Valerie Strauss reviews the education budget of the House Appropriations Committee and notes that budget proposal increases the programs that Trump and DeVos while endorsing an unprecedented cut for the Charter Schools Program. As she notes in the title of the article, the committee concluded that the Education Department was not “a responsible steward” of the charter fund.
Surely, they must have noticed the daily scandals associated with this unaccountable sector.
“Many public school systems are complaining about losing significant funding to charters. Teacher strikes that began in 2018 and have continued this year throughout the country — including in Republican-led states — have helped change the debate about public education funding.”
Strauss writes:
A 2018 report by the Education Department’s inspector general slammed the agency’s oversight of the federal Charter Schools Program and made recommendations for improvement that the House legislation says DeVos’s team has ignored. The agency was accused of the same thing in a2016 inspector general report.
“The committee is deeply concerned that the department does not intend to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars when it comes to [Charter Schools Program] funding,” the legislation says.
The committee has included language that would direct the Education Department to implement the recommendations from the 2018 inspector general’s report within six months of the bill’s enactment and brief legislators on its plan within a month.
The legislation also says lawmakers are “concerned” about a recent report issued by the advocacy group the Network for Public Education, which says that as much as $1 billion in federal money was wasted on charter schools that never opened or that closed because of mismanagement and other issues from 2009 to 2016.
Jeanne Allen, leader of the pro-school choice, anti-public school group Center for Education Reform, asks “Who is killing Charter Schools?” and the answer is clear: the Department of Education’s Inspector General, Congressional appropriators, the daily scandals caused by unaccountable charters, the dedicated work of scores of state and local parent organizations, and the Network for Public Education, which is devoted to fighting privatization and profiteering.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
After how many billions of taxpayer money being flushed down the drain instead of going to public education where it belongs?
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I would like to see an accounting all the public money states have spent on schools that failed to open or money that went to waste and fraud. This would be a big eye opener to lots of taxpayers too. Most of the states don’t want us to know.
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“Jeanne Allen, leader of the pro-school choice, anti-public school group Center for Education Reform, asks “Who is killing Charter Schools?”
But charter schools are eligible for all the federal funding that public schools are, and they increased funding for public schools.
The only thing they decreased was the special funding only charter schools get. It’s still a net gain for charter schools. It’s just not a gain that is limited to charter schools.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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While the tide may be turning against charter schools, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s turning in favor of public education.
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NPEis doing something right if anyone is paying attention and if Jeanne Allen is really angry.
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