Last week, a judge handed the schools of York City, Pennsylvania, to a receiver, David Meckley, a businessman, to do with as he pleases. He has said he will turn the district over to a for-profit charter chain, Charter Schools, USA. There is still a glimmer of hope, as the school board is appealing the decision.
The local newspaper published a terrific editorial. It asks questions that the judge never considered: What are the for-profit corporations plans for the children with special needs? How can anyone justify diverting money to “profit,” when the district is in dire financial need? Does the for-profit corporation actually have a plan for improvement? My questions: why isn’t the state responsible to assist districts whose property tax base cannot support public schools? How many more districts will be handed over to entrepreneurs? What is the purpose of public education? Does the voice of the community matter? Whatever happened to democracy?
This is what the local newspaper said:
Meckley, a Spring Garden Township businessman who has led the district’s financial recovery process for two years now, intends to convert all eight schools to charters operated by a for-profit company, Charter Schools USA.
Such a conversion has never been tried in Pennsylvania, and the company’s plan for York City appears half-baked.
For instance, in response to questions submitted by The York Dispatch, a company representative showed limited knowledge of the district’s student population and couldn’t even describe plans for the 21 percent of students with special needs.
The community clearly opposes the plan. Yet while they have no say in the matter, city property owners’ tax dollars now will be used not only for education but to boost the profits of Charter Schools USA.
Since the district is struggling financially, how can anyone justify diverting even a penny away from the students?
Unfortunately, Linebaugh, York County’s president judge, was not allowed to consider these or any other aspects of the charter conversions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
By refusing to let the petitioners have their interests reviewed by the court aren’t they stripping people of their rights? How can there be an appointed dictator who can ignore the needs of that community? A dictator whose power is Beyond judicial review?
In response, it’s all about non-educators making decisions on education. The public should be outraged that tax dollars are going to for-profit companies instead of directly to the children in the community. I wonder how much special ed. federal dollars are diverted to the coffers of these companies. I can’t understand why boards of education are approving these charters unless the members are either stakeholders or idiots. Charter school founders should be non-profit period. There is something wrong with our laws on charters to allow this to go on.
How long is the contract? How iron-clad is it? In Michigan, Mosaica just walked away when they couldn’t get enough profit. Is there anything preventing CSUSA from doing the same?
Empower local school boards; demand a change in school funding policies.
How is it that those who claim to dislike big government want to seize control away from local school boards and give all the power to state and federal government and private enterprise?
http://publicschoolscentral.com/2014/12/30/the-flipping-of-education-policy-when-big-government-became-a-good-thing-and-local-control-became-bad/
The judge was not allowed to consider the viability or potential effectiveness of the proposal. His purview was extremely limited by the state legislature.
This may be a stretch, but I see a parallel between charter schools and slavery. I have just finished reading “The Half has Never Been Told” by Edward E. Baptist. Southern slaveowners desperate to hold onto the ever-increasing profits of slavery and cotton needed continued growth as land in the south grew exhausted.
Slavery could not continue without expansion and neither can charter schools.
What will happen when charter schools run out of school districts to take over?
The school board’s appeal should be heard after Corbett and his Dept. Of Education is gone and Tom Wolf, who ran as a pro-public education candidate for Governor, takes office. YORK is his home and what he does on this issue will be the first test of his sincerity. When the state commission which runs the Phila.SD unilaterally cancelled the teachers contract in October Wolf came out against the move and called for a return to local control for Philadelphia. He should, likewise, call for respect of local control in York and, on his first day in office, rescind the decisions of the Education Dept. and fire Carolyn Dumaresque (Corbett’s acting secretary of Education and former – can you believe it? – Executive Director of the PSEA).
From all that I’ve read on the public education issue over the last year or so, I think democracy is dead in several states and the billionaire oligarchs are busy buying as many of the remaining states that are still democracies as fast as they can as they buy elections to put their puppets in place.
The U.S. is fast becoming an oligarchy, and how is that different from a monarchy where the children inherit the wealth and power?
Call it what it is:
Plutocratic oligarchy
or
Oligarchic plutocracy
They both work. I think Bill Gates and other billionaire oligarchs want to leave behind several dynasties so several generations from now their famlies will still own the United States. Imagine Paris Hilton ruling over a swatch of America.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania said they would start regulating charter schools 2 years ago when there was a high profile case of a rip off cyber charter that included the school owners meeting to exchange bags of cash in a Pizza Hut parking lot.
Why won’t lawmakers do their jobs? How much do they need before they’ll regulate these schools? Are they completely and utterly captured? Can we hire some people who want to do the jobs they were hired to do?
We cannot get rid of crooked politicians and crooked laws unless the public wakes up and stops voting against the interests of working class people. Too many voters listen to the lies and distortions that big money pays for, and they vote for the greediest,laziest candidate. Everyone wants to hold teachers accountable, even for problems they didn’t create. How about holding politicians accountable; they need to do their jobs!
“How much do they need before. . . ”
That depends on how many Pizza Huts and bags of cash are available.
People in Pennsylvania also might like to pursue an inquiry into where money collected in Pennsylvania ends up.
This contractor operates in 9 states.
Is per pupil funding collected in PA used to expand this company in other states?
How much is staying in-city, in-county and in-state? The corporate h-quarters is in FL. How much are they paying executives and does that come out of money that collected by the state and intended for students in York?
If the charter operator pulls revenue out of that county how does that affect the local economy?
Diane–I’ve been saying the same thing over and over and over………………BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, the PEOPLE must stop this overt abuse of our civil and worker rights. Big Money is pushing for the end of Democracy and that’s NO exaggeration and we need to stop it………..point blank !!! Read anything Chomsky or Hedges says on this general subject. They call it “The Corporatization of America” where the super rich call all the shots all the time for all the people and it’s not even hidden a little bit. It’s blatant corruption and abuse and until/unless the people stop it, we are doomed !
NO__________________We don’t need any more evidence !!!! WE need to fight this abuse by any means necessary to restore our rights and preserve our DEMOCRACY.
I’m amazed that any judge has the power to say how taxpayer money is to be spent!!!
IN THIS environment damn near anything can happen as long as the huge money shot callers, want it to happen—-NO exaggeration.