A reader sent me to this article at The Daily Kos, which asked the simple question: when are students more important than free markets? The author’s argument is that the governor and the legislature are so head over heels in love with free markets that they have exempted charter schools from most of the state’s laws. Charters must follow the state curriculum and take the state tests but are freed from complying with more than 150 other state laws and regulations. One immediately wonders why the legislature requires public schools to obey all those laws and regulations that are somehow unreasonable and unnecessary for charter schools.
The Daily Kos article sends the reader to one of Ohio’s best blogs, called Plunderbund. There we learn more about the more than 150 state laws that charter schools are exempt from. Plunderbund writes:
“If it wasn’t so appalling, we might be able to laugh at the continued insistence that Ohio’s charter (community) schools are held to the same level of accountability as are traditional public schools. In fact, some charter school proponents actually insist that charters are held MORE accountable than their public school counterparts.”
And then goes on to show some of those laws that do not apply to charter schools.
For example:, writes Plunderbund:
“We’d like to highlight a few of these laws:
3301.07: State Board of Education minimum standards covering the assignment of professional personnel according to training and qualifications; instructional materials and equipment, including library facilities; proper organization, administration, and supervision of schools; buildings and grounds (other than any building health and safety standards); admission and promotion of students; phonics instruction; instruction in energy and resource conservation; and reporting requirements.
And in the footnotes, the LSC adds this for clarification: Ohio law also appears to exempt community schools from the provision of the State Board’s minimum education standards that requires teachers to be assigned to teach in the area or grade level in which they are licensed.
Charter schools? EXEMPT
3313.60: School course of study requirement
A sentence or two can’t quite do this one justice, and you really need to click the link and read the law to get the full effect, but a summary of the law reads like this: [A school district] shall prescribe a curriculum for all schools under its control … in any such curriculum there shall be included the study of the following subjects: The language arts, including reading, writing, spelling, oral and written English, and literature; Geography, the history of the United States and of Ohio, and national, state, and local government in the United States; Mathematics; Natural science, including instruction in the conservation of natural resources; Health education; Physical education; The fine arts, including music; First aid.
Charter schools? EXEMPT
3313.602(B) and (C) – Requirement that the “principles of democracy and ethics” be emphasized and discussed in appropriate parts of the curriculum and to encourage a school’s employees to be cognizant of their roles to instill in students “ethical principles and democratic ideals”.
This might explain why charter school proponents are able to, with a straight face and clean conscience, continue spreading the lie about them being “more accountable” than public schools — no need for those pesky ethical principles.
Charter Schools? EXEMPT
3315.07: Requirements related to the publishing of school materials for the public; prohibition against using public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy or bond issue or to compensate any district employee for time spent on any activity meant to influence the outcome of a levy or bond issue
Or stated in the language in which the law is written, “A charter school may use public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy or bond issue or to compensate any employee for time spent on any activity intended to influence the outcome of a school levy or bond issue election.”
Charter Schools? EXEMPT
3317.061: Requirement to annually report licensed employees to the State Board
Who’s working in those charter schools anyway? Apparently they aren’t required to report the names, salaries, college experience, degrees earned, or type of teaching license held.
Charter schools? EXEMPT
3317.15: Requirements specifying the number of speech-language pathologists and school psychologists a school district must hire”
Why comply with these laws and rules and regulations when the free market knows best?
Here is the deal in Ohio: Greater autonomy and flexibility in exchange for LESS accountability.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“the governor and the legislature are so head over heels in love with free markets”
When it comes to markets, there’s a difference between being in love with and being bought on.
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I am sure NYC public schools can share this author’s pain! Eva Moskowitz is the NYC poster “ed reform queen” of using both sides of the fence (non profit laws when its suitable and for profit ones when it is suitable). What next… charters exempt from accepting students?
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That’s already the case to a degree in Utah. Charter schools do NOT have to provide the same level of special education and ELL services that public schools must provide, essentially exempting themselves from accepting students with those needs. The charter can simply tell the parents that the school is, “not a good fit” for their child. After taking all of the money on October 1, that is. I’ll bet it’s the same in a lot of other places, too. I’ve seen it happen several times myself.
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There’s a great ONION parody that takes the exemption for accepting students to its logical and absurd extreme:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/progressive-charter-school-doesnt-have-students,33009/
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“ISSUE 49•26 • Jul 1, 2013
“PROGRESSIVE CHARTER SCHOOL DOESN’T HAVE STUDENTS”
“ATLANTA — One year into its founding as the purported ‘bold next step in education reform,’ administrators on Monday sang the praises of Forest Gates Academy, a progressive new charter school that practices an innovative philosophy of not admitting ANY students.
“ ‘ We’ve done something here at Forest Gates that is truly special, combining modern, cutting-edge pedagogical methods with a refreshingly non-pupil-centric approach,’ said academy president Diane Blanchard, who claimed that the experimental school boasts state-of-the-art facilities, a diverse and challenging syllabus, absolutely zero students, a world-class library, and the highest faculty-student ratio in the nation.
“ ‘ Thanks to our groundbreaking methods, we’ve established a structured yet free-thinking environment where the student is taken out of the equation entirely, and in fact is not allowed on school property. And the results, we think, speak for themselves.’
“According to its budgetary records, Forest Gates has so far received approximately $80 million in public funding from the state of Georgia.”
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When the state dictates which school a student attends based on street address, the number of regulations on schools must be higher than when students can choose from a variety of schools.
At the other end, the community should be concerned when the largest employer in the community is run by politicians. Some of the regulations on public schools are designed to limit the ability of local politicians to use the public school system for their own ends. This is much less of a concern when all decisions are made at the building level.
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When the state dictates which precinct a citizen votes in based on street address, the number of regulations on voting must be higher than when citizens can choose from a variety of precincts.
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Jon,
Voting is, of course, a different issue. If you mean to criticize our geographically based winner take all voting system though, I am in agreement.
We had this discussion once about plumbers. I listed some of the regulations I would want a plumber to be subject to if the state assigned me to a single plumber (things like what should be on the truck vs in the wear house, maximum response time, maximum hourly rate, rounding method for hourly rates, etc).
Did you want to continue that conversation?
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Yes, I have gradually come to understand that this whole idea of equal citizenship and representative democracy is a novel concept to market mentalities — or if it was ever passed over their heads in school it has long since been washed from their brains by the bapdismal conversions of the Church of the Invisible Hand — so of course you fail to see the vital connections between voting, becoming an educated citizen, and paying taxes in support of one’s many encompassing communities, nor why all that is something other than the trading of commodities in proportion to one’s share of the plutocracy.
That is why your bapdismal science is just plumbing all the way down the toilet.
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Jon,
Actually the combination of geographically based voting and a winner take all system is arguably less democratic than a proportional representation system.
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As I have pointed out many, many times, local control and locally advantaged funding were never the liberal solution, they were adopted as a compromise solution, but now the forces of corporate control over public funding are seeking to undermine that modus vivendi in favor of a system Our Founders were forced to revolt against.
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“When the state dictates which school a student attends based on street address, the number of regulations on schools must be higher than when students can choose from a variety of schools.”
What profound, evidenced based body of economic theory did you pull that one out of? LOL!
Are you saying in the private sector, the less choice consumers have (the smaller the number of suppliers), government regulation should increase proportionally?
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And is there ANY state in the union that DEMANDS that students ONLY attend their zoned school? I don’t know of a single state that doesn’t have provisions for inter-district transfers to other schools. A lot of states (including mine) also allow for out of district transfers. Do enlighten me, TE, with a specific state, where that is NOT allowed.
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Threatened,
I believe it is possible to petition the local school district to send a student to a school they are not zoned to attend. Of course the local school district can always say no to the petition.
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MathVale,
I am saying that is true in everything. Think about the Walton Rural Life Center Charter School. Given that some people are allergic to chicken feathers, would a traditional zoned school be allowed to have chickens? I suspect the answer is no, and it is a reasonable regulation for a zoned school. If students can choose a school, there can be a school with chickens and schools without chickens.
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Does anyone know the following:
Is it common for districts to deny interdistrict transfers?
TE seems to imply that it happens quite regularly in his argumentation. But I find this doubtful.
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TheMorrigan,
It is generally the view of folks in my district that in general transfers that make the schools more segregated by SES and race are very difficult, ones that make the schools less segregated by SES are less difficult.
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Could you supply some concrete evidence?
In my own anecdotal experience working in two separate districts, very few interdistrict transfers were denied. They were only denied when schools were impacted or the student had serious behavioral issues. But that’s hardly different from charters.
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TheMorrigan,
The very first line on my districts transfer form is “High School transfer requests for the reason of school preference will not be considered.” That seems pretty definitive for my district.
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That is hardly concrete. If you do not have anything, then refrain from responding please. I would seriously like to know if your claim has any validity to it.
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TheMorgan,
If you want a number, it appears that there are 0 inter-district transfers between the high schools of my district for other than medical or legal reasons.
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TE.
What your district does obviously does not match up with mine does, and that, obviously, leads me to conclude that the answer is more of a mixed bag.
Ultimately, though, we are still nowhere near knowing what the general trend for all districts is.
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TheMorrigan,
I doubt any two districts in the country match up to each other. That is one of the problems with discussing education at a national level when all the facts on the ground are so very local.
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LOVE how you never answered my question, TE. What state does not allow transfers, either in-district or between districts? If there are none, then the argument you have made (ad nauseum) for the last year or more is theoretical. If your argument is only theoretical, WHY do you keep making it??
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Threatened,
Perhaps you missed my posts with another poster. Let me quote from the first line of the transfer request document from my own district: “High School transfer requests for the reason of school preference will not be considered. Transfer requests for a
student’s medical or legal need will require documentation from a medical specialist or legal entity validating the medical or legal need for the transfer.”
Assuming that the public school district is being truthful about this policy, no students are allowed to transfer outside of the catchment area for any reason other than medical or legal need.
Is 0 a low enough number?
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Except Ohio doesn’t dictate that.
Ohio has an open enrollment process in public schools. It isn’t unlimited, because it doesn’t make sense for the COMMUNITY to offer unlimited “choice” in a public entity.
90% of the ed reform narrative is national, and 90% of public schools are local. There is an unreality, a refusal to deal with WHAT IS that is infuriating about this.
Fact: Ohio has an open enrollment process. Incorporate that FACT.
How do deregulated privately-owned and privately-run school benefit THIS state? Not NYC. Not Boston. Not DC- Cleveland, Columbus, Lima. Not some mythical “great!” charter school, but ordinary charter schools that exist in this state.
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And in more Orwellian doublespeak, the laws refer to charter schools as “community” schools. I wonder who managed to get that term put into law. Duplicitous bastards. (and yes I know that ALEC, whoops I mean the legislators can use whatever “plain” language they want.)
AY, effin Ay, Ay, Ay!!!
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One particular part of the above posting jumped out at me:
[start quote]
3313.602(B) and (C) – Requirement that the “principles of democracy and ethics” be emphasized and discussed in appropriate parts of the curriculum and to encourage a school’s employees to be cognizant of their roles to instill in students “ethical principles and democratic ideals”.
This might explain why charter school proponents are able to, with a straight face and clean conscience, continue spreading the lie about them being “more accountable” than public schools — no need for those pesky ethical principles.
Charter Schools? EXEMPT
[end quote]
This, along with the school curriculum exemption just above it, sums up the entire program of the charterite/privatizer business plan that masquerades as an education model—
Anything goes!
😱
Attrition rate of a 9th grade cohort of 30% or 40% or 50% before making it to graduation? Abracadabra! The remaining members are “accounted for” the week or month before they actually graduate, making for a 100% graduation rate!
Took my students from the 13th to the 90th percentile! In one year! It’s just that nobody can verify it…
And see Wendy Lecker’s comments in the thread of the post just before this one. *Note especially: Charters accept everybody! Absolutely, positively, without exception, everybody, on an impartial and open and fair and random basis. It’s just that some lotteries are more random and open and non-selective than others—I read that somewhere!*
And it’s all about the customers. Er, ROI. Er, kids. The charterites/privatizers are banking on it.
Literally.
😏
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Ohio, yet another state not to move your business or family to.
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Don’t move here if you plan to send children to a public school. The head of the education committee in the statehouse believes that all public schools should be shut down and privatized.
This is now an acceptable policy “position” in this state. One of a number of “options”. It isn’t just “not supportive” of public schools. It is openly hostile to their continued existence.
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It shouldn’t surprise us that charters are unregulated. Isn’t escaping regulation the raison d’etre of charters? That is, wasn’t the original idea for creating charter schools to free them of the alleged shackles of school district regulations? Before teachers became the scapegoat, weren’t sclerotic bureaucracies seen as the culprit for schools’ lackluster performance?
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Spot on.
The irony is painful. Turns out that freedom from oversight and accountability and transparency don’t encourage innovation and creativity and honesty and efficiency.
Then again, for those making a handsome profit from the suckers that bought into their high flyin’ rhetoric—er, make that their esteemed customers and valued clients—what’s the diff?
It makes perfect ₵ent¢ to leaders of the “new civil rights movement of our time.”
Rheeally!
And Johnsonally!
As Dorothy Parker once wrote:
“The two most beautiful words in the English language are ‘cheque enclosed.’”
$tudent $ucce$$ anyone?
😎
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I thought it was freedom from the nasty, entrenched, anti-innovation unions.
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I love this typo.
Charters must follow the state curriculum and take the state tests but are freed from complying with more than 150 other state laws and refutations.
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Why don’t states like Ohio and Michigan get more attention from national charter school promoters?
They’re not ashamed of what they’ve done here, are they? All I hear about are the nonprofit (somewhat) regulated charters in the east. Why are these states completely ignored by national ed reformers? Is it because they parachuted in here, captured our state government and then took off back to DC?
What about Ohio’s public schools? Do ed reformers in government have a duty to make good on their promise (and sales pitch) that they would IMPROVE existing public schools?
When does the “improving public schools” part of ed reform start? We’ve been waiting 14 years.
I know public schools are unfashionable, but this is ridiculous. The vast majority of public school students in this state have no advocates in government. The one and only time public schools are mentioned is to use them as punching bags or deliver a stern lecture.
Where do our lawmakers get off with this? Who told them it was okay to abandon existing public schools?
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It’s great that the charter school sector is finally getting some scrutiny in this state, but something much more damaging has happened over the last 15 years of ed reform, and that is that public schools have been abandoned by lawmakers.
Our lawmakers have relinquished their responsibility and duty to unelected lobbyists and policymakers who don’t live here and don’t rely on public schools.
We were told they would improve public schools. Instead, they have worked as hard as they can to replace public schools.
It doesn’t matter that public schools have fallen out of fashion in political and policy circles. Our representatives have a duty to do the job they were hired to do.
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Ohio still has some transparency and sunshine laws, so I wanted to give anyone who wants to follow what will be a defining charter school case some info on that.
“As for-profit White Hat Management heads to the Ohio Supreme Court to defend its position on owning public charter-school assets, another Akron-based charter-school management company has signed on as a supporter.
Summit Academy Management — a nonprofit company that operates 27 publicly funded and privately run charter schools in Ohio — filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week in support of White Hat.
The high court agreed in March to hear a case that could determine whether taxpayers or private companies — some profit-driven and located outside of Ohio — own the school property purchased with tax dollars.
The assets include the real estate, furniture and computers.
The case pits White Hat against 10 school boards that previously employed the Akron company to run their schools. As the schools produced poor academic results and the boards asked questions about White Hat’s use of public dollars, the company declined to open its books to inspection.”
At issue is whether privately-owned and privately-run schools own the assets they purchased with public funds. The second issue is whether they have a duty to report financials to citizens.
The Ohio supreme court streams oral arguments, so people in Ohio can listen to the charter school legal team as they argue that the contractor owns the publicly-funded property and the contractor has no duty to reveal to citizens. You all should tune in. You’ll learn more about charter contractors in an hour than you would listening to our lawmakers for the last 15 years.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/several-nonprofit-groups-backing-white-hat-management-in-charter-school-supreme-court-case-1.512277
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You know when Ohio public schools were all genius-level? Between March and May of last year, when they were used as experimental sites for the Common Core tests.
All of a sudden our “failed and failing” public schools with their lazy union-member teachers and grit-less students were the darlings of ed reformers, but only for the brief testing period.
It’s strangest thing. I’ve been told for 15 years that our schools would screw up a two person parade, but somehow they managed to earn atta-boys from the ed reform “movement” when putting in this incredibly complicated testing regime. Why is that?
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I am a Ohio teacher. John Kasich, with all of his silly, destructive policies, will easily become governor again. As soon as I’m retired, my husband, my children, and I are moving out of this state for good. He has made Ohio a highly taxed, highly regulated state, hard to live in, and he worries absolutely nothing about the demise of the middle class. He makes me sick. I will have to pay Ohio taxes out of my STRS Ohio retirement check, but he and the state of Ohio will get nothing more from my family. It’s sad to say that I was born and raised in Ohio, but my husband and I are getting our children moved to a much better state than what Kasich had made Ohio. My 2 children deserve so much better. Kasich is an entitled millionaire who cares nothing about the well being of the citizens of his state. He only cares about making his wallet and the wallets of his rich buddies bigger. I hope he loves very hot places. Kasich is headed there.
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To the Ohio citizen-taxpayers—including school-age parents:
Hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax money intended to go towards the education of children never got there, and instead lined the pockets of privatization/ charter school scum via their scummy scams that are hidden because of no transparency or accountability. (… and hundreds of millions more—billions even—in the years to come will end up likewise… thanks to your bought-off whores you elected to office)
And that money is gone, gone, gone… and you’ll never get it back.
Hooray for charter schools!!!!
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Jack, I know..it makes me sick. There are horrible things going on in some of these charter schools, and Kasich doesn’t care. Kasich could give a darn that the middle class are suffering, the tuition costs of Ohio colleges have skyrocketed, and Ohio citizens are having a tough time making a living. Instead of giving this money to our Ohio schools and helping our Ohio colleges, he is giving the money to dishonest people who are running whacky so called schools for profit. I can’t wait to get out of this state.
I never thought I would see the day that I desperately want to move out of the state of Ohio. Thank goodness, my husband of 30 years, agrees with me. It is the greatest gift that we can give our 2 kids – get them out of this failing state of Ohio. Kasich thinks Ohio is New York…but Ohioans don’t have New York City to work for a higher income. We are out in the middle of nowhere, paying high taxes, and watching him destroy our communities and our public schools for good.
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