Two charter schools in Memphis are breaking their ten-year contracts, leaving Memphis because of under enrollment.
Some residents don’t understand how a charter school can break a ten-year contract.
Apparently the contracts were written on the assumption that the charters would be flooded with applications. They are not.
“Contracts signed by both Gestalt Community Schools and KIPP contain no penalties for exiting the Achievement School District before agreements run out, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat.
“And by design, that’s not unusual in the charter sector. For better or worse, operators are given that autonomy, according to Dirk Tillotson, a lawyer and founder of a charter incubation organization in California.
“There hasn’t been much attention paid to closures in the law,” Tillotson said of charter laws nationwide. “The laws are more forward-looking than backward-looking when things might blow up.”
“That lack of clarity has suddenly started to matter a lot in Memphis, where charter schools are struggling to attract enough students to stay viable. Both KIPP and Gestalt blame their impending pullouts on under-enrollment — a challenge faced by more than half of the 31 Memphis schools operated by the ASD.”
No miracles.
The bloom is off the rose.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I look on this as good news. The parents/children of the areas served by these charter schools, are not satisfied with the schools. They are exercising their right to leave, and not utilize the schools. The charters will disappear.
It would appear to be, that the public schools (and other educational venues) are serving the parents/children properly.
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These are not quite “autonomous schools.” They are more lIke any retail store, some like KIPP, a franchise. Lots of marketing. Customers do not show up? Shuttter the operation and leave. Take as much with you as possible.
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The way it’s been explained to me by insiders is that the underenrollment is because the parts of the city where the schools are located have experienced a decrease in school age children, which is supported by the article.
Even if the strategy pursued by the ASD had been effective, which it hasn’t been, it seems likely it would be be running into this problem.
What isn’t clear to me is why there would be such a large reduction in potential students in only five years.
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Nice looking swing but you’re still out!
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Who might those “insiders” be. Please, give us some names and positions so we can determine how much of what they say can be believed.
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Who they are isn’t important, since the points were stated in the article.
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Greg,
What has been explain in the article is not what you were referring to. You were referring to “insiders who explained to you”. Without knowing who they are we have no capability to discern whether what they say is likely to be true or not. Kind of like the lame stream media’s usage of “anonymous top official” to justify a statement-a little too cozy and a lot to be questioned, not believed.
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I don’t understand, Duane. Why do you need their names to figure out if the population of school aged children has dropped where these two schools were located?
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It’s the “unnamed sources” problem that occurs on an almost daily basis in the news media and elsewhere. Without out names, one cannot verify whether those “unnamed sources” can be trusted, and really shouldn’t be trusted in any manner.
I use my name for all to see. Why do others feel the need to be so secretive. Don’t expect me to believe those who will not own up to their own statements. Are they cowards? I’m not sure.
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Unnamed or not, if the information provided is of interest, we should be looking for independent verification. What good does it do if the unnamed sources can no longer be used as a source of information because they have lost the ability to hide in plain sight? It is natural to want to call someone out when they appear to deal exclusively in rumor and innuendo. I try not to fall into that category, and at this point my “coming out” would probably not cause much harm, but I can’t be 100% sure I won’t end up hurting other people if I did so. To anyone who might care, rest assured that I am a nobody whose pronouncement carry no authority. Fact check me if I say something that needs verification. Just know that no one should be quoting me as an expert at anything.
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The bloom is off the turd is more like it.
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Public schools can’t just pull up (the) roots (that charter schools never plant) and leave. Charters are NOT accountable. Hopefully the tide will turn and continue to turn.
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And the real question is – did these charters buy desks, etc.? What happens to the equipment, desks, etc.? Did they rent buildings? We know the kids get thrown back to the public schools, but what about the STUFF? All that cash spent on administrators, etc. It makes me want to vomit.
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Therlo,
In Ohio, the charter corporations OWN everything purchased with public funds.
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Is there some kind of conflict or relationship between vouchers and charter schools? Because as these charter schools are getting out, Memphis is under threat of a state charter bill, which specifically targets Memphis (despite official local opposition)?
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Another thing I do not understand is that while these charter operators are getting out of Memphis, we have enormous teacher shortage—and so online companies target univ students to try to get teacher certificates.
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