many of the lowest scoring schools in the nation in states that do not have tenure or allow teachers to collectively bargain??
IMHO, since the charterite/voucherite/privatization movement is a business plan that masquerades as an education model, it is long past time to ask questions that are appropriate to customers who are considering patronizing a particular kind of business establishment.
There is absolutely not a single decent honorable objection that any supporter of charters & vouchers & privatization can make to the suggestions that Julian Heilig Vazquez outlines.
*Ponder. How many times do the edubullies and edufrauds employ their accountabully tricks to massage and torture numbers using many of the very same questions as they sneer and jeer at public school “factories of failure” and “dropout factories”? Let them turn their own spotlight on themselves!*
Or will we be treated to something like the spectacle of Campbell Brown, a founder of Parents For Transparency, refusing to be “transparent” about her funders/backers/bosses? (See a posting yesterday on this blog “Reader: Who Wrote the Infamous TIME Cover Story About Michelle Rhee?” and a comment by Chiara in the accompanying thread)
But don’t expect fair play from those leading the charge to squeeze every ounce of $tudent $ucce$$ out of children. They don’t walk their own talk, and they don’t subject themselves to the same smothering strictures they apply to others.
An old dead French guy comes in handy when a very old dead Greek guy isn’t ready at hand:
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.” [François de la Rochefoucauld]
😎
I think the list should be edited and become page 2 amplifying on aone page index of Charter School Credibility or similar rating system. If information is public for major charter operators let them be rated by such criteria–not sponsored by the industry. I envision a score card or checklist with four or five points under headings such as access, equity, teacher qualifications and turnover, student exclusions and expulsions.
The Fordham and National Council on Teacher Quality should not be the only source of rating systems. The distribution lists might be to charter authorizers, school boards, canditates for publc office, realtors, day care centers and so on. Another project is a library of charter school contracts that parents must sign and updates on the names of charter authorizers, state by state, including those operating as fronts but doing deals known to be off the record.
It’s a no-win scenario dealing with advocates for the status quo. Charter schools that score well on this proposed standard are then maligned with misconstrued demographic data.
Demanding only certified teachers is just another concession to the bloated unions. If charter school laws are written properly, school choice works.
Sheafferhistorian, I am sure you must be an honorable man trying to do what you think is the right thing, but the charter industry is now overrun by charlatans and fly-by-night hucksters, as well as religious sects. Money drives the “movement.”
Actually, students, families and educators drive the movement. Growing # of youngsters are enrolling because there is a message of hope and possibility.
Yes, there are charlatans and crooks too.
I think that roving charlatans from charter schools is a very good idea and much more politically feasible than closing all charter schools.
scheafferhistorian
“Bloating” (if that characterizes teachers with 30 students, who earn less than babysitters), is not as detrimental to the U.S. as the wasting disease that is caused by the deformers.
Behind the major charter chains and on-line schools, we find hedge fund owners and people convicted of crimes. They bring a plan to fleece tax payers and to line the pockets of politicians. Their incompetence is shown, in the financial sector record for dragging down U.S. GDP.
My community prefers middle class workers with professional degrees to educate our children. People who will spend their salaries in our communities and send their children to school with the 99%.
I’ve been working in a 501(c)3 Charter for 14 years. We are doing good work here, and wish to continue doing so. Large charter chains threaten us as well.
Sheafferhistorian,
I think the blanket opposition to charter schools that is the orthodox opinion here is unwise and not in the interest of students. Thanks for your good work and I hope you keep posting.
With a waiting list of thousands for the schools in my area that offer AP classes, language classes, including Latin, critical thinking, art, etc. that our public schools do not, there doesn’t seem to be the need for much selling.
I wonder why there are no charter schools in the suburbs and only in the city of Buffalo? Oh, there’s one on the border of Buffalo and Tonawanda.
If they are so good, why aren’t ALL parents clamoring to enroll?
Actually, there are many charters in suburbs in a number of states.
Joe, I realize this. And, as we have discussed before, there are some well intentioned and even well run charter schools, both in cities and suburbs.
Unfortunately, they often are used as an excuse to skim the better students from the general population and, in diverse areas, to weed out certain racial or economic populations (especially in urban areas). Thus, in Buffalo, we have the minority and the white charter school populations.
In order for me to support charter schools, the funding dynamics need to change and there needs to be accountability so they are not “for profit” public schools. I also think there should be guidelines so that schools are established by knowledgable people, not just someone who has a bone to pick with public education.
Many of the charters are really private schools run on the public dime. Unfortunately, the good ones are caught up in the net set for the rest.
The Charter School I was involved with creating is one such school. It was established for the right reasons with some interesting innovations, but now it is run just like other public schools in the city. I don’t see why it exists as a separate entity if it is doesn’t fulfill an unmet need. The upshot of its existence was the closing of a nearby – 2 books away- neighborhood school who lost the majority of their students to the charter. (And the state assessments remained the same since the student population remained low income and minority).
Ellen, you said you wondered why there were not charters in suburbs. I pointed out that there are, and you agreed.
No one is forced to attend a charter. So there must be some reasons that some folks decided to send their kids to the school – as there are reasons that some families select district schools.
Joe – once again, I agree. As you say, it’s a choice.
After all, the grass is always greener . . .
A recent poster talked about sending two children through public schools, one to a military school for high school, and one through parochial school. Sometimes families decide that their children are best off going to different kinds of schools.
TE, I am well aware of the options available. There is a 20% white population in Buffalo. The South Buffalo schools, both charter and public, have a high concentration of white students. In addition, there are several excellent schools in the city and wise parents do everything in their power to get their children in those buildings. They, too, have a higher percentage of white students. If they can’t get in the schools they want, the parents apply to Tapestry Charter School, which has a similar dynamics to the preferred schools, or they send their children to private or parochial schools. Please note that there is also a large minority presence in these buildings. The upshot is that these parents would never choose one of the 97-99% minority schools for their children.
And then there are those who give up on the urban experience by moving to the suburbs where minorities remain a minority. Many of my former students attend the same school as my grand daughter.
I can only speak about my experience as a parent and teacher who formerly lived and worked in a large urban area. There was a lot of false negativity spread about the local public high school-to the point where I would take pause- and I graduated from there and worked there as a sub!
I think the point of closing schools, particularly large neighborhood high schools, is to destabilize (disrupt) neighborhoods. Stable communities, even poorer ones, are pockets of resistance to change from a central authority. “Root Shock” by Mindy Fullilove discusses the displacement of neighborhoods (although I don’t agree with her blanket assessment of schools).
I think that the idea of “school choice” also feeds into the “fear of the other” as well as the desire to give our own children an extra hand. If the neighborhood school is seen as sub par, perhaps filled with children who don’t “behave”, rather than agitate for more staff or programs, we (parents) just vote with our feet to the school that seems more orderly.
This is not a bad choice initially, but the end game is privatization and deregulation of education.
A,
I think your post illustrates some of the incompatible goals that are set for public schools. Some would have public schools reinforce neighborhood cohesion. Others criticize schools that do not look like the cities in which they are located in terms of race, immigrant status, or economic condition. Emphasize the former and you get schools like PS 29 and PS 321 in Brooklyn, 70% white, few English language learners and one in ten students eligible for free or reduced price lunch. These schools are very different from the typical school in Brooklyn. Emphasis the latter and you get situations like in my town where students who live very close to one high school are assigned to a high school much further away, creating divisions in the neighborhood.
A – so true. Of course, parents want their children to go to the “better” school, but if we look at the big picture, it does little to nothing to improve education as a whole. And isn’t that the goal? Plus are those charter schools really “better” or just more selective in their student body?
Ellen,
I always get nervous when I hear an argument that we need to hold the children of involved and concerned families hostage so that they will work to improve the education of the students with less involved parents. I am not sure what the solution is, but I don’t think treating the students of involved parents as a means rather than an end in themselves is a good way to go.
TE – I am torn as well. As a parent, of course I want the best educational experience possible for my child. So I’m not chastising them for making these decisions.
My objective is that these charter schools are supposedly being created to make public education better, not to provide on out for parents who don’t like the current system. My question remains, what happens to those who are left behind? And how is this improving public education (or who are we improving public education for – The privileged few or all our children?)?
Ellen, in some places districts & charters are collaborating to help improve both kinds of schools.
In some places district schools have responded to ideas from charters, and improved themselves.
In some places districts have added new options (like the Boston and Los Angeles Pilot Schools) that are retaining students who might other wise go to charters – and helping youngsters.
In some places district schools are ignoring the most effective charters.
In some places (extensively documented here), district schools are being closed as charters are expanding, or new charters are opening.
Lots of different things are happening…as they happened over the last 40 years as districts responded to parents and educators by creating new options within the district. Some district teachers found supts and central office were responsive to suggestions for new approaches. Some found, as Al Shanker noted, that people who tried to create new (district) options were “treated like traitors or outlaws for daring to move outside the lockstep.”
Joe – All true. If we can’t stop the charter movement, let’s make sure they are created for the right reasons, educational, not political or for profit or to break the back of our teacher unions.
Ellen,
If charter schools are created for the right reasons, namely to educate students, why would you want to break the charter school movement?
I think that the charter schools are just more selective. Public schools have been shortchanged as far as resources and demonized. Public schools are a reflection of the public. As a society, if we are not going to address poverty and all the issues that go with it, then we have to fund public schools to deal with the effects of poverty on children.
A – and that’s a solution. Charters should be in addition to, not paid for off the backs of public schools. All should be adequately funded. (And the charters should be truly Public, not For Profit).
Is it just me or is the charter movement looked upon as tulips where not so long ago. and we all know how that turned out. So I can assume that in a future day people will look back on this time in history and think along the same lines as “Tulips where once valued at over $100 per flower? what was wrong with that day?” But as it stands charter schools are not paid based on how many students they get, which for now is a good thing….lets all hope that never changes.
Charters, like other public schools are paid with state funds based on how many students they enroll. I’m not sure who told you differently or if I misunderstand your statement.
This is true, I do understand that the school itself makes money based on its student population, i was more referring to the people working both in the school and for the school getting paid based on how many students they personally enroll
Smeusehassinger – the trouble is that the charters receive funds based on the number of students at the beginning of the year. Then throughout the year, difficult students are “asked to leave” or leave voluntarily, at which point they return to the public schools. The money does not go with the students – so the public schools end up with more students, but less funding. And often the “returning” students are the ones who need extra (expensive) services such as OT, PT, Speech, ESL, or AIS (additional small group lessons in math or ELA). The charter schools get to keep the original funds.
The Buffalo News had an excellent article with a chart listing the changing populations over the year of all the charter schools in the area.
Some states adjust the amount of $ schools receive so that it is not just based on one count during the year. Are you sure that NY doesn’t do this? It does make sense.
Joe – Funding for NYS public schools is based on the BEDS forms filled out in the beginning of October. That includes the state distribution of the $6.25 per student for library books. What happens after that as far as $$ is concerned is erroneous. The ending student population does affect the total “attendance” and especially the graduation rating of each school.
It’s all about the numbers.