Today, the Network for Public Education and the Schott Foundation for Public Education released the first ever state-by-state report card on privatization of public funds intended for public schools.
It is titled: “Grading the States: A Report Card on Our Nation’s Commitment to Public Schools.”
Where does your state rank?
Is your state diverting public funds for privately managed charter schools?
Does your state offer vouchers for unregulated, unaccountable religious and private schools?
Does your state have neovoucher schools that encourage corporations and wealthy individuals to underwrite the cost of religious and private education instead of paying taxes to support public schools?
Billions of dollars are being diverted from public schools to pay for tuition in nonpublic schools, some of which hire uncertified teachers and some of which enroll students who were previously enrolled in private schools.
The big takeaway from this report is that every dollar that goes to a charter school or a religious or private school is a dollar taken away from public schools whose doors are open to all, regardless of race, religion, gender, language. Disability, or LGBT status.
In reading the report, you will notice that the overwhelming majority of parents choose public schools in every state.
No matter how many programs are created to promote private alternatives, the public chooses their democratically controlled public schools.
This is a landmark report that identifies the states that fully support their public schools. Inform yourself so you are prepared to fight privatization and defend public education—of, by, and for the people. Not the billionaires. Not the hedge fund managers. Not the entrepreneurs. Not the religious zealots. Not the profiteers. Not Betsy DeVos.
For the people.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree with the low ranking given to Arkansas. Here, we are overrun with charter schools, and I frequently hear horror stories about them. I am a public school teacher, and directly witness the fact that our public schools are short on resources because of diversion of money to our state’s numerous charter schools.
Hah, that’s Bill’s and Hillary’s doing.
Don’t forget about the Walton Foundation. This is the home state of Walmart, after all.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but–at one time–wasn’t HRC on WalMart Board?
That swathe of failing grades along the Great Lakes is amazing- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The experimental dumping ground for the worst ed reform policy in the country.
If voters don’t get rid of ed reform-captured lawmakers in these states, our public schools will continue to decline and we will end up with the worst public school systems in the country. They are harming 90% of families in these states in order to push charters and vouchers. The quality of the public schools goes down in direct relation to the number of ed reform lawmakers, lobbyists and consultants we hire. They don’t work on behalf of public schools because they oppose the continued existence of public schools. Stop hiring them, and for goodness sakes stop PAYING them to harm your existing schools!
At least they do not focus in and pick on the South. Some school choice opponents like to play the race card (even though most minority parents in states like California, favor school choice).
So many think Private is better than Public everything. Sick fools. They drank the propaganda “KOOK” aid. Then they grumble.
@Yvonne: In almost every case, what you are postulating is true. Cities and communities all across this nation, are learning that privatizing some (not all) services formerly carried out by government bureaus/workers, is proving to be more efficient, and cost-effective.
Cities are privatizing fire protection, garbage collection/disposal, utilities, mental health services, etc. and learning that the private sector is doing the job better than government ever could.
This is an interesting article. The writers overlook one important fact (maybe other facts too). The continual stressing that charters/vouchers/choice take funds from publicly-operated school systems is beyond dispute. Of course the money that would have flowed to publicly-operated schools, now flows to parents, and the parents choose to spend that money in schools of their choice. Of course they do.
What the article fails to report, is the school choice programs deprive publicly-operated schools of students, as well as the money formerly used to provide for their education.
I cannot understand, why opponents of school choice, continually overlook this fact.
If someone would like to explain that to me, I am all ears.
“If someone would like to explain that to me, I am all ears.”
Bwahahahahaha! Thanks, Chuck, I needed a laugh. This concept has been explained to you so many times and yet you don’t seem to get it. I guess all those ears are crowding out your brain.
“What the article fails to report, is the school choice programs deprive publicly-operated schools of students, as well as the money formerly used to provide for their education.”
This report’s thrust is the loss of democracy represented by privatization. For information on the considerable net loss to district budgets that charter/ voucher pupils carry away in their “backpacks”, see links to studies presented in other posts this week:
Resseger and Tultican – Lafer, CA, 2018 https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_Breaking_Point_May2018FINAL.pdf
Tultican – Ladd and Singleton, NC, 2018 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3082968
(Been having some problems posting). I still don’t get it. How is the loss of money/students from publicly-operated school systems, in any way tied to a “loss of democracy (sic)”? It seems to me, that when parents choose to withdraw their children from publicly-operated schools, and enroll them in alternate schools (or home-school them), that is the essence of democracy. “Demos” =people “Cracos”=rule. The people are ruling, by depriving public schools of students/money.
The schools that serve 85% of children are defunded to pay for a tiny minority’s religious education.
@bethree5: Those two articles are interesting, I have read them previously. They just re-hash the fact that when students/money leave public school systems, the public school systems are stuck with some fixed costs. True, and beyond dispute. It costs the same to heat a classroom with 29 or 30 students. And a small percentage loss of students, does not always translate into a similar loss of school personnel. Administrative costs and costs for non-teaching staff, do not immediately reduce, when school choice programs are brought in.
This is not a problem, schools can down-size, just like any other government operation.
School choice programs, will force reductions in the public school system, that is axiomatic, and unavoidable. And it is a good thing, as well.
No, Charles, school choice is not a good thing. It defunds the schools that enroll 85% of all children. What’s good about that?
Q No, Charles, school choice is not a good thing. It defunds the schools that enroll 85% of all children. What’s good about that? END Q
When a family moves from a community, to another community, the public school in the old city loses a student, and the taxes that the family paid, and the per-pupil expenditure that the old school system received. In our economy, people move. Factories close, new factories open, jobs and people are transferred.
The family “chose” to relocate, most likely. My parents chose to move from Lexington KY, to Bowling Green KY, when my father opened small business in Bowling Green.
The public school system in Fayette County, KY was “defunded”, when we moved.
The public school in Warren County KY was “up-funded” when my parents enrolled their children in the public school system there.
A similar phenomenon occurs, when a family chooses to relocate their child from a publicly-operated school, to a non-public school. The family may receive a portion of the per-pupil expenditure in the form of a voucher, or ESA, or tax credit. The overall result is the same. The public school is “de-funded” by a certain amount. Since the losing school no longer has to provide educational services to the student who is no longer attending the public school, the government no longer funnels money to the school.
Public schools in the USA currently enroll 85-90% of the students in their communities. This is result of several factors, most of all that the families have no alternatives. The government collects taxes, and pays for the public schools. Just because this situation exists, does not make it right. It is just that it is the situation.
When public school populations drop, for any reason, the public school is “de-funded” by a certain amount. This could be the result of a number of factors: Employment decline, military base closure, or a natural phenomenon, like a hurricane or earthquake.
Of course it is good, that public school systems lose money when families withdraw their children from the school. Why should the taxpayers of Fayette County pay for a public school expenditure, when the family moved to Warren County?
Charles, “How is the loss of money/students from publicly-operated school systems, in any way tied to a “loss of democracy?” I have tended to see these as two separate but linked issues.
I usually connect “loss of democracy” directly w/ school choice because neither charter schools nor voucher schools are subject to financial or pedagogical review by the locally-elected Boards of Ed, even though (a)their location within the district directly affects tradl public sch enrollment and hence their budget – which represents the lion’s share of municipal budget – and (b)the taxpayers deserve the same level of pedagogical input to all schools they support.
Whereas the loss of $/ students from publically-operated sch sys is a brass-tacks subset of the fin part of the equation. Stats are beginning to demonstrate that school choice [predictably] comes at a premium to taxpayers while providing same or lower quality ed, despite yrs of promotion suggesting that competition provides all with more for less. This data needs to be upfront to taxpayers, who consist of far more stakeholders than parents of school-aged children.
Diane puts all my detail into a succinct package: if the tail (5 or 6% public-school children) is wagging the dog, that’s not democracy.
It might be possible to do school choice democratically, if the choices are offered within and managed by the district, or perhaps within an area jointly managed by contiguous districts. Such negotiations seem to be going on in MA, for example. The key is oversight by locally-elected BOEds.
ECOT is the largest scandal in Ohio history, in terms of dollars.
Here’s ed reform’s response- a bill that makes it much more difficult for the state to regulate online schools:
file:///home/chronos/u-cb7f37a53afb6a3f6c6f5e353b635481387c4e54/Downloads/hb707_00_IN.pdf
If we continue to hire them we will continue to get this garbage.
Rep. Keith Faber, R-Celina, and Reineke, R-Tiffin, introduced the bill Tuesday evening.
“House Bill 707 tightens existing statutes which will allow for the state of Ohio to properly conduct oversight of e-schools,” Faber states in a release. “The tightening of these existing statutes is to ensure that students of e-schools are receiving the quality education that the 21st-century economy requires.”
The bill does the exact opposite. It puts new hurdles in place to ensure that schools like ECOT cannot be regulated by the state. It lets charter schools decide which regulations to follow.
This bill was written by the charter lobby. Even after a 100 million dollar scandal they are still controlling our legislature.
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/news/local-news/2018/06/reineke-bill-aims-to-smooth-e-school-policies/
Thank you for all the detailed research from NPE. The neovoucher unfortunately is often used in private Christian schools that are often unaccredited and not accepted by most legitimate institutions of higher education. In some cases the tuition tax credits allow donors to “double dip” their tax write off and actually make a profit. https://www.future-ed.org/work/voucher-tax-credits-let-private-school-donors-turn-a-profit/
ILL-Annoy (not in the south) received a great big F.
Well-deserved & way to go. SB 1–“Evidence-Based Funding” (w/NO funds, because ILL-Annoy generates NO NEW revenue, so money was taken from special ed. & by decimating 25-30 other programs). SB 1 also–DIRECTLY–led to HB 1947–Tax Credits
(aka–NOT separation of church & state; tax credits for those who make contributions to private schools, INCLUDING religious schools, thus draining taxpayer monies from public schools).
Bears repeating: well-deserved F.