Laura Clawson writes about charters that target a specific demographic: Affluent white kids.
Two of the most celebrated charter chains are Great Hearts Academy and Basis, both located in Arizona but now opening in cities outside that state. Their key demographic is not poor black and brown students.
She quotes from a story that appeared in The Texas Tribune and the New York Times:
At the 16 campuses that Great Hearts operates in the Phoenix area (where nearly 60 percent of public school students are Hispanic or black), 69 percent of the nearly 7,000 students are white. Only two of Great Hearts’ Arizona campuses participate in a federal program that offers free and reduced-price meals for low-income students. Of the almost 5,000 Basis students in Phoenix, Tucson and Scottsdale, roughly 12 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are black. None of the eight campuses offer free and reduced-price meals, which is also the case at the San Antonio school.
Clawson writes:
Making your “public” school cost $1,000 a year, require private transportation, and not offer free or reduced-price school lunches is slightly more subtle than naming it “No Poor Kids Academy.” But only slightly.
Schools like these benefit the whole push for more more more charters: By recruiting upper-middle-class students and giving them an especially well-funded education, these schools are likely to boost the overall academic outcomes of charter schools in general, so that when charters and traditional public schools are compared, the deck is just a little more stacked against public schools. But the basic model is the same, forcing public schools that accept and try to educate all kids to compete with schools that get to pick and choose.
To learn more about BASIS, read Julian Vasquez Heilig’s post. It is quite an operation.
.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Similarly, there is the Massachusetts version of this – The Visual and Performing Arts Charter School and Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School – both in Western Mass.
Per pupil funding is taken off the top of the public school / town (it’s Massachusetts) budget. (Here’s the way it works in all states – pretty much 100% of per pupil follows the student or some formula that skims the money off the top – http://mb2.ecs.org/reports/Report.aspx?id=86 )
Enrollments of students with disabilities and English Language Learners (except learning Mandarin) are minimal.
And, in Western Mass where it’s all small towns and regional districts, five or six kids leaving a small school can be the cost of and necessitate cutting 1 teacher!
LikeLike
I was offered a job at one of the charter schools in this article. $36,000 a year with a 401K. After many years of teaching.
The salaries at these places are awful. They can get away with it mainly because of the weak economy.
LikeLike
That’s a FL public school salary. They were getting away with that before the economy tanked. Welcome to the new normal.
LikeLike
I agree that it is the new normal. In fact, that is more than a rural CA, private, non-profit Waldorf teacher’s salary. Annual COLA raises are never guaranteed, professional development and quality health insurance was the first thing to be slashed from the budget, along with matching funds in 401Ks.
The de-professionalization and teachers and weakening of teacher solidarity has been happening everywhere. IT IS CULTURAL. The economy, however, is the presenting problem. Many despise the collective wisdom of teachers, and the power in the workplace that comes with it. It is a direct threat to capitalist patriarchy that exists and is growing more powerful.
As insidious loopholes such as opting out of resources such as reduced lunch programs and special needs education continue to exist, the collective wisdom of the teachers and the community will disappear. It will be replaced with businesses that are beholden only to money, nepotism, and politics.
LikeLike
Is “capitalist patriarchy” the real problem? What would it’s opposite be: “communist matriarchy”? Uh . . . no thanks.
LikeLike
This is in their presentation to the well heeled parents they hope to entice:
“During a roughly 90-minute presentation that name-dropped Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Herodotus, John Locke and Dostoyevsky, the parents heard about a liberal arts curriculum steeped heavily in the Western classical canon that tackled the “primordial human questions,” nourishing intellect and character.”
bbbut… what about STEM? What about running the classes with military precision and “no excuses”? I thought that was the way forward.
More good for me, but not thee…
LikeLike
So is Clawson implying that because a student is white that she ought not to have freedom to choose a charter school? I am a little surprised, though becoming less so, to see such virulent anti-white racism deployed in defense of good schools for all kids. Perhaps she thinks rich people shouldn’t have rights under the constitution either. It’s a new high in confusion or discrimination, all arising from the desire to do good. Why don’t we just kill off all the rich white people and their children. Go ahead. It won’t solve a smidgeon, an iota, of the problems you are facing. Among all those black and brown faces some will be smart and some will not. Who are you going to blame then? The more light-skinned of the students? I do think anyone can learn if they really want to, but I begin to despair of seeing any teacher on this blog able to do so. It’s always “Destroy the Charters so I can keep my union job.” I’ve concluded that THAT is the selfish motivation at the bottom of all the blather here about “better schools for all.” It’s not “for all”; it’s only for ‘those children I get to teach.’ Every charter worth anything, or public school for that matter, HAS to do well with STEM, but the better charters and public schools as well, provide students with access to the Western Canon. It’s the foundation of freedom and democracy. What’s not to like? I begin to think that many here have never read those classics and don’t understand them. Thoreau’s civil disobedience AND his capitalism are based directly on the Socrates of the Platonic Dialogues and on Aristotle. Only ignorant Marxists would rail against them.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t call myself a Marxist and I must admit that I am ignorant in quite a few things, but I have read enough of Plato and Aristotle and Thoreau to tell you that perspective shifts based on what we bring to a text. Additionally, absolutist language and name calling are usually the vehicles of closed minds.
LikeLike
I know, you prefer “nuanced” language. We used to call that lies. As for perspective, all perspectives are equal, right? Or are some perspectives more equal than others? The real question is, what is the best perspective to bring? That depends on whether you prefer slavery or freedom. Who’s name calling, you droning, fly-fallen joithead?
LikeLike
I’d actually prefer qualifiers,. It demonstrates a high degree of thought. “Essentializing” is empty of quality argumentation. Would Socrates, Aristotle and Thoreau call “it lies”? No. Plato probably would but only in some special cases (wink).
All perspectives are not equal. And even a free man or woman is a self-inflicted slave to him or herself at times. We could go all day with abstract nouning, like “Freedom is just another word for being lazy” and “True freedom is only obtainable in the ignorant mind,” right? But I would prefer to test each shadow and reach some form of stasis in my argumentation instead of projecting my “rightness” on the world.
The “best” perspective to bring is the one where I do not stand on top saying I am right. It is the one where I stand atop looking to avoid shadows and finding the right way to go. Because of that, I probably wouldn’t gain anything from continuing this conversation.
Sorry for wasting your time. Feel free to belittle me in my absence on this thread for I will not be continuing it.
LikeLike
I suspect you are right that you can gain nothing from me. Does that leave me in possession of the field, you having refused the combat? After all, you are Goliath.
LikeLike
Harlan,
Capitalism is not a necessary condition for democracy to exist.
LikeLike
I’m afraid capitalism is a necessary condition for freedom to exist with democracy. Some think the USSR was a democracy. Some even think the US is a democracy. If so why does the administration prefer to rule by regulation rather than law? It can’t get its way in the legislative body, and so goes around it and the constitution.
LikeLike
HU,
See my reply below!
LikeLike
” It’s always “Destroy the Charters so I can keep my union job.””
Come on HU, you can do better than that. I have no problem with charters as long as they stand on their own, not receiving public monies, in that vaunted free market place of ideas. Maybe I think that way because I (like many, many teachers) am not “union.” Is that why I’m “allowed” to think different??
“. . . provide students with access to the Western Canon. It’s the foundation of freedom and democracy. What’s not to like?”
Dead white men????
“Only ignorant Marxists would rail against them.”
Actually, I’d think that Marxists would side with those “dead white men” as I’m sure that Marx was quite well schooled in them. Does he specifically denounce those “dead white men” and their thoughts?? I always thought Marx’s beef was with the ECONOMIC system of capitalism as it bastardizes political systems.
LikeLike
Hey Archie “Harlan” Bunker; glad to see you back on here, kicking around “meathead”, “dingbat” and “little goil”.
Archie’s “excuse” was poor education combined with an abusive, racist upbrnsggafd
What century are you from anyway?
Oh, and I’m NOT a teacher. Never have been one, nor is any member of my immediate or extended family.
I’m a parent; one that calls BS when he sees it. And boy, can you ever lay it on thick…
P.S. What do you call those teachers from Texas, North Carolina and Virginia who disagree with your bizarre, anti-union diatribes—given that they DON’T belong to a union?
LikeLike
Thank you for your gracious welcome back, PUSP. Your response is all name calling, of course, and thus irrelevant. Here is the question again. Are rich white people entitled to have and spend the fruits of their labor just like anyone else or only middle income private property owners? Even unions argue that a member has a right to private ownership of property—a house, a truck, a boat, a cabin in the woods. It used to be the glory of Michigan. It’s really quite simple. Does a person have a right to own property. Yes or no?
LikeLike
Well funded? Um, please review the charter legislation for the state in question. I’m pretty sure they get significantly less funding than traditional public schools.
LikeLike
But charters get substantial outside funding and most have more funding than public schools
LikeLike
Good point! Of course, traditional public schools with the same demographics (I grew up attending one) also receive substantial outside funding. So it’s not really a charter issue, is it? We just need the necessary support services in place to help the schools that need it.
LikeLike
You all got something against providing “rich white kids (and there’s probably a few rich brown, black and yellow kids also in that mix)” with the same shitty charter education they offer the “poor” kids???
LikeLike
Duane Swacker: a veces, más paciencia tienes/at times, you have more patience.
Sometimes I read a comment on this blog that brings to mind the currently accepted general meaning of “non sequitur” in English [Latin for “it does not follow”]: “a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous conclusion or statement.”
But I admire the effort you put into taking on all comers. Thank you/gracias.
😎
LikeLike
De nada.
I can be as guilty as anyone of not writing clearly. (Is that clear enough???) I try not to assume (you know what that does) what the writer is trying to say so sometimes I ask what seem to be simple questions but as they (the questions) pertain to meaning (which we all know can be quite a bugaboo) I want to hear it, see it from the original writer.
LikeLike
The fallacy here is that not all charters provide bad education. Some do, some don’t.
LikeLike
If you would only take the time to learn the regulations of AZ’s charter schools, 98% of this post would be ridiculous. Charters are not allowed to use per-pupil state money to provide transportation, and lunches can only be provided in facilities approved by the state health dept. by people with food handling licenses. There are charter operators who spend funds on things like staffing, textbooks, etc…. One size does not fit all- school choice works- if you bureaucrats allow it.
LikeLike
As an aspiring teacher, I have to ask: Is this the future of education? I assumed the suburbs would be safe from this given the time and commitment of suburban moms to ensure quality education?
This business model seems plausible: Steal the affluent kids and their test scores with them, leading the other students to want to feels smart to follow.
Also, why doesn’t the union unionize these businesses?
LikeLike
Our schools with <10% FRPL-eligible kids are outstanding and prove that nothing's wrong with American public education, or so conclude many recent discussions here about PISA results, Common Core, and state testing.
Where I live (New York City), you need to have an extremely fat bank account if you want to live in the zone of a school with <10% FRPL kids. There are only a handful of such schools in the city itself, and most are in spectacularly expensive parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Think ~$1.5 million or ~$5000 month for a very modest two-bedroom apartment.
There are plenty of leafy suburbs with fewer than 10% free lunch kids, sure. You'll still need $400,000 (and $12K+/year for property taxes) to buy in. This is a bare minimum, mind you; in most of these towns, which have hardly any rental units or affordable housing, this will make you the poorest family in town, house-wise. It goes without saying that these leafy suburbs are startlingly segregated, and that children who do not live in the district are about as welcome in the schools as the plague. These muncipalities might as well have a "no poor kids of color allowed" sign at the town border.
Charter lotteries in New York State are open to all state residents, not just residents of a particular zone. It's difficult for me to see how this is less democratic than the district model that has played such a central role in making this metropolitan area so incredibly segregated. I would respectfully ask supporters of school-zone-by-street-address to critically examine what districts are doing to combat segregation (nothing) before throwing stones at choice schools.
LikeLike
TheMorrigan – I wonder if you could give me references in the work of Plato and Aristotle (Thoreau I’m not so interested in) in which “perspectivism” is discussed.
LikeLike
Tim – The main attraction of the “leafy suburbs” isn’t the leafs or the big houses or etc.. It is to escape the poor. The really bad thing about poverty is having to live near poor people.
LikeLike
The only person who made any sense in this series of comments is sheafferhistorian. Do people actually think that AZ charters are deliberately do not set up cafeteria programs and transportation to keep certain groups of students from attending? Learn AZ charter laws.
The first BASIS charter school set up in the phoenix area was in Scottsdale. Go into any Scottsdale public school and you will see the student population is 90% white. Basis Scottsdale is 46% nonwhite. It is true that many of these 46% are Asians and Indians but do other minorities not count and are conveniently excluded to make catchy headlilnes- like “rich white kids”.
LikeLike