http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article210896254.html
Two charter school teachers in Durham, North Carolina, write that their schools are closing on May 16 to join the protest against the Legislature’s underfunding of public schools.
Taylor Schmidt and Morgan Carney, teachers at Central Park Charter School, reflect on their school’s advantages and point out:
“As the 10th largest economy in the nation, North Carolina is currently ranked 39th for per-pupil spending. Public school teachers often reach into their own pocketbooks to buy essentials like pencils and copy paper for overcrowded classrooms, nevermind having the financial support to take 95 sixth graders on a bus to a local farm for project work.
“Adding to these challenges is the broken system of creating and managing charter schools in our state, a system that includes our own school. Soon after we arrived at Central Park, structural shortcomings became apparent. Students of color comprised 81 percent of the demographics of Durham Public Schools in 2013, while students of color at Central Park comprised only 29 percent of the student population. Whereas 66 percent of students in Durham Public Schools were eligible for free and reduced lunch, only 7 percent of CPSC students were eligible for the program.
“This realization led to greater clarity: regardless of our intentions, we had become part of the problem of school resegregation. We petitioned the state to become the first charter school to give weighted lottery preference to economically disadvantaged families. We have changed our policies to provide free and reduced-price lunches and transportation assistance. While there is more work to be done, each year the socioeconomic diversity of our student body better reflects the strengths found in the rich diversity of our community and delivers on the mandate for NC charter schools to provide increased learning opportunities for those most in need.
“In 2018, Central Park is arriving at another moment of clarity. We recognize that, despite positive intentions, we are still part of the problem. As a charter school, we play into a system that has strayed from the original goals. The charter school system has been turned into a Trojan horse that severely underfunds our state’s public schools, creates competition for resources, resegregates our schools, and provides blinders to cover the increasing privatization of North Carolina’s educational institutions through for-profit charter schools. The mission of our school, and the original mission of charter schools, forbid us from staying silent on these issues.
“We intend to actively fight against resegregation of schools by race and class in North Carolina. We stand against privatization, vouchers, and for-profit charter schools, believing passionately that we must serve in collaboration and partnership alongside our communities’ public schools.”
Read more here: http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article210896254.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is only through the stand of such people that the system can be improved. There are many more teachers who need to speak out on the issues, but their silence is deafening. I laud the position taken by these teachers and know that if they continue in this vein that there is much hope for our -The Nation’s – future.
We are at a crossroads of the Nation, in which much is to be attended to: Healthcare, Education funding at the K – 12 level and tuition at the college levels. Indeed, before us are decisions concerning people and the happiness of individuals as against simple profits. People, teachers, will have to continue to speak out and guide the nation on a path which is inclusive of the flourishing of all those who call this great Nation home.
I am less sanguine about the altruism of charter school operators. The parasitic relationships between charter schools and their host districts are more than mere coincidence. Overall charter schools play a segregative role. Their well documented cherry picking strategies leave traditional public school teachers with the most challenging student populations. Although the intentions of these two teachers may be admirable, the debilitating effect of charter schools on American education is without question.
I applaud these teachers for their insight. All of the issues raised point to the value of charter schools merging with public school districts. If a merger were possible, many of the inequities could be managed, greater equity could be attained, and the problems with charter management companies could be erased. However, as long as charter remain for profit entities , there are no opportunities for collaboration, only competition.
I hope they have their resumes updated.
Let’s not forget the ways that “nonprofit” charters have managed to game the system.
The democrat political party is trying to figure out how to position themselves, obviously with a minimum of sincerety, as centrist to fight the nation’s so called shift to the right. McCaskill, and many others, should start figuring out how to fight on behalf of students, parents and teachers…who are not only fighting for survival in public schools, but who are the single most important part of this nation’s genuine connection to democracy, guided by how people vote on issues they understand.
https://qz.com/1245033/this-koch-brothers-backed-law-stops-states-from-raising-teacher-salaries/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5c5ed87e-0075-4ed8-aad0-19dc7ba0c82b
Kudos to these charter school teachers, even if they have yet to realize that the problem is not just for-profit charter schools, but all charter schools. Every charter is a private school that diverts needed resources from public education.