Rob Levine describes in this post the concentration of corporate reformers on Minneapolis, where millions of dollars are pouring in to the city to turn it into the New Orleans of the north, a mecca for charter operators without public schools.
He writes:
In Minneapolis there are now 34 operating charter schools that enroll almost 12,000 students. In St. Paul there are now 37 operating charter schools enrolling more than 13,000 students. By comparison both districts currently enroll about 36,000 students. While it’s obviously true that students who enroll in a charter school in one city don’t necessarily hail from there, the numbers are a good benchmark.
The Walton Family Foundation has started 46% of all open charter schools in Minneapolis
And charter advocates are hard at work enlarging that total, in Minneapolis, at least. The charter advocacy and startup organization Charter School Partners (CSP – now Minnesota Comeback), is in the middle of a five year plan to open 20 new charter schools in Minneapolis. Last year Comeback announced that it had secured $30 million in commitments from philanthropies, which it plans to use to create “… 30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats – particularly for students of color and low-income students” by 2025 in Minneapolis.
Though it has existed for barely a year Comeback has already collected $1.4 million in grants from the Minneapolis,Joyce and WEM (Whitney MacMillan) foundations.
Whatever “rigorous and relevant” means, 30,000 new “seats” in a district that has a student population of about 36,000 students is essentially a plan to kill that public school district. As Alejandra Matos wrote in the Star Tribune a year ago, some Minneapolis education officials “…suspect Minnesota Comeback is out to undermine the traditional public school system by replacing it with a vast network of charter schools, like in New Orleans or Washington, D.C.”
How might that happen? In 2013 Moody’s Investors Services issued a report warning that charter schools could drain enough money from regular school districts to in effect create a mini death spiral. It warned that in response to lost revenue districts might “…cut academic and other programs, reducing service levels and thereby driving students to seek educational alternatives, including charter schools…”
It’s worth remembering that in 2016 the Minneapolis school district experienced an unexpected $20 million shortfall.
So the corporate reformers plan to add “30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats.” Where is the store that sells those seats? Can anyone buy one? Or are those high-quality seats sold only to charter operators?
Funny that so many evaluations show traditional public schools outperforming charter schools, even though the charters say they have a monopoly on those special chairs. Maybe it is because the traditional public schools are staffed by real teachers, not TFA.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“And charter advocates are hard at work enlarging that total, in Minneapolis, at least. The charter advocacy and startup organization Charter School Partners (CSP – now Minnesota Comeback), is in the middle of a five year plan to open 20 new charter schools in Minneapolis. Last year Comeback announced that it had secured $30 million in commitments from philanthropies, which it plans to use to create “… 30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats – particularly for students of color and low-income students” by 2025 in Minneapolis.
Though it has existed for barely a year Comeback has already collected $1.4 million in grants from the Minneapolis,Joyce and WEM (Whitney MacMillan) foundations.”
Ed reformers insist they are “agnostics” despite really overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
If they are agnostics are they telling us there are NO solid or successful public schools that should be expanded? None.
Is that true? Because if it isn’t then they’re not agnostics. They’re charter promoters.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with pursuing an ideological or personal preference. It is wrong to deny holding one and acting on it. It’s wrong because it’s misleading.
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When people shop at Walmart, they are there to purchase cheap crap at a cheap price. That’s what keeps them in business. Why on earth would anyone think that Walmart would offer anything of high quality….even when it comes to education? Bottom line….greed and money for the Waltons all while keeping the poor and middle class “in their place”.
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Of course there are many successful district schools. Some districts do that
NYC set up several replications of Central Park East though previous posts have noted that the district has placed a principal not supportive of CPE principles in the school. NYC also has replicated some other successful district schools – Such as Frederick Douglass.
Boston has expanded the Pilot School approach. So has LA.
The St Paul Public Schools have opened a second Montessori elementary school and a Montessori junior high school in response to parent request (and movement by some frustrated families into Montessori charters).
Minnesota also has a “teacher led” district school program that has provided startup grants to district teachers to create new options within the district. Last week’s Ed Week has a front page story about this. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/04/19/in-minnesota-and-us-teacher-powered-schools-take.html
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US News (and World Report) claims that this year is the first year charter high schools topped their national rankings.
If you have the stomach for this test-score driven ranking scheme, unfortunatly with greater national visibility than any other, you look at the link.
I checked the Ohio ratings. The schools with the highest scores had selective admission tests or they were in some of the wealthiest communities in Ohio.
US News ratings. Many were public schiols not charters.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools
Here are the scoring criteria. US news got the ratings bug in 1983. The editors rate everything they can. On the international rankings of education, the USA was 7th.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings
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What is carefully never lauded or even made public is the fact that in our nation’s wealthier neighborhoods, public school students compete comfortably with global students each year on national standardized tests.
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Big surprise, my district has a bifurcated student population a very wealthy district with an integration plan that straddles another town and school district for the High Schools. Big surprise who could have predicted that the High School with only 13% of children needing economic assistance was a gold medal school in the low 400s and the school with 16% of children needing economic assistance, would be a silver medal school in the low 500s . Amazing how that works . Funnier still for what ever reasons, every few years the district divvies up the feeder schools and addresses for each HS . I would bet you the Brooklyn Bridge (if you believe I own it) that the rankings change accordingly.
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You are using “replicate” as if could mean anything.
This word is great for any franchise operation and for machine tooling.
Montessori schools are governed by a philosophy, recommended methods of teaching, and some ready-to-use teaching materials. But I think they are not replicas of each other. We have a strong Montessori presence in my community, including one of the first K-12 programs–in a public school system.
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Agreed, Laura, replicate can mean many things. Yes, Montessori schools have some similarities and differences. Congrats on having K-12 Montessori in your district. Are you in CIncy? I know they have strong k-12 Montessori schools there. Or are you in another community?
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Joe do you EVER try to comment at the issue at hand? Are you happy with Minnesota Comeback’s plan for 30,000 new seats in Minneapolis? Are you happy knowing Walmart heirs have started almost half the charter schools in Minneapolis?
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Actually, I’m delighted that in Minneapolis, in response to charters, the union and district applied for and received $ to help some district schools become “teacher led.”
I’m delighted that the Minneapolis district has expanded the number of opportunities that district students have to earn free college credit in response to the PSEO program which allows students to attend courses on colleges campuses. (another school choice plan that’s been around since 1985.
Do I agree with the policies of every corporation that has given dollars to public schools (district or charter)? No.
Is having options good for families and students? Yes. Do we need to help districts improve existing schools as well as provide new options? Yes.
Going to meet with some folks to do what’s described above so won’t be able to comment further until later in the day.
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Thanks for proving my point Joe Nathan.
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It’s typical, Rob: misdirection, distraction and shilling for the hostile takeover of public education has been Mr. Nathan’s mission on this site from the beginning. As soon as I saw the headline, I knew we’d encounter a string of non sequiturs, irrelevancies and deception from him, masquerading as “Minnesota Nice” informativeness.
Lying and privateering: it’s the charter school way.
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You still insist on calling charter schools public schools. Hogwash!
One problem with the takeover by various charter operators is that none of them are concerned with the public good. However well or poorly a PUBLIC school system performs, its mission extends to the education of all children for the public good as well as for personal fulfillment.
Am I surprised that Minneapolis developed an unexpected deficit? It would appear that the same destruction of the public schools that is and has occurred in other districts is finally beginning to affect Minneapolis. I’m sure you all have excuses for why this deficit has occurred that have nothing to do with draining district resources from the public schools for the benefit of charter schools. The spin has been well developed in Chicago as they cannibalize this public asset for the benefit of wealthy “benefactors.”
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These corporations are anti public education and will do whatever to destroy our public schools.
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The Walton family = one SICK and most disgusting Oligapoly. Glad WE haven’t drank the KOOK AID being shoveled and at us.
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Traditional community-based, democratic, transparent, non-profit public schools don’t have those “new rigorous and relevant seats” that autocratic, often fraudulent and inferior, opaque, child abusing, and for-profit corporate charter schools have because those seats have biases programmed into them and those seats do not tolerate children that are a challenge to work with. In fact, those “new rigorous and relevant seats” have an automated reject button that ejects (without a parachute) difficult to teach children back to the traditional public schools that have seats for every child.
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Considering the rapid increase in the amount of charter schools in the United States and the addition of Betsy Devos, information like this is critical to understanding how the growth of charters will effect the nation at large. It’s important to generate awareness towards the funding of charter schools because those companies have a direct interest in the curriculum and the results that are generated by their funding of charter schools.
I can’t argue with the skepticism that Ravitch has towards the legitimacy of the claim that “30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats – particularly for students of color and low-income students.” I am choosing to remain positive towards Comeback and The Walton Family Foundation based on what I hope is a legitimate attempt at creating a stronger learning process for students that may not be receiving an education that directly appeals to them. I certainly plan on investigating these groups for myself now that I know they are contributing such an enormous amount of capital into education. I have primarily aligned my views with the argument for school choice and thus I have advocated for the growth of charter schools in the past. Despite my views I can’t deny that the creation of 30,000 new “seats” in a district of 36,000 does appear to condemn the public school system of St. Paul, Minneapolis.
I firmly believe that school choice will become vital to the process of generating more information towards effective teaching strategies as the amount of specialized schools increases in the decade to come. School choice does have a fundamental requirement, a choice. If charters are being funded to phase out the public school system, that can create a dangerous scenario in which parents and students aren’t offered the opportunity to select a school that best fits their needs. I can’t stand by my own affinity for the concept of school choice without defending the public school system because some families most likely still prefer public schooling. School choice is based on offering a variety of curriculum and school structures. The replacement of the public school system though private capital is clearly moving at a rapid pace and therefore we must remain vigilant towards where the money is coming from and the intentions of the foundations that are attempting to take control of how education functions in the United States.
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James,
I appreciate your thoughtful comments.
Under School Choice, it is usually the school that does the choosing. If your child has a disability, they may not be chosen. If your child doesn’t speak English, they may not be chosen. If your child is a behavior problem or gets low scores, he may be suspended so many times that you decide to withdraw.
I don’t know of any pedagogical innovation associated with voucher schools. The one innovation of charter schools is “no excuses,” a regimen of strict discipline and conformity. However, that’s a back-to-the-19th century behavioral strategy, not pedagogy.
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Another innovation is the teacher cooperative running a school – so that the majority of teachers on a school’s board of directors are teachers working in the school. This came originally from some rural Mn teachers whose (farmer) parents were part of farmer led coops – the farmers hired people to help them run the coop.
At some teach coop schools the teachers decide on their salary and working conditions, the curriculum, focus and learning/teaching strategies.
Some district educators have decided they very much like the idea of teacher led schools, and two national conferences have been held at which district and charter educators in these ideas have learned from each other.
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Joe Nathan,
Another innovation is outsourcing the local public school to a national corporate charter chain or to a Gulenist-Turkish charter school.
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“I am choosing to remain positive towards Comeback and The Walton Family Foundation based on what I hope is a legitimate attempt at creating a stronger learning process for students that may not be receiving an education that directly appeals to them.”
On what would you base that hope? What has Walmart ever done legitimately, other than make a fast buck off the backs of working Americans (and foreign labor)?
“I firmly believe that school choice will become vital to the process of generating more information towards effective teaching strategies as the amount of specialized schools increases in the decade to come.”
“School choice” in the form of charters has been around since at least the early 90s. You don’t think that’s time enough for them to have “generated more information towards effective teaching strategies” if such were going to happen? What such information have they generated thus far? What have we learned from charters other than skimming, creaming and cheating?
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“If charters are being funded to phase out the public school system…”
If?
Really, at this stage of things you can, with a straight face, ask, “If?”
Where have you been over the past thirty years, as public schools, their teachers and unions, have been demeaned, libeled and scapegoated?
Where have you been while billions of dollars have been diverted to private interests, who have dishonestly and disgracefully called school privatization (and its resulting increased segregation) “the civil rights movement of out time?”
Where have you been while so-called “innovations” have resulted in punitive, behaviorist training camps for dark-skinned and Other People’s children?
Where have you been while students have been turned into a monetized data stream?
Where have you been while the tradition of local, democratically-governed public schools has been increasingly dismantled, especially in cities?
Where have you been while teachers have had their careers, health and lives ruined n the name of so-called reform, and their entire profession pushed towards, at-will temporary employment.
“If?”
Please, spare us.
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30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats.”
Where is the store that sells those seats?
Can anyone buy one?
Or are those high-quality seats sold only to charter operators?
This evening I will meditate on the meaning of a “rigorous” seat and to whom it might be “relevant.”
Of course the seat-thing is an artifact of reifying test scores and stack ratings, then using these to identify the low performing seats in a district. It is a corporate-inspired rhetorical tool for dehumanizing students and their education. The usual reference isto “high quality” seats.
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“This evening I will meditate on the meaning of a “rigorous” seat and to whom it might be “relevant.””
Personally I wouldn’t waste my time. (TFPiC)
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Laura,
Public schools buy their seats at a store for low-quality, and they lack rigor or relevance.
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Diane,
unfortunately much of what Rob Levine blogged about is either inaccurate or misleading. A building block of journalism is accuracy and transparency, neither of those values are reflected in this blog post. While the rules and ethics of journalism don’t automatically translate to blogging, facts matter — a lot.
Our work is grounded in collaboration across sectors; we’re proud of the 80-plus local organizations and schools that not only comprise our coalition, but drive our strategy and grant making.
This includes Minneapolis Public Schools, which partners with us regularly in our equity-based strategies to make sure students most in-need have access to both rigorous and relevant schools. The district is also one of our grantees, including our coalition funding the district’s Minneapolis Residency Program, professional development that responds to the articulated needs of principals, strategies to boost the retention of educators of color, a school, as well as supporting (financially) the campaign last fall to renew the district’s operating referendum).
What’s more, we are not in the middle of “a five-year plan to open 20 new charter schools in Minneapolis.” Our goal has always been, and will continue to be, expanding proven and promising schools and addressing schools that are failing to meet student needs across all three school sectors. Each school sector helps identify school-specific strategies.
There was one thing he did get right about us. We have set a goal a goal of 30,000 rigorous and relevant seats for students who receive Free or Reduced-Priced lunch by the year 2025. But that doesn’t mean 30,000 new seats in independent and charter schools, and it doesn’t mean shuttering the doors of district schools in Minneapolis as Rob would have you believe. Quite the contrary.
As the largest education provider in Minneapolis, we are counting on MPS to provide many of those rigorous and relevant seats in their existing classrooms by doubling down on what’s working in high-performing schools and taking on the challenge of fixing schools that just aren’t making it. We stand by this goal. There are glaring disparities in K-12 education that disproportionally impact marginalized communities. In Minneapolis, the gaps are alarming regardless of sector (and are among the very worst in the nation).
That’s why we say we’re creating rigorous and relevant “seats” it’s not about one particular school or school type, it’s about all of us, collaborating together to provide the best possible education for our city’s students. This language also helps us hold ourselves accountable, rather than shifting the blame onto the students, teachers, or schools.
Diane, as an influential blogger in the education space we think it is imperative that you have a good understanding of the facts when it comes to our coalition’s work. Your readers deserve as much. We propose that you interview us in a question and answer format and post the interview to your blog so that your readers can benefit from an accurate description of our work. If this is acceptable to you, please let us know. You can contact us directly by visiting our website: http://www.mncomeback.org
Sincerely,
Al Fan
MN Comeback
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So Al Fan sent around an email that claimed my writing is “light on facts, sources or data” — a claim that is a ludicrous as anything he’s ever written – and that’s saying something.
For example, on the MN Comeback website he states categorically that “We know that access to high-quality schools, not a child’s background or ability, is the most important factor in student achievement.” Anyone with any familiarity with education research knows that is complete bunk.
My new website is pretty much ONLY facts – derived from IRS 990 reports and the Minnesota Department of Education. And if Al Fan is so concerned about accuracy maybe he would have answered some of my many phone calls and emails to him. But he dodged all but one.
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Oh – and in his email Fan is troubled by my “lack of accountability.” Talk about projection!
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Oh and about those 20 new charter schools? Fan’s group took down their old website, possibly to he could continue to tell lies. But someone mirrored it in 2013 (I think) where there is this:
“Charter School Partners strategic focus for New Schools for the Twin Cities is to help create 20 new high-performing, high-achieving charter schools in the next five years serving Twin Cities-area…” The page is titled “New schools for Minneapolis” so you decide whether what I wrote is true.
http://lucybstillwater.pegasus.webaloo.com/new_schools_for_minneapolis.aspx
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Al Fan,
I went to the website and the opening page says that your organization wants to create “30,000 rigorous and relevant seats.”
Please explain how a “seat” can be “rigorous and relevant”?
I am sitting on a chair right now that serves me well as a desk chair. I write quite a lot while sitting on this seat. Knowing that I needed comfort, I bought an expensive chair called an Aeron chair. It is a “high-quality” chair.
It is not a “rigorous” chair.
I am not even sure whether it is a “relevant” chair.
What am I missing? Is there a special store I can go to where they sell “rigorous and relevant” seats?
I did notice the Walton Family Foundation as one of your donors. That’s a dead giveaway for privatized charter schools.
Rob Levine said in his article that you plan to privatize the district with your 30,000 “rigorous and relevant seats.” Since there are only 35,000 students in the district, I think he is right on target.
Please be sure to let my readers know where to find “rigorous and relevant seats.”
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Al Fan, YOU are NOT an “education provider” in Minneapolis. You do not govern how MPS runs its schools. You are not an elected official, and you have no business pretending that you have any authority to dictate what happens here. Shame on you and your corporate partners for trying to use your $$$ to push your political agenda rather than supporting the experienced people who actually do the hard work of trying to educate children in a hostile and financially arid political environment.
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Diane your response to Al’s post was sophomoric at best. Creating a rigorous and relevant seat does not in fact refer to a chair as I know that you are bright enough to figure out. You instead use what seems to define both your and Rob’s discourse, take a statement that somebody that you disagree with makes, take it out of context and all semblance of common sense and use it to attack their position. What this does is it immediately defeats the ability for two disagreeing parties to discuss their differences and come to a resolution.
The only way that more positive outcomes can be reached for children all around the country is if adults with power both political and editorial, will put aside their need to get those who agree with them to chuckle at how “witty” they are being. No one gains anything from disagreeing parties being “witty” at each other. what works is engaging in constructive dialogue to find common ground and productive solutions. That is exactly what Minnesota Comeback is about and exactly the point that you and Rob are missing.
I would ask that you take up Al on his offer to engage in constructive dialogue about what he and his organization are doing to engage parties in dialogue that will help children sit in seats that provide them a rigorous and relevant education. If you agree to the interview I’ll even provide some seats, how’s a vedbo look to you http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40342488/.
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Adam,
I have a problem with organizations that make sophomoric promises about supplying “high-quality seats” or “rigorous and relevant seats.” Such organizations do not qualify for serious responses.
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Did you even read my piece? Please tell me how you compromise with a plutocratic funded organization that wants to kill your school district? And Al Fan – he and his organization are constantly lying through their teeth. Maybe you think that is ok?
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BTW – I DID try to have a constructive conversation with Al Fan. I emailed and telephoned him maybe a half-dozen times – he never responded.
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Diane,
Please explain to me what you find sophomoric about providing children with a high-quality or rigorous or relevant education. You said in a recent article that “the key to our future success is to make sure that the education we provide our young people is the best in the world,” and also, “Let us recognize here and now that public education is an essential institution of our democratic society.” I agree with both of these statements and I think you will find if you engage in a serious discourse with others that Al Fan and Minnesota Comeback share these goals. I have read much of your work and I believe you want the best for the children of this country, I just ask that you find it within you to believe that this desire lies in the hearts of others and in this case lies at the heart of Minnesota Comeback.
Rob,
I did read your piece and I also find the idea of a corporatized school system to be something we should avoid, but we can achieve that goal without subversion of the facts. In your piece you mislead the reader a number of times. Firstly you erroneously claim that MN Comebacks aim to add 30,000 seats is a push for destroying the public school system rather than the reality of their goal is to improve the education of 30,000 students no matter if they are in public independent or charter schools. You mislead the reader again in naming schools who receive large amount of foundation dollars and then move on to a list of underperforming schools, which does not match the list of schools getting large donations. You lead the reader to your conclusion without thought of where the data actually brings you. Also, as Al stated in his response, The Minneapolis Public School system is a part of their coalition looking for positive solutions and thus have a seat at the table in deciding where foundation funding goes. The model represented in Minnesota Comeback actually should allay some of your fears about a “plutocratic funded” school district killer. In bringing together diverse voices from across the educational landscape they have return control of the money to informed actors within the current education system. This allows for a funding program to go towards meeting the needs of children rather than going towards what the foundation wants to do, whether it be nefarious or otherwise.
To the point that you have tried to contact Mr. Fan, I cannot speak, as I am not he.
Very Best,
Adam
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Tell me how I mislead about schools getting grants? They are from the IRS 990s! How does that not match the MDOE data? The ONLY charter schools in my database are ones that got grants! Maybe $220k to a charter school for startup from the Walton Family Foundation somehow doesn’t qualify as aid in your world? About my seeking out Al Fan – YOU’RE the one who was criticizing me for not engaging in constructive dialog. What was I supposed to do, camp out on his stoop?
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Also – how do you take seriously an organization that says the following on their strategy page: “We know that access to high-quality schools, not a child’s background or ability, is the most important factor in student achievement.”
A third grader doing a report would know that is a huge lie.
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…and most of my writing doesn’t comment much on closed charter schools. Here’s a good one: Minnesota Business Academy. $250k in startup grants from Walmart heirs – open for five years – a spectacular failure that was touted by local media and advocates before it opened. http://www.edhivemn.com/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=363
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Please stop telling us how Comeback plans to work within the district. Perhaps you missed the “new” part of Minnesota Comebacks plan for “seats” – “The Great MN Schools fund is accelerating the creation of 30,000 new rigorous and relevant seats”
http://www.educationcities.org/members/mn-comeback/
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Just curious Adam – we know about everyone else here. Can you tell us about yourself?
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Al Fan and Minnesota Comeback strike back and slander those shining a light on his dark work to increase charter schools in Minneapolis at the expense of the existing public schools. “In an email blast sent to supporters recently, the local education reform advocacy group, Minnesota Comeback, warned that “laggards” and “fringe bloggers”–myself included–are “spew(ing) false descriptions” of their work. With a subject line that read, “You’re an innovator. Diane Ravitch and fringe bloggers won’t get that,” the email sought to control Minnesota Comeback’s message of being the source of new thinking (and funding) on education. The pep talk continued later in the email, with a direct message to Minnesota Comeback investors, er…innovators…..Success, it seems, has led to unwarranted attacks from bloggers–like me, Ravitch and Levine–who avoid data and instead run on speculation and a laggard-like lack of dedication to rigor. “A growing trend of bloggers like Sarah Lahm, Rob Levine and Diane Ravitch spew false depictions of our work,” Fan advises the group’s email recipients, before complaining that, “what’s most troubling is the lack of accountability.” The email encourages supporters to go to Ravitch’s website and contribute positive comments about the group, so that Ravitch might be persuaded to interview Minnesota Comeback and offer a “fair” depiction of their work.In the interest of fairness, I think it is important to consider a few things. First, Minnesota Comeback is part of a national organization, Education Cities, that is funded by a heavy hitting collection of billionaires, including the Gates, Dell, and Walton foundations. (For a review of the pitfalls of this kind of support, read Joanne Barkan’s 2011 piece, “Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools.“)…”
http://www.brightlightsmallcity.com/minnesota-comeback-cites-laggards-fringe-bloggers-as-problematic/
Thanks to you Diane, Rob Levine, and Sarah Lahm for your work exposing these grifters working to siphon money in the name of education. The corporate education reformers in Minneapolis are as thick as thieves.
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