Ah, remember the old days of saving poor black kids from failing schools?
Here is a charter school in Philadelphia that won a renewal on the condition that it attempt to achieve greater racial diversity and get rid of financial conflicts of interest. The charter school is opposing the conditions on its renewal. Too onerous! So what if its schools are majority white in a district that is 14% white? So what if its owners and directors have conflicts of interest? Why should that matter?
The SRC approved the new charter on April 26 after originally denying it on Feb. 22. The conditions were significant – reducing the enrollment total by a third, requiring the school to give preference to students from nearby zip codes with high non-white populations, and changing policies to conform with various state laws.
Franklin Towne’s existing two schools, which enroll 2,100 students in grades K-12, are 70 and 83 percent white, although they are located in a diverse section of the city. In the School District overall, only 14 percent of students are white.
The SRC also imposed conditions on Franklin Towne’s operational structure, which the District’s Charter Schools Office, in evaluating the application, found rife with conflicts of interest among its schools, its boards, its management organization, and its landlord.
Why not just copy the Minneapolis-St. Paul model and have charter schools that are all white, and others that are all-black? Do you have a problem with that?
Charters are more segregated than public schools. We know that. Who will have the nerve to oppose it when the Founding Fathers of charters in Minneapolis-St. Paul think that segregation and non-union charters are just fine, even, well, “progressive.”
Apparently, if you are part of the charter movement, separate but equal is a swell doctrine.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good GAWD…
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Franklin Towne Charter is an extreme example of pay to play. This Tacony neighborhood was a white working class area that in recent decades has become more diverse. Joseph Venditti, a well connected developer, has exploited the lack of regulation and oversight in Philly’s charter industry. Venditti, CEO of Franklin Towne Charters, has treated himself to a generous salary and one of those lucrative self leasing deals common in the corrupt charter industry. By keeping his school mostly white, he is trying to protect his investment in the school and neighborhood. The unregulated charter industry promotes segregation by using and abusing public funds. Anyone that knows the history of our nation understands that separate is never equal.
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even kids separated by income perpetuates 1) wealthy hands-off cluelessness 2) devastating patterns of poverty
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Pennsylvania charter laws are awful. Ed reformers will do nothing but eventually, the public will get wise, as they did in Ohio, and then there will be huge scandals and all the political hacks running for cover on the question “how did this happen?”
The charter school scandal in Ohio is the biggest scandal ever in the history of the state.
Nothing else even comes close, as far as dollars. Ed reformers not only didn’t stop it, they mindlessly cheerled every step of the way.
Pennsylvania’s crash will be bigger. They all know this. The state auditor has been issuing annual warnings once a year for years. He’s completely ignored.
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This charter’s owners belong to the Alt-Right Deep State.
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Hate to say it but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Venditti is a very well-connected Dem. His ability to grift is directly the result of his ties to Philly Dems. In fact, PA’s putridly bad charter law was sponsored by my then state representative Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia). PA’s charter laws are the result of an alliance between key Philly Dems (Evans now is in the US house) and Republicans from the rest of the state.
To add a little more detail to Retired Teacher’s excellent account … Franklin Towne isn’t just a real estate and segregation scheme, the schools go right up to the line where religion is concerned. They’ve drawn many students by offering what might reasonably be called Catholic schoool lite. Many of the teachers are former Diocesan teachers and the schools offer CCD classes and other Catholic themed activities after school. What they are doing isn’t illegal but make no mistake they have from the beginning marketed their schools as being something close to the local parish schoool but without tuition.
There also the outrageous salary Venditti pays himself ($281k) and his extensive friends and family hiring practices just for good measure.
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The Alt-Right Deep State includes libertarians, neo-liberals (Democrats), neo-conservatives (Republican) and serial lying, bully, racist crooks like Trump.
The Democratic Party has been infiltrated by minions of the Alt-Right Deep State. That’s why you find members of the Alt-Right in the Democratic Party. We even have some in California who ran as Democrats against real Democrats and won because they had more money from the Alt-Right’s deep pockets.
There is no Liberal Deep State. There has never been a Liberal Deep State. That fake conspiracy theory was invented by the Alt-Right Deep State.
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PA Democrats via Governor Wolf have caved to religious groups demanding the right to discriminate. “After pressure from religious schools, Pa. removes nondiscrimination language from tax credit program” http://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/06/07/after-pressure-from-religious-schools-pa-removes-nondiscrimination-language-from-tax-credit-program/
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