Brian T. Woods, a district superintendent in Texas, wrote an article exposing the myth of charter schools’ waiting lists.
Charters claim they must expand because 100,000 students are on waiting lists. Woods says that recent hearings before the state senate education committee demonstrated the falsity of that claim, based on data presented by the Texas Education Agency.
Some charters have waiting lusts, but most don’t. Charters actually have at least 108,000 vacant seats in the state. There are 250,000 charter students in the state, which is 5% of public school enrollment. About 30% of charter seats are empty. Why open more charters?
Woods also pointed out:
“The other revelation was a new study on the funding of charter schools versus that of independent school districts. A well-respected educational consulting group released a report examining the various funding structures. Among its findings, according to a Texas Association of School Boards report, if ISDs of all sizes were funded like charters, total state support would increase by more than $4.7 billion.
“That $4.7 billion would equate to about $940 per public school student per year, or more than $20,000 per elementary classroom. What a dramatic difference that could make to Texas public schools.
“The playing field is built to give an advantage to charter schools. This is what we mean when we say funding for charter schools draws resources from independent school districts.”
Despite the advantages of charters, public schools usually outperform the charters.
By the way, if you open the link, you will see a picture of charter children demonstrating for more charters and more money. Using children and staff as foot soldiers at political rallies is now common practice for the charter lobby. Public schools are not allowed to use students as props.
You may also notice that all the children attend a Harmony charter. These are Gulen schools, run by associates of a Turkish Muslim imam who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania, yet controls a political movement in Turkey. It is odd to have a large charter chain controlled by foreign nationals and taking the place of community public schools.
When I visited Texas not long ago, I met legislators who had received all-expense paid trips to Turkey, at the invitation of the Gulen schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“When I visited Texas not long ago, I met legislators who had received all-expense paid trips to Turkey, at the invitation of the Gulen schools.”
Paid for (indirectly of course) by the taxpayer.
Ohio lawmakers went on trips to Turkey too.
“In May, Plunderbund featured an examination of the Niagara Foundation, a Gulen allied organization that has sponsored trips to Turkey for members of the Ohio legislature, including Cliff Rosenberger, Speaker of the House, who went on a Gulen trip prior to his election as Speaker. The Niagara Foundation has also sponsored receptions for legislators as another opportunity to curry favor with those who write, sponsor and vote on legislation for the state’s “public” charter schools.”
Maybe we could sponsor them on all-expenses paid trip to visit the public schools in their legislative districts. That would be a new experience for many of them, although not nearly as exciting.
Legislative leaders in Illinois have taken “free” trips to Turkey courtesy of the Gulen movement. Some have gone more than once.
The systemic partiality shown toward charters by policymakers is reckless. We have seen this in state after state. Apparently there are no laws on the books of most states requiring states to fund public education fairly. The vast majority of students suffer the consequence of under funding because corporations have influenced policymakers to do so. In most cases the public is not clamoring for more charters. Billionaires and corporations seeking to profit from a public service are driving charter expansion, not parents and students. It is time for everyone to take a critical look at what is happening. Setting up an expensive, inefficient set of parallel schools is wasting critical resources that should be going directly into serving our future voters. Government should not be creating a climate in which corporations and billionaires can profit from public services. Our young people continue to be treated like guinea pigs for no significant results. Responsible government should find this reprehensible. Likewise, they should find the under funding of public schools and the test and punishment blame game unacceptable. We need to elect policymakers that understand the civic responsibility of strong public education and the fortitude to oppose the interests of the 1%.
I await the rebuttal by those pushing charters and privatization.
The second-to-last paragraph of the linked piece: “Even though the playing field is built to advantage charter schools, when comparisons are made between charters and ISDs, ISDs almost always perform better.”
But, but, but, charters need more money and seats because THEY’RE the rheeal victims here…
😎
I refer back to a comment I made on this blog four days ago—
[start]
I cannot confirm or deny, but according to the usual unreliable sources…
When informed that Gary R was going to attend the TFA25LoveFest, Michelle Rhee is reported to have said [in a rheephorm version of Obi-Wan’s classic lines from Star Wars]:
“I feel a great disturbance in the Farce, as if millions of self-serving lies suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible is about to happen.”
[end]
This report, I am sure, will confirm her deepest fears.
😎
Although a typo, I believe it holds true:
“Some charters have waiting lusts. . . “
From Politifact…
Dan Patrick says 100,000 are on waiting list to attend Texas charter schools
“We rate Patrick’s statement as Mostly True”
http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/mar/11/dan-patrick/dan-patrick-says-100000-are-waiting-list-attend-te/
It would have been nice if the superintendent or Ms Ravitch could have posted a link to the TEA data.
Priceless. The writers admit that they can’t track the duplications, yet rate the statement mostly true.
There’s no waiting list at your local public schools, and you’ll get a much better education.
Charter waiting lists is the new meme. Gov. Ducey-R-AZ ran his campaign on ending waiting lists? Is this an ALEC thing? When policies like this show up in more than one state, it raises suspicions to me.
I attended the Texas Charter School Convention in October 2015 as an exhibitor. It was a complete joke. Happy Hour at 3 and Tailgate Party at 6, along with booths passing out cigars were the norm. Administrator and Board members were not their to learn how to improve education for Texas students. As a former Texas educator, I walked away heartbroken at the state of education.