Jersey Jazzman reacts to Andy Smarick’s call for civil conversations about charter schools. Those conversations won’t happen, JJ says, until reformers tell the truth about charter schools. Where they seem to succeed, they don’t enroll the same students. Or they have high attrition rates. Or they have scads of money. Why not say so.
He quotes Peter Greene on the same subject, in Peter’s inimitable style:
“If charters are tired of press about how they get sweetheart deals with politicians to strip resources from public schools in order to enrich themselves, if they’re tired of stories about how some charter operator got caught in crooked deals, if they’re tired of being raked over the coals for using politics to grease some moneyed wheels– well, their best move would be to stop doing those things.
“If charters are tired of being attacked, they could stop attacking public education, as in the recent charter gathering in which the recurring theme was “Charters are great because public schools suck.” I’m not a fan of “they started it” as an argument, but it’s also specious to declare “all I did was keep calling him names and stealing his lunch, and then he just hit me for no reason!”
It would be good to have that civil conversation that Smarick says he longs for, but it won’t happen unless “reformers” tell the truth about how they stack the deck by excludingthe kids they don’t want and how the big money that gets dropped into their coffers by Walton, Broad, Gates, Arnold, Dell, and even Arne Duncan makes for very unfair comparisons.
And too there must be some discussion about the end game. Where will we be a decade from now if charters cherry pick the students they want, and public schools are left with the students rejected by the charters? Would this not be a dual school system? Can anyone think of another nation with this approach to publicly-funded education?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes! Chile.
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Civil conversations? Of course, but what also needs to happen are conversations-from both sides- with the parents and students who will feel the impact directly. Here in Camden, NJ, parents are confused. One parent asked me “Will the schools start asking us to pay to send our kids to school?” Charter school representatives in Camden go out in the neighborhoods-knocking on doors (!) to recruit students. I don’t go to anyone’s home-in any neighborhood-without an invitation. What were they thinking? The students
told their teachers (in the public schools) about this. What do you say when the charter schools are called “hybrids” and are supported by Camden City Schools? But they are telling you that the public school you attend is “not good.”
No matter how many “Listening Tours” the superintendent does here in Camden, the distrust remains and complicating the issue is part of the strategy.
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Charterizers exposed for lies, theft, and dumping students want to change the subject and make their critics the problem so as to get the harsh light of truth off them. The so-called “unfairly criticized” pretend to be victims of uncivil attacks.
Same charge of “incivility’ arose here in Montclair last year. The inept Broadie Supt. and a complicit Board of Education badly mismanaged the schools and wasted hundreds of thousands on testing, tech and consultants. When our opposition group presented facts of the case, we were accused of being “uncivil”–sound familiar? Dirty tricks tactics: Change the subject, characterize the opposition as unfair and negative, etc.
This means we have caught them with their pants down. Our criticisms are working to expose the destructive lies of the testing promoters and the charters who are over-funded and under-regulated, who use unacknowledged selective admissions and then pushing out low-achievers to raise their scores and graduation rates. Is it widely-known that “Superman” Geoffrey Canada fired the entire 8th grade of his Academy because he thought they were too low-achieving to become the founding class of his new high school built by hedge-funders?
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ira shor: for those of you who have worked in classrooms—
How many times have you witnessed, sometimes perhaps literally from beginning to end, a bully that is taunting and/or shoving/hitting and/or stealing from another student who then bitterly [and sincerely!] complains when the victim talks back/shoves back/refuses to give up his/her things?
😡
Your description is exactly why I call the leading charterites/privatizers and their principal enablers, “edufrauds” and “edubullies.”
However, I feel I must add this: how many times on this blog and others like it have we heard from parents who went through the experience of enlisting their children into charters only to have their children mistreated to the point of abuse or expulsion, or themselves experienced rude and disrespectful treatment from the Centre of EduExcellence they at first held in high regard?
I would only caution that we try to distinguish, where possible, between those committed to bounteous returns on ROI and the parents and community members and taxpayers that buy into slick brochures and enticing promises from eduhucksters…
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
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“Victim Bullies”
“Aggressor bullies” threaten harm
“Give me money or I’ll twist your arm”
“Victim bullies” sing a song
“Give me money, for doing me wrong”
A “Victim bully” is a bully who claims that he was somehow “wronged” — someone was “uncivil” to him, called him a name, etc — in order to exert power over others, even though he was the one who brought the supposed wrong upon himself.
The term comes from C.K. Gunsalus
“Aggressor bullies fit the usual idea of a bully: They threaten to beat you up if you don’t give them your lunch money. Victim bullies, in contrast, demand your lunch money because of some harm they claim you’ve done to them.
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This will not be a popular response. No ‘civil’ conversations possible until ‘reformers’ admit they’re evil, greedy, dishonest and bigoted, etc. THEN we can have a ‘civil’ conversation? Complicated issues deserve civil conversations, not ad hominem, bumper sticker arguments. Are you so stuck in your polarized bubble that attempts at ‘civil’ conversations are ridiculed and attacked?
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Ed, the problem is that competition and market forces do not encourage civil conversations by any one on any side. If the idea is to attract “customers” then each side will cherry-pick to highlight their benefits and / or trash the opponent. Neither of these behaviors encourages honesty or civility.
And that is the nature of the beast. In my state, Michigan, we have a graying population. We have over 100,000 fewer K-12 students in our state yet the charter cap was lifted and allowed for the addition of hundreds more schools. The state has little say in how many because colleges are authorizers so we’ve had a blitz of new schools with less demand. Survival is on the line. And survival often doesn’t care what tactics are necessary to keep going.
This system of dual education systems which have little difference in quality does not create the environment that leads to civility.
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Steve,
Thanks for your thoughtful response – I agree with you. I believe we have a crisis in public education, one that demands substantive and ‘civil’ discussions. I’m greatly frustrated at the lack of serious debate and the overabundance of angry rhetoric on both sides. I’m dating myself, but the old Buffalo Springfield song comes to mind- ‘a thousand people in the street, singing songs and carrying signs, mostly saying hooray for our side’. We can and must do/be better than this.
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Thanks Ed, but remember, again, this is what happens when market forces are unleashed on what should be a common good.
I’m not saying that all public schools were fantastic before this. But I am saying that competition does not lead to the best outcome for all in the field of education.
My state would love to rank teachers against each other. Create a system in which every teacher in every department of the school is ranked. That’s horrible for students because it kills collaboration. Our best individual ideas will not spread willingly.
The same could be said for schools within a community. In Detroit, parents have several “public” options. But if one actually has truly innovative methods, in a competition system, they have NO reason to share those methods. They have a competitive advantage that they will leverage into destroying their competitors.
This competition also leads to other problems that we have mentioned before. The best solution would have been to limit charter schools severely with only truly innovative approaches getting permission to charter within communities that requested such possible innovations. Instead, after marginal success at best, they allowed for unchecked expansion with multiple authorizers. That was a big mistake.
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Steve K,
it’s not really market forces though, because the tax dollars are paying for it.
It’s bogus market. It’s communism.
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From one of the best early (and probably not as well known as others) rock bands, Buffalo Springfield:
Many groups came out that band, what a line-up!
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yep. Good one.
So, I put together a 30 minute show on the history of public education in NC. It’s called “Walking the Walk of Schooling: NC Decades in Song.” I had a segment filmed and recorded that I will share (but then everyone will know what a smarmy school teacher I’ve turned out to be!). . .anyway, I open with this song. It captures what made people want public schools to begin with. And it just might capture why they might want them again (those who have lost sight of that):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KCf_-wby4
(this song is public domain; I can only record the ones that are pre-1950). Emmylou has a special place in my musical development. . .albeit I never was one to strive to sound like her.
I’ll put my recording up soon.
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Looking forward to you video. I’ll preview it if you want. You can email me it: dswacker@centurytel.net
And yes, Emmylou is one of the great singer/songwriters of the American music scene.
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We can step back in history to a time where education was reserved for the landed gentry and the serfs worked the fields. I for one have no more energy to devote to this struggle. Newark is officially under federal investigation for allegedly discriminating against African American children in its quest to close public schools and implement the flawed One Newark Plan to transport children around the city. To my knowledge, no “white” schools have been closed. Jersey Jazzman has reported extensively on the disproportionate effects of One Newark on African American teachers who are more likely to teach in closing schools. njspotlight informs us that a federal investigation may take years to complete.
Mayor Baraka is currently in negotiations with purse holder Governor Christie over the Newark budget.
It is not looking good in our return to the Middle Ages.
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I haven’t read all of the articles Smarick describes as missing the opportunity to promote civil discourse, but I did read the first “long article” from Newsweek. My question: Where’s the snark? The article calmly describes how a rapidly improving public school was slated for closure and conversion to charters. It reports the angry response of parents, without editorializing. Sometimes it’s just hard to look in the mirror.u
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So I read this a little more closely, and realized I made 2 mistakes. One, the article is in The Nation. Two, it has this to say about Smarick:
Some don’t see that as a problem. Former Deputy Commissioner of Education Smarick wrote in 2012: “Chartering can replace the district. And it can happen in Newark.” Appointed in 2010, the self-described “gung-ho reformer” promptly expanded the state’s charter office.
Prior to his appointment he’d written a punchy manifesto, “Wave of the Future,” which laid out in plain terms how “charter schools should replace failing urban schools.” The process meant securing friendly leadership, attracting big-name charters and roping in philanthropic allies. As the district becomes a “financially unsustainable marginal player,” he wrote, “eventually the financial crisis will become a political crisis.”
Does saying that he refers to himself as a gung-ho reformer count as snark? Or is it the part where he predicts that opening charter schools will make the district financially unstable?
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Of course the thing is, it’s not a conversation, it’s a fight.
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You’re exactly right- I just get naively idealistic every now and then and think we can rise above the fray.
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Ed–
I try to stay optimistic too. It is very much a fight.
The angry rhetoric comes from frustration, I think. . .in the states where ALEC has gotten a stronghold, the people who want to join in on the fight are so busy trying to make ends meet, they can’t.
The middle class and public school supporters have to fight to stand up for their survival while trying to survive. It’s hard.
I still think we can rise above it too—but not if we don’t; meaning, not if we say, “I don’t have time to join the fight.”
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Oh, I can totally rise above it. The rest of you guys, no chance. 😉
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Sorry, FLERP!, I can get a rise out of the fight, way above ya!
(And since you said ‘guys’, should I assume that the gals will whip the socks off of ya-DEI*)
*for those like myself who are AI** DEI = “double entendre intended”
Acronym Impaired = AI
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FLERP. . .
touche.
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The end game has always been my question.
What happens when the reform mission is accomplished? What would make them back down?
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Joanna—I agree with you. I am trying to make parents aware that they need to start asking legislators what is the end game. We have had a charter law in this state for over 14 years. The charters fair no better and often times worse than the district schools. We have FBI investigations in this state of charter schools. There are cases in this state where charter schools either rejected or failed to answer requests from the public for information such as budgets, payrolls, or student rosters and follow our Right-To-Know law. There are campaign contributions from reforms groups to influence legislation.
In light of all this parents in this state need to be asking why we have a charter law. You can’t have charter schools, if you don’t have a charter law. Repealing the law is one way of stopping the test/punishment take over. There has to be a better way to educate students who don’t fit well in traditional public schools. Someone has to start putting the students first above profit. Most districts have alternative schools perhaps this should be a requirement of all of them.
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I think their goal is lower taxes. $4200 vouchers for all and best of luck to you.
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Yes, as Bill Clinton said in his most recent book, “Ya’ll are on your own” is the version of government (except for corporate charity and bailouts) that they want.
Now, I will say I am reading Geichner’s book, and I’m not quick to be mad about Wall Street bailouts because I understand the whole darn system would have collapsed if we hadn’t done something. But if they keep chipping away at the foundation of the general welfare, collectively. . .who will bail them out and with what the next time de-regulation backfires?
If anything, our near financial meltdown showed that the government of the people IS what is holding us all together. Who they gonna run to after they beat it all to hell? Didn’t that teach us we need to strengthen that backbone, not keep dealing it blows.
I am convinced the ALEC guys in Raleigh will not win this next election in NC (at least not the ones who have made names for themselves). BUT. . .that won’t make them back down. So either they destroy it, and then what? Or they don’t, and then what?
I think there should be tax deductions for private school tuition, but we had a cap on charters in NC until RttT made us lift it, and we’re just getting started in this game.
I’m totally rambling. One day at at a time and if this all started with Reagan than I guess the fight’s been going on most of my life.
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Joanna,
The corporate, nee business attempts to influence the schools to their benefit has been going on since the late 1800’s. See Ray Callahan’s “Education and the Cult of Efficiency” for details up to the 60s.
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Duane: re business efforts to influence the schools. What happened. In the past was peanuts compare to what is happening now. There was no Bill Gates. Andrew Carnegie built public libraries. The US government was not on the side of the businesses trying to insert themselves into the schools.
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Thoroughly agree, Diane.
Callahan’s book is a good one for those who don’t know much about those influences (and many times the recommendations were quite as inane as today’s).
Today’s edudeformers are definitely are a rhino of different colors and stripes.
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I do know that in NC it was the lack of a political will for taxation that put us behind in establishing public schools (it went into our constitution in 1868)—-but as far back as 1786 travelers through NC noted that we had the absence of anything being done about education state-wide (prominent white males, that’s about it).
I have never heard of people not wanting public schools in all my life until recently. Never crossed my mind—having traveled to Haiti in 1990 (age 17), and Mexican villages several times in the 90s, I figured everyone knew what a good thing we had going.
Phil Berger, Tim Moffitt and Thom Tillis should go to Haiti. Alone. With no guards. And see how they do.
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Those of us who value public education as well as democracy must say that the conversation about charter schools is over. Despite misguided initial attempts at providing “choice” to parents and students, it is now clear that charters have become a blind alley in the quest for school reform. No ifs, ands, or buts. Every neighborhood must provide a quality public school, and every school needs and deserves adequate funding, staffing, and other resources.
No more talk about “escaping failing schools.” No more slogans like “my child, my choice.” No more “co-locating” on public school campuses. No more public money for private agendas. If one wants to pay for private school or parochial school, then that’s fine and that’s a valid choice, but no more using the public dime to subvert the public schools. Done.
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Exacto.
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What’s a civil charter school? Regulated and transparent finances for starters. Next districts have to figure out the fair per pupil funding. When there was one system, it was one thing to rob Peter to pay for Paul by taking general funds to pay for special ed or ELL, but maybe was not a good idea. With a charter system drawing from the same fund pool as a public system, exactitude in per pupil funding based on mandated services is necessary. If per pupil funding for special ed or ELL adequately matched what is required, there would probably be quite a few special ed and ELL focus charter schools?
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According to this study (http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EMO-RevExp.pdf), charter schools are much more dependent on state funding than traditional public schools (traditional public schools get much more local funding), so the two systems don’t seem to draw from exactly the same fund pool.
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From the linked study, “When charter schools and traditional public schools have similar programs and services and when they serve similar students, funding levels should be equal in order to be considered fair. However, as long as traditional public schools are de-livering more programs, serving wider ranges of grades, and enrolling a higher proportion of students with special needs, they will require relatively higher levels of financial support. Under these circumstances, differences or inequality in fund-ing can be seen as reasonable and fair.”
Average per pupil is a very crude metric. I think all funding needs to be broken down into average pupil, special ed pupil, and ELL pupil. And maybe more catagories and sub categories of specific per pupil funding. If a fair side by side public / charter school system is to be run.
I thnk we discussed how since 1970 funding has doubled, and the general concensus on here was that funding for the average student was the same, but the funding for special services had grown since 1970.
The linked report also mentions the increased cost for transportation. Seems like providing high quality neighborhood schools is one way to avoid transportation spending.
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TC,
I linked to that paper because it showed a distinct difference between funding sources. Traditional public schools have local taxing authority, so much more of their funding comes from that source than charter schools. Charter schools are much more dependent on state level funding. There is some overlap between the funding pools, but they are not precisely the same.
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Yes, good point, there are several fund pools, local, state, and federal, and maybe others. Equitable distribution of funds and facilities looks to be complicated business, I will say that.
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