Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network notes that the charter industry has launched an advertising campaign to sell the charter idea to the public. But, writes Bryant, there have been so many revelations of corruption, self-dealing, and rogiterring by charter schools in recent months that the public should be wary of their self-promotion. What’s needed now, he says, is state regulation of charters to protect children and taxpayers.
Bryant says that the more that the public learned about Common Core, the less they supported it. He sees the same phenomenon happening with charters.
“A similar evolution may be occurring with charter schools. Because only about 6 percent of school children are enrolled in charters, the vast majority of Americans have had virtually no actual experiences with these schools. But in communities where charters are more prevalent, public opinion is more starkly divided. In school systems such as Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, where charter schools are major providers, parents and local officials have increasingly opposed charter takeovers of their neighborhood schools.
“Probably even more concerning to charter school advocates is the news that credit rating agency Standards & Poor’s recently down-rated the nation’s charter sector to a “negative” outlook.”
When the public sees charter operators taking money away from their local public school, and when they see them enriching themselves at taxpayers’ expense, not even a slick ad campaign can wipe away the negative reaction.
Thanks Diane!
Properly regulated, the profits will disappear, and so will all but the original models of charter schools.
They shouldn’t exist at all. We need neighborhood schools, not a balkanization of education.
As with White Hat, where it is trying to keep the physical buildings, i.e., REAL ESTATE that was paid for with public tax dollars, you must think something is very wrong. That this is being litigated in court is even more amazing, and the fact that there is not more opposition is mind blowing. Where is the union? Where are the parents? Where are the taxpayer advocates?
The disconnect between the national and the state and local on charter schools is interesting. To listen to the national, one wouldn’t know that all these local media outlets are doing elaborate series on charter schools, and a lot of it isn’t positive.
It really makes one value local media. I know they’re all in financial trouble, and they pay their people next to nothing. I hope they don’t disappear. You’d never hear a thing about what’s going on in MI, PA, OH or FL. All we’d hear about are “ed reforms” in NYC, Boston, DC and New Orleans. Oh, and Tennessee! Can’t forget Tennessee 🙂
Life has consequences, and it’s about time the frauds and snake oil salesmen are held accountable. They should be forced to repay the wasted money to the public school from which it was extracted. Each charter school should have to make a “person,’ not a corporation responsible for the money. They shouldn’t be able to use the LLC ploy. Then, they should be pursued with the same vigor that ordinary people are pursued to repay student loans.
My husband, a business man, suggested that charters be required to get ” a performance bond.” This would help to determine who has serious intentions and who is looking for free “no strings” cash.
I double checked the link:
[start quote]
Probably even more concerning to charter school advocates is the news that credit rating agency Standards & Poor’s recently down-rated the nation’s charter sector to a “negative” outlook.
[end quote]
Yep, the blog posting got it right.
VAM and school/district grades and scores generated by high-stakes standardized tests and charter 100% graduation rates and the like—numbers & stats subjected to such enhanced interrogation that “squishy” and “misleading” are two of the kindest terms I can use to describe them.
How much does it hurt that a metric venerated by those pushing a business plan masquerading as an educational model has a—
“Negative” outlook?
😱
I hope a lot. And they’ve earned every bit of that “negative” outlook.
They don’t just fail at the ed biz; they can’t even get the bidness of bizness right.
The kindest term to describe the self-styled leaders of the “new civil rights movement of our time” that are in mad dog pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$—
Losers. *Not a term that violates the quite sensible ‘Rules of the Road’ on this blog.’*
But then, what can you say about folks that part company with Socrates and believe that only the unexamined life is worth living:
“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.” [Henny Youngman]
😎
P.S. Chiara: yes! Don’t forget Tennessee—Land of VAMania!
They love them some Tennessee at the USDOE. Does anyone who doesn’t meet the official Ed Reform Requirements get promoted over there?
It’s like there’s two cities and one state in the United States.
They should shake it up a little. Let someone else in to this closed Circle of Excellence. Listening to the same 150 people who all believe the same things isn’t “a vigorous debate” or “critical thinking”.
Arne Duncan @arneduncan · 51m
(Updated link) Best of luck to @pcunningham57 & his team as they launch Education Post! http://ow.ly/AZbBv
Isn’t DC great? It’s like a club we’re not in.
I bet we’re going to be hearing A LOT about “high performing charter schools” (only those may be mentioned) at the DOE. You know, if it’s possible to hear more, which I sincerely doubt.
Also! Vergara! America’s best state court decision, ever. I couldn’t find the judge’s causation analysis in that decision. It’s a mystery to me how he got from “tenure” to “harm”. Gosh, I hope that one guy is right about tenure now that The United States has endorsed one state court judge’s opinion. I’d hate to think we weren’t “evidence based”.
Chiara, when I read about Peter Cunningham’s new site for “conversation,” I opened it and saw 15 critical comments, mostly comments about a site funded by Bloomberg, Broad, and Walton. When I looked about 30 minutes later, all the comments had disappeared. Some conversation. By the way, Peter Cunningham was Arne Duncan’s Assistant Secretary for Communications in his first term.
“By the way, Peter Cunningham was Arne Duncan’s Assistant Secretary for Communications in his first term.”
I guess he learned how to “control the message”, eh!
The deleted comments on “Education Post” reappeared. The Education Post is funded by Bloomberg, Broad, and Walton. Seems like a lot of money just to have an online conversation about education. We have had a good conversation here for more than two years with no funding.
http://educationpost.org/public-education-needs-a-new-conversation/
Sheesh, no kidding. Maybe their bloggers require salaries though, and there’s a PR firm hired to amplify them. Just what the discussion about education policy needs.
Charter schools need to be abolished, period, not “regulated.” Taxpayers shouldn’t be financing de facto private schools. Let these schools die or charge tuition like the private schools they are.
Wherein noted ed reformer Eric Cantor completely validates everything his constituents suspected when they threw him out, and immediately is hired by investment bank:
“(Reuters) – Former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will join investment bank Moelis & Co (MC.N) as vice chairman and managing director, the company said, adding that Cantor will also be elected to its board.”
He’ll be running the DC office. You know, so he’ll be close to his former colleagues.
They’re not even pretending anymore. It’s almost insulting. Can we have a national election about capture and corruption? I think it’s an emergency situation. Teachout seems to be getting some attention. Can we have 50 of her?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/02/us-moelis-cantor-idUSKBN0GX0CB20140902
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
When the public sees charter operators taking money away from their local public school, and when they see them enriching themselves at taxpayers’ expense, not even a slick ad campaign can wipe away the negative reaction.
Aaaaaand, Democrats now support vouchers:
http://www.redefinedonline.org/2013/05/mike-mccurry-school-choice-centrism-is-antidote-for-broken-politics/
They are now completely indistinguishable from Republicans on public schools. They adopted the entire conservative agenda. What sort of sucks is they got nothing in return. I would think they would have at least gotten steady funding for the schools they’re “winding down”, public schools. They got less funding! It’s more than poor advocacy or bad negotiation skills. It has to be deliberate. No one is this bad without setting out to fail.
It was inevitable. Once you decide any publicly-funded school is a “public school” it doesn’t make any sense to exclude private schools. Besides, charter schools pull “seats” from private schools. If they want religious schools to stay in the political coalition, they have to put public funds there.
I find it particularly pernicious that McCurry touts choice as a centrist position. Excuse me?
The incredible level of energy that is spent on spewing blanket negativity on Charter Schools is quite shocking especially when you label yourself as advocates for a better education for all. If you are well-educated people who are in a position to voice such strong opinions, which impact the lives of children, then you should look for examples of success in all school systems. There are highly successful traditional public schools and charter schools that should be the examples used for s many of the mediocre and failing schools. In NYC, 90 public schools that failed to pass a single black of Hispanic child in the 2014 math and ELAs. This statistic is shocking and unacceptable yet you will see so called education advocates spending their time criticizing charter schools. The schools were failing before charter schools and they are failing now so stop using excuses and start focusing on the children.