I like this post by Peter Greene a lot because it clears up confusion about what defines a public school. Many people think that charter schools are public schools because most state laws define them as “public charter schools.” The charter industry wrote the state laws, and they desperately wanted to be considered “public schools” so they could qualify for the same funding as public schools (in Texas, they get even more funding than real public schools). The proliferation of corporate charter chains make it even harder to see charter schools as public schools, since nowhere in the history of public schools were multiple schools managed by a corporation.
Greene asks the questions that define what a real public school is.
Here are a few of them:
Is the school and its resources owned by the public?
Who owns the building? If the school closed tomorrow, who would take possession of the building, the desks, the chairs, the books, the music stands, etc etc etc. If the physical resources of the building are owned by the public, it’s probably a public school.
Is the school run by local elected officials?
When we get to the very top level of management, do we find a board of local people elected by local taxpayers? If so, it’s probably a public school. We’re in a fuzzy grey area in districts under mayoral control, but not at all fuzzy when discussing upper management that is not elected by anybody at all.
Did those local officials open the school?
Who decided this school should exist, and that local taxpayers should pay for it? If that decision was made by a board of local citizens elected by local taxpayers, it’s probably a public school.
Are those local official required by law to meet only ever in public?
Can the board of local citizens elected by the local taxpayers meet in secret? Or must their meetings be announced and in public, with exceptions only for times when the group must adjourn for privacy regarding, say, personnel or student issues? Public school boards don’t get to meet unannounced, privately.
Are all financial records available upon request, and subject to state audit?
If you’ve gone to court to block the state from auditing your school financial records, you are not a public school. It’s simple, really– you’re spending taxpayer money, and the taxpayers are entitled to an accounting of it. Any taxpayer should be able to access your financials. The state should audit you regularly.
If your school doesn’t meet these minimal requirements, it is not a public school.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In NYS, charter school boards must comply with Open Meetings Law and allow the public to attend; but the law is not enforced and many charters do not announce where and when they’re meeting in any place that the public can access. Even worse the Charter Management Organization that really runs the schools does NOT have to have open meetings. In NYC, only the NYC comptroller can audit charters, not the state comptroller, and he or she can only do financial and not performance audits which would show how many of these schools are illegally pushing out kids and/or not giving them their legally prescribed services.
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“Nina Rees
Ninacharters
·Mar 30
Families need more choices—not less. If you agree, join me and
charteralliance
in telling your members of Congress to protect funding for charter schools today!”
Nothing for public school students. As usual.
I don’t mind that they promote and market charters and vouchers and do absolutely nothing for public school students- I mind that they present themselves to the public as supporting “public education”. It’s just not true.
A “movement” that is ideologically opposed to the existence of the public schools 90% of students and families use shouldn’t be running K-12 education policy. That won’t work out well for public school students and it has not, in fact, worked out well for public school students.
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Public school students actually take a double hit- the same ed reformers who lobby AGAINST their schools are also in positions of power to dictate what occurs IN their schools. So for example, this year we watched the ed reform echo chamber lobby aggressively for vouchers to replace public schools WHILE the ed reform lobby mandated standardized testing IN public schools.
How did public school students end up with such a bad deal, where they get all the grim, punishing ed reform policy with none of the ed reform lobbying and advocacy support?
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The ed reform lobby has so captured the Ohio legislature that we now have a majority of lawmakers who actively work against the public schools in the state.
But it gets even better for public school students! These same anti-public school lawmakers ALSO rubberstamp every mandate ed reformers pile on public schools.
The people who make policy for our schools do not support our schools. Public school students got the absolute worst deal imaginable- ALL of the downside of ed reform policy with none of the support.
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Another question: is money exchanged or considered when students enroll? CBK
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I think it is for almost all public schools if the student does not live in the district.
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Beautifully said, Peter
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Yes, this right here hits the nail on the head: “In voucher states like Indiana and Florida, public tax dollars are used to fund religious schools, and yet none of them would claim to be a “public school.” Public tax dollars delivered by way of food stamps and rent support do not turn supermarkets and apartment complexes into public facilities. The mere presence of a public tax dollar does not turn a private business into a public institution.”
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Another example of ed reform mandates on the public schools they don’t support:
“Districts could build on this transparency by requiring that at the end of this school year, teachers engage in open, honest, two-way conversations with parents about how well their child is prepared for the next grade — and work with families to design plans to address learning loss”
They’ve abandoned public schools in favor of promoting, marketing and funding charters and vouchers. So why are public school students still stuck with their mandates?
Couldn’t we find people who actually value public schools and public school students to write policy that applies to public schools? Why does the charter/voucher lobby direct what happens in public schools?
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/545492-providing-the-transparency-parents-deserve
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All charter schools in California are corporations. I suspect that is true in other states. As a government agency, public schools I don’t think can be corporations.
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Charter school structure differs a great deal from state to state. The overwhelming majority of Wisconsin’s 230 charter schools, for example, would pass Peter Greene’s criteria with flying colors. The same is true for charter schools in other states.
There are some exceptions in Wisconsin of course. Akii-gikinoo’amaading is a charter high school that is authorized by Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa College. No doubt, like the college, enrollment in the high school is likely to be overwhelmingly native people. I know that some here would say this is evidence of the racist nature of charter schools, but I think a more nuanced notion of racism is called for in situations like this.
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Posted peter’s article at OEN. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Is-Your-Charter-School-A-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Corporate-Corruption-Crime_Corruption_Funding_Public-Education-210404-359.html#comment787778
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