In a hotly contested lawsuit about whether to lift the cap on charter schools, the New England NAACP and the Lawyers’ Committee of Massachusetts intervened to oppose lifting of the cap.
The groups are getting involved because they say charter schools divert millions of dollars from traditional public schools each year, but serve far fewer students with disabilities and who are English language learners, as well as impose harsher discipline on students of color….
Juan Cofield, president of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP, said the organization wants to see students provided with the greatest education that our resources will allow.
“We firmly believe that setting up a separate system is destructive to the notion of providing the best education for all students,’’ he said.
We had two separate systems of education in this country until the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. It took years of struggle to uproot that dual school system, but it is being revived under a new name today: public schools and charter schools.
Good to see that Gates Foundation has NOT co-opted all civil rights groups and lawyers willing to push back aganst the charters.
Laura,
Gates bought the national civil rights groups but not the state and local chapters. The Seattle NAACP is outspoken against privatization and high stakes testing, as is the NC NAACP, headed by Rev Barber.
I have been waiting for civil rights groups to understand what is really going on under privatization. Charters drain funds from the public schools and further resegregate them. Most charters are several steps down from community based, democratically operated public schools which operate at a disadvantage with the loss of funding. The priority of charters is profit despite all their hype and spin about excellence. Charters never have the same level of transparent accountability that public schools do. Students always take a backseat to profit in charters. Black leaders need to work to get adequately funded urban public schools and look at innovative ways to desegregate them. All children deserve authentic teachers in well resourced public schools. Separate is never equal.
yes.
Worst thing NC ever did (well, among the worst) was lift the cap we had on charters.
Thanks, RttT.
Charter schools tried to originally sell themselves as an opportunity for children of color to lift themselves out of the tyranny of the “low expectations” of public schools. Many civil rights groups bought that idea, and supported the dismantling of public schools. That’s how the buy-in by many supposed liberal types was encouraged. It was only a sales pitch, but it came with a lot of perks for those who bought in. I can only hope the tide is turning.
No person, who is tethered in reality, thinks the imposition of high standards, absent real factors that could affect learning results, will work. On the other hand, if espousing the rhetoric, serves the individual’s ideology or wallet, he/she may deliver the message from the highest mountain, in the loudest and, most passionate of voices. Humility, reticence, and honesty have a wide berth among rephormers.
People in Massachusetts have no idea what they’re in for. Charters will so dominate any and all education effort or discussion they will find public schools have completely dropped off the radar other than as unfavorable comparisons to be used to lobby for more charter schools.
Ohio lawmakers do nothing else. They’re either expanding charters and vouchers or reforming their last expansion of charters and vouchers. Once a year they drop by to scold parents on testing or dump another ill-considered mandate or gimmick along with budget cuts. “Ed reform” is all downside for public schools. Let the abandoning begin.
In most of the cities I know, the downtown is becoming a destination for new population growth. Is there a relationship between the growth of upscale downtown development and the push for charter schools? Both are occurring at the same time, but that does not mean they are related. I just wondered.
Privatization and charters go hand in hand. We have seen the same scenario in city after city. Public schools near the central business district are closed and replaced by a cheap charter out of the neighborhood. The local poor minority children are dispersed further out from the central hub. The developers grab the properties, and rebuild yuppie dwellings. Then, a selective charter arrives to scoop up the newly arrived white students. That is how we resegregate our cities while making a huge profit in the process This scheme is the civil rights issue of our times, not our “failing” public schools.http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/articles/harlem-community-battles-developers-privatization-schools-and-housing
Neely Fuller describes what you’ve observed, as an intentional effort to keep Black people on the move, so that they are denied the ability to build equity and, to ever gain the benefits that neighborhood stability provide.
Thank you for the information. Sad it seems I was right
Oh, look no further than “Teachers Village” on Broad and Halsey Streets in the heart of downtown Newark, NJ. Residential units for the Teach for America scabs, and three charter schools. This was a financial windfall for the developers, the realtors, the politicians, TFA and charter schools. Meanwhile, even with NJPAC and Prudential’s “the Rock” concert stadium, and the now defunct Newark Bears minor league baseball stadium (which rumors abound might be turned into a CASINO…so sad…the thieving and murdering that might go on if that occurs), downtown Newark is NOT turning around and gentrifying try as it may. When the sun goes down, downtown Newark, is not where you want to be.
After a Britney Spears concern, 2 MEN were beat up by a girl gang at 11pm. No one stopped to help them.
Who attends those charter schools? I don’t have a clue. Certainly NOT the lawyers and high brass at PSE&G or Prudential. I’m not even sure if those charters are full to capacity.
Massachusetts’ citizens will be voting on a ballot question in November that will increase the number of new privately run charter schools by 12 every year, in perpetuity. There are no restrictions on where these fund suckers might be located although they are supposed to prioritize low performing districts.
The ballot question is not about a need for charters or any other kind of school or education resource. It is not about their quality or ethics. It is certainly not about their cost because our charter school laws specifically state that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) that grants their charters is not to consider the impact on communities that will be sending students.
Commonwealth Charter Schools in Massachusetts are a perfect example of taxation without representation regardless of their quality. They are funded by tax payers’ money but operated privately and with no expectation of transparency.
Commonwealth Charter Schools are approved by the appointed, not elected, members of the BESE who decide whether and where to grant charters with complete autonomy. Local citizens have absolutely no recourse. They just have to pay.
Is this the same NAACP that previously
wanted annual testing for all grades and no excuses charter schools for impoverished scholars?
Copied and pasted from above:
“dianeravitch
June 30, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Laura,
Gates bought the national civil rights groups but not the state and local chapters. The Seattle NAACP is outspoken against privatization and high stakes testing, as is the NC NAACP, headed by Rev Barber.”