An article in the Akron Beacon Journal shows how virtual charters design advertising campaigns to appeal to students who are unhappy and feel bullied at school
“With profits on the line, private charter school companies are advertising on television, radio, billboards, handbills and even automated telephone messages to entice students away from public schools.
“And with words such as free, flexible, one-on-one and find your future — and taking opportunities to play on fear — the privately run, publicly funded schools are being quite successful.
“Enrollment in Ohio charter schools now stands at more than 120,000 in nearly 400 schools, with seven more schools expected to open next year. These quasi-public schools enroll less than 7 percent of Ohio’s students and receive $912 million in state tax dollars, about 11 percent of all state funds set aside for primary and secondary education.”
Some charters spend as much as $400 per student on advertising. Some public schools advertise to lure students back. All the money spent on advertising is taxpayer dollars that should be spent in classrooms.
Some of the ads feature students who talk about how they changed their life by enrolling in an online school, free from bullying. But the reporters interviewed a student who was not happy with her experience:
“Gretchen Carle, 19, a former student at Howland High School near Warren, also went to ECOT to escape bullying. Her experience with the online school, however, was different, she said in an interview.
“There wasn’t a lot of interaction with the teachers like they said there would be,” Carle said. “You were on your own with everything. It was very hard for me until I got a tutor.”
“Carle’s parents, not the school, paid for the private tutor. She never graduated and declined to talk about what she is doing currently.
“A video, “I Choose Life Skills,” posted in October, features a testimonial by a student identified as Tanya. In it, she says she can work at her own pace, with a highly qualified teacher or, if she chooses, from home “in my comfy PJs.”
“At that point, she is shown relaxing in a recliner, with a computer on her lap, while eating grapes. She also promotes the flexible class schedule that allows her to keep an outside job to take care of her family while earning a diploma.
The 30-second advertisement ends with the student saying, “I choose free tuition. I choose to take control of my life. I choose Life Skills high school. What do you choose?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Another ad has a tearful mom who is pleased because, as her son says, “My teachers just didn’t get what I was about.”. They also push that it is free and that all materials are provided. There are all kinds of kits, units, charts, etc shown in the background. They talk about how ” there is no way my child can fail because I work so closely with the teacher.” (If all parents worked with there kids, there would be a much better outcome for kids.) The ad touts “highly qualified teachers” which means that they are licensed to teach whatever level they are hired to teach…as if that is different from all public school teachers with the exception of a few teaching outside their license. Another girl says she is excelling and that she can do five lessons in one day if she wants, to free up her time. Also they say that they can finish their lessons in less than 4 hours. The reports I see don’t have indications of high graduation rates. Attrition rates are high. I do NOT like to see tax payer dollars spent on advertising. I can see how some would be attracted to this. And I feel that a highly motivated student might take advantage of it in a good way. But I don’t think it is a replacement for a community building education. And, if anyone is getting wealthy from this, it is unacceptable.
Well Said!
You can’t have commercial products without commercials. In many advanced markets the cost of production is insignificant compared to the cost of advertising.
Tax dollars should not be used for advertising of one school v another.
Jon Awbrey: you’re on a roll today.
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Excellent point about what happens when you let a business plan whose chief goal is $tudent $ucce$$ masquerade as an education model.
Does anyone still remember the charterite/privatizer claim that charters would provide healthy competition for public schools? You know, show them how to do things better, like be more fiscally prudent and spend more of their money on kids and classrooms.
Or was it just an oversight that the leading charterites/privatizers and their educrat enablers and edubully enforcers forgot to mention that when charters start spending “as much as $400 per student on advertising” they would force public schools into a “competition” that redirected money and resources away from kids and classrooms and into the hands of, well, adults, and, well, not into the classroom.
A difference between word and deed? Between promise and performance? A very dead, very old, and very Greek guy was familiar with folks like the self-styled “education reform” crowd:
“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” [Homer]
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Now, now, tax dollars are not being spent on advertizing. Public education dollars are being contracted out to a private contractor for services rended, er, rendered. And because it’s a private business the Public has no business even asking how much it spends on advertizing, bribing, er, lobbying, and other forms of marketing.
The end result is of course Yet Another Industry With A Vested Interest In Deceiving The Public As Much As It Possibly Can Get Away With Until The Bubble Bursts Some Distant Day In The Future, By Which Time Of Course The Edufrackers Will Have Long Skipped The Country If They Were Ever Truly Here In The First Pl;ace.
See that Bubble? That’s the New Transparency …
I am wondering when the VA will be privatized …and further damaged.
Agree with deb.
Alternatives to public education were sold to politicians, based on a premise that parents wanted better schools for their children. The willingness of parents, to be proactive in getting information, is implied.
Those firms that want to advertise can forego tax revenue. Rules that apply to public school administrators, for example, prohibition from working on bond issues during school hours, use of school funds for campaign donations, accountability, etc., were enacted to protect tax dollars. The public gains from the application of the same rules to public school competitors.
How about, “I choose $400 to educate a child” ?
Scrolling across the bottom of YouTube educational videos are streaming advertisements for the charters that have been invited to Lafayette by our superintendent. Now we’re in the budgetary abyss for roughly the same amount.
Again, choose to spend the money on the children. THAT investment renders immeasurable returns.
Perhaps when the edreformers are done, all of “the other” children (not “their” children, of course), regardless of age and what grade they “attend” via computer will be, at home, unsupervised, “attending school” while their parents, or parent, works, or perhaps grandma is at home with the kid(s). Then, take into account unemployment – those parents can be home. Or welfare – those parents can be home. Perhaps all parents will be home because there will be no jobs for anyone, except “them.”
Ohio charters have 7% of the kids but get 11% of the ed money! Something ism rotten in Columbus. — Edd Doerr (arlinc.org)
Yes. The something that is rotten is Kasich.
Reminds of of “Milk has something for every Body” and then it didn’t!
Another problem in Ohio is related to the Gulen Charter Schools. They are under investigation for funneling money to Gulen and Turkey while hiring uncertified teachers and administrators and underpaying their certified teachers. In Ohio the charter schools are not held accountable and there are some huge problems as a result. No transparency required. Our legislature is nuts.
This is not just with charters. For profit colleges do the same thing and have done it for a long time. Students “graduate” and cannot find jobs because they are totally unprepared, incur HUGE debt ad nauseum. Our government which has subsidized college education for veterans are stuck as these institutions charge MUCH more than state run institutions. Like charters, the top CEOs make huge profits on the backs of students. They advertise like crazy, promise things which are not delivered and students are stuck with huge debt.
When money is more important than people how can people survive?