The IDEA charter chain has plans to open 20 new charter schools in a part of Texas that doesn’t need them. We have plenty of evidence that charters do not outperform traditional district schools. Instead, they suck out resources and the students they want, weakening the district schools like a parasite.
David Knight and David deMatthews warn the people of El Paso that “choice” is not all that it is cracked up to be.
You will not be surprised to learn that IDEA is funded by the usual billionaire “philanthropists,” who want to disrupt public education and privatize it.
The IDEA charter chain is known for having a high graduation rate, but also known for the large number of its graduates who flunk out of college.
Knight and deMatthews write:
The development of 20 new schools represents a major shift in how educational resources will be distributed across the region. Currently, together the Canutillo Independent School District and the Clint ISD have only 24 schools and the El Paso ISD, the region’s largest school district, has 91 schools.
Adding 20 schools through the region can create significant inefficiencies. Districts like El Paso ISD and Ysleta ISD are currently losing enrollment as most of the region’s population growth exists on the East and West sides of the city. As enrollments decline, school districts lose money and operating schools becomes more expensive. Consequently, superintendents are often compelled to close under-enrolled schools due to cost, despite public outcry.
At the same time, districts like Clint, Canutillo, and Socorro are experiencing continued growth in student enrollments. These districts invest millions to plan and build new facilities. If new charters open in close proximity to newly built facilities, districts may find their state-of-the-art campuses under-enrolled.
IDEA’s growth can also create an undue burden and disrupt natural proportions of students with disabilities enrolled in traditional public schools if they engage in what has been called “creaming” or “cherry-picking” students. According to 2016-17 publicly available data, all IDEA charter schools in Hidalgo, Texas, enroll only 4.8 percent of students with disabilities, while the state average is 8.8 percent.
Importantly, the Texas statewide average is already the lowest in the nation at 8.8 percent. The Texas Education Agency has been investigated by the U.S. Department of Education, which concluded that many Texas schools and districts engaged in practices that delayed and denied special education to eligible students. IDEA’s 4.8 percent identification rate should be especially concerning to all parents, but especially those of children with disabilities.
Both traditional public and charter schools are eligible to receive philanthropic donations. IDEA has received millions of dollars from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The El Paso based Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development has pledged $10 million.
Yeah, both are “eligible to receive philanthropic donations,” but somehow all those big bucks end up in the pockets of the charter operators, not the public schools. The Dells, the Waltons, and the Gates don’t believe in public education. They believe in the marketplace, disruption, and competition. Not for their children, of course.
The authors think that charter schools are “public schools.” No, they are not. They are privately managed corporate schools. Federal courts have ruled that charter schools are “not state actors.” The NLRB has ruled that charter schools are “not state actors.”
Public schools are state actors. Charter schools are not state actors. They are private contractors.
These charter chains explode into areas where there are large numbers of the disenfranchised and ignored. Charter expansion creates inefficiencies and greater inequity, and it unfairly burdens public districts with stranded costs such as utilities, insurance, and all costs of building operations. Charters cherry pick students, and leave the most expensive to educate and the neediest in under funded public schools. Hispanic communities need some vocal activists that can alert families on the harm that charter expansion will cause. All citizens that care about the future of the state should show up and vote for El Paso native, Beto O’Rourke. Investment in public schools is an investment in the local community. Charters line the pockets of wealthy profiteers.
IDEA is the fastest growing charter in Texas with the goal of operating 173 campuses. Starting in the Rio Grande Valley, they have expanded into San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth and will be entering Houston in 2020 with $10 million of support from the LJA Foundation. They have 12 campuses in San Antonio and to date, ZERO students have graduated in San Antonio schools because they have yet to serve the 12th grade.
With over 35,500 students, IDEA graduated a total of 849 students last year or 0.02% of the 320,000 students that successfully graduated from Texas school districts. The 12 consecutive years with a 100% college acceptance rate is very misleading to parents as IDEA’s student handbook requires a student to be accepted to a 4-year college in order to graduate. The handbook also provides that students may be retained if scores on STAAR, AP tests, etc. are not satisfactory.
67% of IDEA students reside within school districts with an Exemplary or Recognized rating and 95% of IDEA students reside within school districts rated at least Acceptable by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
Based upon data from the TEA, IDEA’s expansion includes the unconventional education approach of having:
Higher class sizes – 29.1 students in grade 3
Lower teacher experience – average of 2.2 years
Higher teacher turnover – 23.4% (every 4 years total new staff)
High teachers with No Degrees – 9.8% of teachers have no degree
Low salaries – Beginning teachers are paid $42,777 or $7,300 less than Houston ISD
Academic Results: In 2016, IDEA had a total of 502 graduates, 50.7% of students “at risk”, an average ACT score of 20.3 (national average was 20.8), 53.8% of graduates entering college had a GPA below 2.50 in initial year and only 3.8% of students receive career and technical training. In comparison, the much maligned Houston ISD (that has been threatened with takeover) has 67.5% of students “at risk” and achieved a higher average ACT score (21.1), students performed better in first year of college and 19% of students receive career and technical training.
IDEA also has 3 campuses with an accountability rating of “D or F” (which never seems to be highlighted like it is in urban school districts).
Financial Result: $235 million is annually diverted from successful Texas school districts for instructional programs and student services as IDEA expands with the State’s approval to serve primarily elementary grades under the pretense of every student being “college bound”.
Former TFA alums, Tom Torkelson and JoAnn Gama collectively receive over $868,454 of annual compensation – the equivalent of 19.6 IDEA teachers.
IDEA is the perfect example of charter marketing:
“Quality of educational experience is nice; but quality of marketing is indispensable”.
Thanks for the report, TISDAA. If you haven’t read Richard Phelps’ analysis of Fordham Institute (Nonpartisan Education Review), you should.
The goal of Gates’ New schools Venture Fund, as stated by its founder in Philanthropy Roundtable, ” to develop charter management organizations that produce a diverse supply of different brands on a large scale.” (Kim Smith interview)
Those “diverse brands” are actually product of the same substance but of different color.
So many long years of wondering, as the choice school media game has been strategically providing a slick marketing effort, why has the same hype not been used for public schools?
IDEA will keep expanding as long as parents keep buying the hype and spin. Thanks for the comparison data.
The walmarization of education, eh! Chain schools, cheap shoddy, but make a lot of money for the owners
On their first public visit to El Paso, IDEA scouts said they longed to support the “underserved” children of a southside neighborhood. The chess team of the middle school there are national champions. The highschool there has a premed magnet school.
So many fun facts. IDEA has one diag for the entire chain.
Since IDEA campus data is not available in El Paso, the Harmony School of Innovation campus in El Paso has a student population that is 67.5% economically disadvantaged, 16.3% ELL and 24.5% white students.
But less than 0.5 miles away, Dowell Elem. of EPISD serves a student population that is 85.2% economically disadvantaged, 31.5% ELL and 5.1% white students.
Only 33.6% of students in Burnham Wood Charter are economically disadvantaged.
Imagine what could be done for students and the El Paso community if the funds provided charters to operate a “dual education” system (public dollars and contributions) were redirected to fund Early Education/Pre-K for all students…
Clearly, IDEA is not looking to serve the truly “under served.” If they were, their ELL and eligible for free lunch numbers would be in the same range.
No one should be surprised.
ED awarded IDEA $26 million in Sept 2017 and up to $67 million over a 5 year grant.
https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-253-million-grants-expand-charter-schools
The grant application said exactly where they would open schools if given the money.
Similar to the $10 mil. grant that education faculty at Michigan State University got from Betsy- to develop products and a marketing plan for the private education sector (REACH grant).
I read Diane’s blog and the comments … I learn so much.
My mouth hangs open…aghast…at the pure greed and dishonestly.