Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, expresses outrage because the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has asked for federal rescue money for charter schools, although they have suffered no losses.
She writes:
Shame on the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools!
I have great sympathy for small businesses that are devastated by COVID-19. And I am glad that the Small Business Administration is giving those businesses low-interest loans to cushion the blow. It is shocking, therefore, that the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools is actively encouraging its members to take advantage of those taxpayer funds intended for small businesses, although their income has not been interrupted at all.
Read below what the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools included in its weekly newsletter:
“SBA Emergency Loans Now Available to Charter Schools
“The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) now has authority to offer emergency loans to both small businesses and nonprofits under its Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program in eligible areas. While SBA authorities are focused on small businesses, we worked with federal lawmakers to ensure that the loan funding for this crisis is offered to charter schools and other nonprofits to borrow up to $2 million for up to 30 years at 2.75 percent for nonprofits. These loans are designed to help businesses and nonprofits meet financial obligations and operating expenses that would not be of concern if the COVID disaster had not occurred.”
By the way, some of these loans will not need to be repaid.
Are charter schools following Executive Director Nina Rees’s (former employee of Dick Cheney) advice?
Yes, they are.
Read this story that just appeared in the Washington Post.
According to reporter Perry Stein, even though D.C. charter schools, like public schools, get most of their funding from the government, they can apply for funds under the CARES Act. Yet, public schools cannot.
”Charters claim they need the money because they have to give out laptops to their students. So do public schools. Charters claim they may lose donations. It is doubtful that the billionaires who give them money will stop. When crises occur, billionaires do just fine.
”Once again, the charter sector, through the lobbying efforts of Nina Rees of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, worked behind the scenes to gain fiscal advantage for the privately operated schools they claim are public schools.
”This time Rees did it during a crisis of enormous proportions–one that is devasting the small business community for which so many charter and public school parents work.”
Will the National Alliance, which is flush with cash, also apply for these funds? We will do our best to find out. Although our donations have decreased, the Network for Public Education will not apply for these funds. In fact, we are actively asking our members to donate to organizations that are providing crisis relief.
Charters claim to be public schools–except when being a “business” is to their advantage.
Charters claim to be “public schools” when that’s where the money is. But when the money is available for small businesses, they claim to be small businesses. Public schools aren’t eligible for the federal money. But charter schools are.
Public schools are not small businesses. Charters just defined themselves: Not public schools. Small businesses.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Here’s another round of DECEIT for the Charters. Charters are BAD.
Thanks for this report. The charter industry is a glutton for public money. Charter schools ARE a business seeking profits and throwing money at them will not satisfy their appetites for more money. What we do not know from this report: the names of all of the people who lobbied for this provision, their connections to Trump, Devos, and major philanthropies, and more.
yes, and in our modern “accountabilty” days most charters exist ONLY because their gluttony for public money can be easily appeased: educational viably becomes irrelevant in the face of making personal profits
Socialism is totally acceptable when the recipients are corporations. When government money goes into people’s pockets, the assumption in conservative a circles is it will make them morally derelict. With corporations it does not seem to matter because the majority of them are already morally bankrupt. With charter schools the main goal was always to gain access to public money. The fact the charter schools are looking to ride the gravy train of government handouts comes as no surprise. Their actions confirm their shady ethics.
Yep. Socialize the risk. Privatize the profits. The American way
Charter schools and private school vouchers were always the top priority of ed reform.
Public schools and students simply do not benefit in any way from this “movement”- they do not work on behalf of our kids.
Keep that in mind when electing someone or hiring someone for a public or public school position- hiring an ed reformer means the public school students and families in you state or city are the dead last priority. They simply don’t work for your kids.
You’ll be paying thousands of public employees who return no value to public schools, because they are ideologically opposed to public schools. That doesn’t make any sense. Don’t do it.
I don’t think the money is to keep charter teachers and student support people employed- as the story in the Wasington Post says those employees are already paid by the public.
It’s to keep the vast ed reform “movement” employees employed. All the pundits and “activists” and fundraisers and political operatives. The professional public school bashers. That’s what you’ll be funding- their lobbying and marketing workforce. The thousands of folks you see on Twitter who are paid by “the movement” to promote charter schools and bash public schools. They’ll be getting the grant money.
As always, Chiara, you see right through to the bullcrap at the heart of the agenda.
Yep.
We’re all going to have to work very hard to fight against budget cuts to public schools as this crisis continues.
Ed reformers are lousy advocates for public school students. We’ll have to advocate for our own kids, or they are going to get screwed again, like they did after the 2009 financial crisis. They’ll use our schools as a piggybank to balance state budgets and no one in ed reform will say a word, because they don’t support public schools or public school students. If they had their druthers our schools wouldn’t exist.
Don’t let them screw public school students again. That happened in 2009 and it can’t happen again. Public school kids should not shoulder the entire burden for this economic crisis.
“Charter Matters”
The charters are like matter
Both particles and waves
They’re “public” getting fatter
And “private” loot in caves
(“Pirate” works too)
Public on a Monday
Private on the next
Changing with the time of day
Depending on the text
Well said, Poet.
SDP,
That is a superb poem about the charters: public when it suits them, not “state actors” when it suits them.
Disgusting. Charters are well paid by taking money from the pubic schools from where their students live. In NYC that amount is over $15,000 per student! And most (all?) NYC charters don’t pay for rent, maintenance, security. And they really want to complain about donations? They aren’t supposed to run on donations. And if we want to talk nitty gritty, Success Academy’s management company is a not for profit that sits on millions of dollars of donations — and yet still charges the charter chain a hefty fee per child!
The same people in the Trump Administration that didn’t respond to the initial virus crisis are now in charge of delivering relief- they won’t be any better at the second than they were at the first.
These are people who distribute VENTILATORS- life saving equipment- based on Donald Trump’s poll numbers in a given area. How do you think they’ll distribute grant money? It’ll go to their political cronies and ideological fellow travelers.
According to the Washington Post, Jared Kushner is making the key decisions about how to respond to the crisis.
Bear in mind that like his father-in-law, he was previously a real estate developer with no experience in any other field and with no managerial experience.
I’m curious (will see soon) if state legislation for charter expansion and their reverse robin hood m.o. will continue when states must reconvene legislatures at least to approve their budgets. If ever there was a time for watchdog analysis of the fine print it is now. Because of virus concerns (will they sit six feet apart and wear masks) – States will only act on a few major bills and get out of town – so they will sneak in all kinds of privatization language?
In our state, for two years the GOP controlled houses want to expand charters outside of the ubran centers and other egregious language. Taking money from public schools that will be slammed in budgets after this is unconscionable. But they don’t care.
The “however” is in the wealthy and middle class suburbs where the majority of kids do go to excellent public school. (private and parochial numbers have been steady for years).
It’s going to be Sophie’s choice for the staunch we-love-the-president social conservatives to decide; take money from my kids and my successful public school or support the gop no matter what.
What’s that line — “no crisis should ever go to waste” – these boys wrote the book on it (Iraq, NoLa charter district, mass school closings, recessions…)
With many of the courts closed and members of Congress staying home in self-quartine, who is running the country?
The answer should send shivers down our spines.
Trumpty Dumpty?
Once the Loyalist Trump administration realized this, who is in place to challenge what they will do to the country?
Does anyody know of any Ohio charter schools that are applying for this small-business loan program?
So if they are small businesses, they should not be collocated into public school buildings. How fast can we get the eviction notices up?
[…] solution would be to end charter schools that demonstrate no accountability to the public. Instead, Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education says, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools is actively encouraging its members to take […]