When West Virginia teachers went out on strike in 2018, setting off a national wave of teachers’ strikes, one of their core demands was “no charter schools.” Governor Jim Justice promised that he would veto any charter school legislation. The teachers know that charter schools divert money from public schools, which are already underfunded in West Virginia. When charter and voucher legislation was introduced this year, the teachers walked out again. They may yet be double crossed by the legislature. Our allies in West Virginia called on the Network for Public Education to speak up on behalf of public schools.
Carol Burris and I wrote this article, which was published in the state’s leading newspaper, the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
it starts like this:
Stop, West Virginia, before allowing charter schools in your state. We have learned enough about charter waste, fraud and instability over the past 25 years to say, if you love your public schools, don’t be fooled by the empty promises of charter schools.
Every dollar that goes to a charter school or an education savings account voucher will be deducted from your local public schools. The charter movement is promoted by billionaires like the Waltons (Walmart), Betsy DeVos, Michael Bloomberg, Reed Hastings (Netflix), and Bill Gates. The big money behind charters doesn’t know your children or your community.
Agreed, but what will the legislature and the Governor do. Then what will be the response of the teachers in West Virginia and the people? I am pretty cynical. Time and again workers in the poorest states vote against what would seem to be their economic interests. In Missouri, they vote down a Right To Work law at the same time as they vote in the same legislators who passed it. Then those same legislators proceed to reverse the referendum.
Burris is right. The outflow of money from public education will start with a trickle and end with a flood. West Virginia is in a good position to avoid the mistakes that have cost so many states dearly. Frankly, charters and vouchers offer little value add to a community. In fact, they destroy their valued public asset, public education. They drain public money from communities and send it out of the community. The academic results are also known. Charters add very little, and vouchers are a tax avoidance scheme for the wealthy. Vouchers also get terrible academic results. Public schools can offer far more choices than any “one size fits all” charter, but it takes investment in order for public schools to do their best work. Do not be fooled by slick marketing and empty promises. Charter schools are like the company store in coal mining towns. They are carpetbaggers that manipulate, take and are unaccountable. Public schools are democratically operated, transparent and accountable to the communities they serve. Stick with your public schools, the best hope for West Virginia’s children.
The US Department of Education are spending yet another work week promoting the charter and private schools they prefer:
“Betsy DeVos
In 4th grade, Kendra was struggling in her neighborhood elementary school. Her mother enrolled her in a public charter school and Kendra’s confidence soared. ”
Try it yourself. Try to find a single positive mention of a public school OR public school student anywhere in ed reform.
It’s bad enough that they falsely depict all public schools as failing, which of course isn’t true. It’s outrageous that they also depict all public school STUDENTS as failing.
And we’re all paying for this ideologically- driven propaganda.