Archives for the month of: August, 2018
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City Fund: Another Billionaire-Funded Phony Scheme to Steal Public Schools from the Public

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2018 //
26

You first read about “City Fund” when Tom Ultican wrote about it on August 18. Then four days later, Chalkbeat got the “leaked memo” and told the story that Tom had already broken.

Two billionaires, unhappy with the slow and slowing pace of privatization, have created another organization to spread the gospel of school choice, following in the venerable tradition established by racist Southern governors and senators following the Brown Decision of 1954. In the late 1950s (as Mercedes Schneider wrote in detail in her fine book School Choice), white southerners were mad for choice. They saw choice as the best way to stop racial integration.

Now, under the unesteemed leadership of rightwing zealot Betsy DeVos, the mask of benevolence has been stripped away from the choice movement.

But that doesn’t stop billionaires Reed Hastings (Netflix) and John Arnold (Enron). Education is their game, their hobby, and they are not ready to abandon their dream of privatizing every school in America.

They have hired a “dream team” of failed Reformers, who bring together in one place a long history of stealing democracy and public schools from poor African Americans.

The Reformers tell us that up until now, nothing in reform has worked. But they seem convinced that charter schools work (think Detroit, think Milwaukee). If NOLA is the model, start by closing all the public schools, firing all the teachers, then replacing them with charters and TFA. Crucial to the plan is to add hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending (they forgot that part of the formula).

Peter Greene takes a crack at explaining the grand plan for transforming public schools into a business–and failing as Kevin Huffman and Chris Barbic did in Tennessee’s Achievement School District, where they blew $100 million trying to turn “failing schools” into high-performing schools by handing them over to private operators. Say this for Huffman and Barbic: It was failure on a grand scale!

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Failure, Privatization, Tennessee

California: Charter School Borrows Nearly $30 Million for New Building, Then Was Closed Down

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2018 //
6

A charter school in Palmdale, California, raised nearly $30 million in bonds for its new building. But as matters stand, the school will never open. Charters are risky. They open, they close. Sometimes states close more charter schools than they open. That’s business. Where is Enron, Braniff Airlines, all sorts of brands that disappeared? Gone without a trace.


For the last year, construction on the corner of Avenue R and 40th Street East in Palmdale hummed along as a massive school campus took shape.

On its Facebook page, Guidance Charter School posted photos of students holding shovels adorned with yellow ribbons and contractors pouring the foundation for what would be an 87,000-square-foot campus with a swimming pool, library and playing fields — paid for with nearly $30 million in bonds.

Less visible was what was happening behind the scenes, as the local school system raised alarms that threatened Guidance’s existence.

The Palmdale School District’s board of trustees, which first authorized Guidance 17 years ago, voted in January to close the school, citing concerns about poor academic performance and questionable financial operations. As the new campus rose, charter officials launched a series of appeals, the latest of which came before the Los Angeles County Board of Education this week.

On Tuesday, the board rejected Guidance’s last-ditch effort to open for the 2018-19 school year. Unless a court overturns Palmdale’s decision, Guidance Charter School will not be able to enroll students — or receive the state funding that comes with them. But it still will be responsible for repaying the loan.

Supporters say the school is a victim of a process that puts decision-making power in the hands of the very districts that compete with charters for students and funding. Opponents see it as proof that charter schools, regardless of the quality of the education they offer or the extent of oversight they receive, are able to access bond money too easily.

The school’s executive director, Kamal Al-Khatib, blames its closure on the Palmdale School District, which he said purposely set the charter school up for failure in order to win students back. In the spring of 2017, less than a year before voting not to renew the school, the district had declared that Guidance was on solid ground, he said…

Guidance was founded in 2001 by Muslim leaders who promised to offer students a secular education and Arabic instruction.

The school leased space from a mosque owned by the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley, a religious organization run by the charter’s founder and its executive director, which would later prompt a host of conflict-of-interest concerns. Guidance’s ties to the mosque — and the thin partitions erected to separate its students from a prayer room — drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League that there was not enough of a wall between church and state.

Regardless, the school grew. It had opened with 65 students but by last year had about 900 in grades K-12. And every five years, when its right to operate came up for renewal, the Palmdale school board voted to keep it open. Guidance also rented classroom space from the district…

When district officials voted not to renew the charter, they cited Guidance’s lagging academic performance as their primary concern.

Although its students’ scores on the state English exam in 2017 were roughly comparable to their peers in the district, according to Palmdale, math was a different story. In that subject, scores at Guidance were worse than those at most other schools in the area; none of the charter school’s 11th graders tested at grade level.

Many of Guidance’s students didn’t graduate, according to county officials, who said its drop-out rate was about 23% for the class of 2016. Palmdale officials found that even when students did graduate, many were not prepared to go to four-year colleges. According to the district, of 32 students who graduated from Guidance in 2014 and 2015, 24 had not completed the courses required for admission to the University of California or California State University systems.

The district also flagged Guidance’s fiscal operations and governance structure. It accused Al-Khatib of having financial interests in several of the school’s transactions, including its lease with the American Islamic Institute and a roughly $2-million loan from a related company called Guidance Charter School Services LLC.

Guidance’s lawyers disputed the claims and said Al-Khatib’s role at the mosque was voluntary and unpaid.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Ohio: Four Radioactive Politicians Who Helped ECOT Milk $1 Billion from Taxpayers

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2018 //
7

Denis Smith writes here about four elected officials, now standing for re-election, who stood by and watched (or helped) the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) as it drained money from the state’s public schools and its taxpayers. $1 billion since 2000!

If you vote in Ohio, watch out for these four:

As damaging as the charter school’s implosion was on the viability of Republican pols, the corresponding explosion ECOT’s demise is causing in state political circles continues to reverberate, particularly for four GOP ECOT stalwarts named Dave Yost, Mike DeWine, Keith Faber and Andrew Brenner.

They are not your friends. They are not friends of public education. They are not stewards of the public trust and treasury.

Rep. Keith Faber is the first case in point. [When the subject is term-limits and running yet again for some other office, you might want to get a scorecard to follow the runs, hits, and mostly errors of this Republican team.] The former Senate president and now House member is currently running for Auditor, seeking to replace current Auditor Dave Yost, who is, you guessed it, term-limited and running for Attorney General.

Faber’s way to brush off the radioactive fallout is to distribute more than $36,000 collected from ECOT to “high quality” charter schools.

Based upon past history, that’s an oxymoron, isn’t it?

Then comes Mike DeWine, a candidate for governor:

Then there’s the curious case of Mike DeWine. The term-limited Attorney General, who is now running for Governor, has decided to go after ECOT founder William Lager, his companies, and several others in high ECOT circles, including its former superintendent, treasurer, and accounting administrator.

Voodoo economics begets voodoo public policy begets voodoo charter schools begets voodoo accounting.

In DeWine’s case, his lawsuit seeks to recover from the ECOT hierarchy a portion of the $62 million ECOT is accused of over-billing the state in voodoo student attendance data.

Worst of all is Andrew Brenner, who called public schools “socialism.”

The third usual GOP suspect is House Education Committee Chair Andrew Brenner who is, you guessed it, term-limited and running for the Senate. Brenner has apparently learned the use of pejoratives from his idol, Donald Trump, the undisputed king for crafting pejoratives as a tactic to demean opponents.

Louise Valentine, Brenner’s Democratic challenger for the Senate seat asked in May if Brenner was considering returning the ECOT donations he’s received over the years. In his usual attack mode characterized by splitting hairs and deflecting the subject, Brenner said he never received any money directly from the school.

No, of course, Brenner didn’t get any money from ECOT. He got money from ECOT’s owner, William Lager!

His opponent calls him #ECOTAndy.

Last is the Auditor who claims to have brought ECOT to justice!

The final figure of the fast and furious foursome is Auditor Dave Yost who, like his colleagues memorialized here, served ECOT well as a commencement speaker, endorser, and proponent of the corrupt online charter school. In addition to scooping up more than $29,000 in campaign cash from ECOT, Yost is remembered for bestowing not just one but three awards for the school’s financial reporting.

According to a 2016 press release on the Auditor’s website, “The school’s excellent record keeping has qualified it for the Auditor of State Award with Distinction.”

There is something Orwellian in the fact that a public official offers praise for an entity which does not operate in the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Such an award demonstrates once again that voodoo economics begets voodoo public policy begets voodoo charter schools which begets voodoo accounting. Which begets an Auditor’s Award for Voodoo Accounting. With Distinction, no less.

Wow. You can’t make that one up.

Vote. Sweep out the scoundrels who stood by and applauded the raid on the state’s treasury.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization

Florida: State Appeals Decision to Knock Amendment 8 Off the November Ballot

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
11

The state of Florida moved quickly to appeal the judicial decision to knock Amendment 8 off the November ballot.

The decision will be rendered by the state’s Supreme Court.

The Florida League of Women Voters filed suit against Amendment 8 because it bundled three different school-related issues into a single amendment to the state constitution. The case was argued by the Southern Poverty Legal Center. The circuit judge in Tallahassee said the language of the amendment was confusing and misleading.

Critics say the true intent of the amendment is to strip local school boards of their authority over charter schools, cyber charters, and other forms of school choice.

A circuit judge in Tallahassee on Monday ruled Amendment 8 was “misleading” and ordered it removed from the Nov. 6 ballot. He ruled in a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Florida, which argued voters should not be asked to change Florida’s Constitution based on Amendment 8’s unclear and deceptive language…

The most controversial of the three deals with charter schools and the other two with term limits for school board members and the teaching of civic literacy.

The league’s lawsuit focused on the section of Amendment 8 that would add a phrase that says local school boards could control only the public schools they established. It was proposed as a way to make it easier for charter schools — publicly funded but privately run schools — or other new educational options to flourish. Now, charter schools need local school board approval to open, but that requirement would vanish if the proposal passed.

Circuit Judge John Cooper said that the amendment’s wording did not make it clear what it would do and that the three items should not have been packaged together.

Critics of Amendment 8 said it would unconstitutionally take power away from locally elected school boards and allow charter schools — some of which have private, for-profit management companies — to operate with little oversight. Proponents said it would allow the Florida Legislature to open the door to more charter schools and other options, giving parents more choices and a greater ability to decide the school best for their children.

The amendment is an effort by Reformers, led by Jeb Bush and his ally Patricia Levesque, a member of the Constitutional Revision Commission, to deceive voters into approving unlimited expansion of charter schools.

Despite their claims about the popularity of charter schools, they dared not be clear about their purpose. They tried to pull a fast one. Let’s see if the Supreme Court of Florida lets them trick the voters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Florida, Fraud, School Choice

Bill Phillis: Those Poor, Poor, and Very Few Bad For-Profit Charters in Ohio

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
5

Bill Phillis, retired for many years as deputy state superintendent of education in Ohio and now the state’s most outspoken critic of charter fraud, writes on his blog about the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s lame defense of for-profit charters:

“The myth of Ohio’s ‘for-profit’ charter school system”: A Fordham Institute’s damage control effort

An August 20 Fordham article suggests the charter industry is getting a bad rap because of the cronyism of a few charter operators. The article also attempts to justify the use of for-profit management companies by charter schools.

The notion proffered is that ECOT and the White Hat Management Company are the only bad actors in the charter industry. What about the 250 or so charter schools that took state and federal money and closed or never opened leaving kids in an education lurch? What about the other charter operations that have been reported as fostering gross irregularities, such as the Gulen charters, but not appropriately investigated by state officials? What about the Imagine Schools Inc. charter school chain that requires the charter schools to pay absurdly high rent to a real estate company allied with Imagine?

Corruption in the charter industry in Ohio and elsewhere is not confined to just a few bad actors. The industry is rife with low performance, cronyism and corruption.

In the article, the author equates a charter board hiring a management company to operate its school to a school district purchasing buses, books, etc. from the private sector. An absurd stretch!

A management company that operates charter schools performs a governmental fiduciary function and thus should be subjected to the same accountability and transparency measures as school district officials. Bus and book companies don’t operate the schools to which they sell products.

The Ohio charter industry seems beyond repair but Fordham keeps defending it.

Be it noted that the NAACP report on charter schools not only called for a moratorium on them, but called for the elimination of all for-profit charters and the for-profit management organizations that manage charters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization

How I Was Duped on Twitter by the Sheik of Araby

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
56

I like Twitter and post there daily. All of the posts here go automatically to Twitter, and I often send tweets from the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker, the Onion, etc. whatever strikes my fancy. I often respond to Tweets directed at me, and I scan other’s Tweets for good stories and comments. On the other hand, I deleted Facebook because I object to its invasion of privacy, mine and others.

I have 149,000 followers, and I seldom look at their names. But one day recently I looked at the most recent additions and saw that one identified himself as a Sheik from Dubai, Prince Sheik Hamdan. I was impressed and intrigued. I followed him and asked by private message whether he was interested in American education. He responded promptly and said he was. We then had several exchanges in which he described his background and education and asked about mine. I googled him and he looked authentic. I told him things about me that are public knowledge—what I do, where I was born, where I went to college, in response to his questions.

I began to have fantasies of flying to Dubai to give him advice about education. I wondered how he would react when he learned I am Jewish.

But, born skeptic that I am, I began to wonder if I was being hoaxed. Everything he told me was on his Wikipedia page, but then a fraudster would know that information too.

He wrote:

“‎I know you maybe asking yourself the meaning of the name Hamdan,(Hamdān) is a name of Arab origin. It is a name of an ancient tribe in Yemen, which can also be found in modern Yemen. It is different from the name Hamdan (Arabic: حمدان Ĥamdān) although in English both names appear with the same spelling. I would love to know you better if you don’t mind.”

Then he wrote:

“I’m the third post-federation ruler, heads the Dubai Executive Council which supervises public sector and development strategies in the emirate. I was Born on November 14, 1982, began schooling in Dubai before moving to Britain, where i graduated from the Sandhurst military academy. Where did you school and how old are you?”

I replied with publicly available information about where I was born and educated.

He wrote:

“I really want us to be good friends. This year marks 11 years since His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, became the ruler of Dubai on Friday He did appoint me Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Al Maktoum as Crown Prince of Dubai.”

Like, how lonely is this guy? I noticed in his bio that he writes poetry, and I complimented him.

He thanked me, then wrote:

“In September 2006 i was appointed as chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, entrusted with overseeing Dubai government entities. Also made significant contributions to the council, which was highlighted particularly by the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 that was launched in February 2007. what do you do for a living??? have you appointed to handle any office since you were born??”

Ah, we hardly knew one another but a day, and he wants to know me. I’m not that lonely. I say I am writing a book. I write:

“So, this is an awkward question. How do I know you are who you say you are and not a fake Twitter account. I am a public figure in the US, perhaps the leading name in US education. There are many pretenders on Twitter.” I was boasting, but then what do you say to a very important prince?

He responds:

“The internet has been grossly abused by scam artist and miscreants whose intention is to hurt. In as much as one should be careful, same time we should not allow negative to kill the positive potential in a realistic business, please read my proposal carefully is 100% Risk-free. So what do you do for a living ??”

Uh-oh. Here comes the pitch. My antennae are way up. I respond:

“I write and lecture for a living. I am writing a book now. What is your risk-free proposal? I am not in need of money or fame. I live to do good for others when I can.”

Pretentious, I know, but I was sending a signal that I am not interested in a big money grab.

But here it comes.

“I discover documents of a late client Mr. Andreas Schranner A German business magnate who work in devolpment of our great country Dubai. I discovered from my employers that Mr. Andreas Schranner, died in the plane crash Monday, 31 July 2000, (an air France jet liner) with his entire family, as you can confirm it yourself via the website below for (BBCNEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/859479.stm … …According to United Arab emirates/Dubai banking law after the expiration of 14 (fourteen ) years, if nobody apply for the claim it will confiscate as state treasury if
nobody apply for the claim, I am seeking for your support to stand as next of kin/ beneficiary to claim these funds”

Can you believe this? Am I that stupid? No. Do I want to claim to be the beneficiary of a stranger who died in a plane crash? No.

I replied:

“Congratulations.

“You don’t need my support. And you don’t need his money either.

“Why are you asking me to help you? You don’t need me.”

His answer:

“$12M (Twelve Million United State Dollars,) I have the power/right to add your name on the list as the legal beneficiary, the scan documents name list is right in my position. I am ready to share with you 40% for you and 60% will be kept for the Charity Project which you will have to help me supervise during the process of building this Charity Foundation.”

I didn’t answer.

No prince. No Sheik. No trip to Dubai.

Beware.

Categories Fake, Fraud

Oakland: Gulen Charter Bombshell!

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
28

In recent weeks, Oakland has been roiled by a charter school scandal. The principal of a Gulen charter school left for Australia, with $450,000 in severance pay. Board members say they didn’t realize that his contract allowed for three years pay as severance.

Gulen charter schools always deny that they are Gulen charter schools. They claim to be independent. Others, however, know they are Gulen schools because most or all of the board members are Turkish, most of the staff are Turkish teachers working on visas, and most of the contracts are awarded to Turkish firms.

A few years back, “60 Minutes” did a special in which a teacher alleged that he was required to remit 40% of his salary as payment to the Gulen movement. Fethullah Gulen is an imam from Turkey who lives in seclusion in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He was an ally of Recip Erdogan, the strongman who rules Turkey with an iron hand, but then they had a falling-out. Erdogan blames Gulen for an attempted coup and wants the U.S. to extradite him. The U.S. refuses. Meanwhile, Gulen has oversight of nearly 200 charter schools across the U.S. that have replaced public schools.

The former principal of the Oakland BayTech charter school admitted that the school is a Gulen charter and that the school turned over large sums of taxpayers’ money to the Gulen headquarters.

This is the first time, to my knowledge, that a leader of a Gulen school admitted that the school was part of the Gulen network.

Caprice Young, the first CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, took charge of the Magnolia charter chain, a Gulen chain, when it was in financial distress, and she too denies that the Gulen schools are Gulen schools. But most of those who do not work for a Gulen charter acknowledge that Gulen charters are Gulen charters and rely heavily on Turkish teachers who use special HB-1 visas.

What is remarkable in the Oakland BayTech story is that the principal said, “Yes, we are a Gulen charter. Yes, we do give kickbacks to Fethullah Gulen.”

Hatipoglu denies that he stole from BayTech or altered his contract. But the former principal said all the allegations about BayTech’s links to the Gülen movement are true.

Public records support some of Hatipoglu’s claims.

“The school gave Turkish teachers employment because the school applies for their visas, and when they give donations, they get to work,” said Hatipoglu. “I told [BayTech’s board] I’d no longer do this because there have been so many allegations, and the Turkish government is looking into it.”

Hatipoglu is one of the first high-level administrators of a Gülen school to describe the ways the movement allegedly extracts money from the many charter schools its followers operate.

The Gülen movement is led by an elderly Turkish imam named Fethullah Gülen who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. Gülen and his thousands of followers around the world have been labeled terrorists by the Turkish government. In recent years, Turkish intelligence agents have fanned out across at least 18 nations to spy on, and sometimes seize, Gülenists and take them back to Turkey where they are jailed and tortured, according to recent reports in The New York Times and other media.

Critics of the Gulen movement are called “racists” or anti-Islamic. Critics of Gulen are routinely assailed as “anti-Islamic” but Erdogan is Islamic, so no one can say that all his critics are biased against his religion.

I am not biased against Gulen or his religion. I think that it is ridiculous to outsource American public schools to representatives of a foreign entity, whether it is Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, or Nigeria. Are we not capable in this country of running our own public schools? If one of the major purposes of public education is to teach citizenship, how can that responsibility be outsourced?

Categories Gulen Charter Schools, Oakland

Arizona: CEO of Failing Online Charter School Gets a Bonus of $8.8 Million

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2018 //
19

Arizona is an amazing state. Taxpayers don’t care how their money is spent. You could collect it and burn it and they wouldn’t care.

That’s the impression you would get if you read this story about Primavera Charter School.

The online high school is a failure but the CEO is getting a bonus of $8.8 million.

“By most academic measures, Primavera online charter school is a failure.”

“Its student-to-teacher ratio is 215-to-1 — 12 times the state average — allowing little or no individualized attention.

“On recently released state standardized tests, less than a quarter of its students passed math and about a third passed English, both below the state average.

“And 49 percent of Primavera students end up dropping out, 10 times the state average.

“But by another measure, Primavera is an unmitigated success: making money.

“Beginning in 2012, the school began shifting large shares of its annual $30-plus million allotment of state funding away from instruction and into stocks, bonds, mortgage-backed securities and real estate.

“That year, 70 percent, or $22.4 million, of its state funding went into its growing investment portfolio — instead of efforts to raise test scores, reduce class sizes, or address an exploding dropout rate that is now the state’s third-highest.”

That’s in line with the usual formula for online charter schools. They fail but they are profitable. State legislatures authorize them despite their consistent record of failure. Usually they do so because a key politician or two received a campaign contribution of a few thousand dollars. Think ECOT in Ohio, which paid off important pols to the tune of a million a year, assuring a return of hundreds of millions every year.

Do taxpayers care? It’s their money.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Failure, For-Profit, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools

Los Angeles: Teachers Authorize Strike

By dianeravitch
August 22, 2018 //
9

This just in:


** MEDIA ADVISORY **
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 22, 2018
Media Contact: (213) 305-9654 (Cell)
Anna Bakalis, UTLA Communications Director

Tomorrow: Nation’s Second-Largest Teacher Union Local Begins Strike Authorization Vote

WHO: United Teachers Los Angeles represents more than 33,000 LAUSD educators, including teachers, librarians, counselors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, therapists, substitutes, early childhood and adult teachers. They have been working without a contract for over one year. This strike authorization vote will allow the UTLA Board of Directors to call for a strike if one becomes necessary. Voting results are expected Aug. 31.

WHAT: After 17 months of fruitless bargaining, the California Public Employment Relations Board has declared we are at impasse with LAUSD. As UTLA demands that LAUSD stop stalling and get to mediation immediately, tens of thousands of LAUSD educators begin a strike authorization vote tomorrow that lasts through Aug. 30. UTLA has made it clear to LAUSD that we are ready and willing to meet for mediation on August 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, & 31. However, Supt. Austin Beutner and the district have basically ignored their legal and moral obligation to participate and refused to meet until September 27. Despite a $1.7 billion projected reserve, LAUSD refuses to make progress on key issues, including:

· Smaller class sizes

· Fair pay raise

· More nurses, counselors, psychologists, and librarians

· Less testing and more teaching

· Charter and co-location regulation

· Real support for school safety

· Community schools and support for families

· Greater stakeholder input to help magnet school conversions

· Expanded support for bilingual education

· Improved working conditions for early education and adult education teachers

Event Details: Teachers at Thomas Starr King Magnet Middle School will be casting their strike authorization votes after school. They will be available to give interviews in English and Spanish. The district has been giving out false information that UTLA opposes magnetization. UTLA does not oppose magnets. In fact, King MS is a successful school that, with the approval and input of educators, went all-magnet in 2013 and includes three on campus: Gifted Arts & Tech, Environmental STEAM and Film and Media magnets. These educators will be joined by parents who are supporting their fight for a fair contract. Visuals include: Educators, parents, exterior of school, handmade signs and ballots being cast.

WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 23
TIME: 3 – 4 PM
WHERE: Corner of Bates and Fountain Avenues Thomas Starr King Middle School / 4201 Fountain Avenue Los Angeles, CA

Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles, Resistance, Unions

Biased Reporting from the Education Writers Association Blog

By dianeravitch
August 22, 2018 //
32

I was astonished to read a post on the EWA blog today about whether charter schools reduce the funding available to public schools.

https://www.ewa.org/blog-educated-reporter/how-much-do-charter-schools-cost-districts?utm_source=salsa&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

“There’s no question that the growth of charter schools presents significant financial challenges for many school systems, especially in cities where they serve a large share of students. Where researchers disagree is how great the costs to districts are, and to what extent charter schools are to blame.”

The author posed the question as a “debate” between the distinguished economist Helen Ladd of Duke University—whose bio is star studded with degrees and honors—and Robin Lake, who is an advocate for the charter industry at the pro-charter Center for the Reinvention of Public Education. Ladd is a scholar. Lake is not.

And yet they are treated as equals by this shoddy reporting.

The writer didn’t bother to contact scholar Gordon Lafer, author of the “One Percent Solution” and of a recent study demonstrating that charters diverted tens of millions of dollars from public schools in three urban districts in California.

Report: The Cost of Charter Schools for Public School Districts

When school districts cut their budgets because of charter schools, they must lay off teachers and cut programs. That affects the education of the vast majority of students. Why is that a debatable issue?

I googled the author, David Loewenberg, and saw that he was TFA and the New America Foundation (funded largely by Google), and it made sense.

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, Privatization
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