Denis Smith went to graduate school in West Virginia and served as an elementary and middle school principal, director of curriculum, and director of federal programs in the suburban school system adjacent to the state capital. He subsequently moved to Ohio, where he was in charge of overseeing the state’s burgeoning and scandal-ridden charter sector. He wrote a warning to West Virginia, published in the state’s major newspaper, about its new charter law and what is likely to happen. It won’t be pretty.
He said that charters will not be accountable. They will divert money from the state’s public schools, while doing whatever it takes (campaign contributions?) to avoid academic and financial accountability.
He pointed out that the people of West Virginia will lose local control of their schools, as national charter chains move in.
Consider the irony that the leader of the founding coalition of the proposed West Virginia Academy is a professor of accounting. But then we should also know that, when it comes to all things related to charter school accounting and accountability, nothing adds up. Add to that the fact that these schools are free from many sections of state law, including school boards that are directly elected by the public. For example, in Ohio, where I live, charter schools are exempt from 140 sections of the state code.
Keep in mind that charter boards are hand-picked, selected by the companies that manage the school, where school governance by design is not accountable to the voters…
As a former resident of West Virginia and a school administrator in West Virginia and Ohio, it is my hope that the citizens of the Mountain State might learn from the mistakes of Ohio, which bears the distinction of having a refuse pile containing the wreckage of nearly 300 closed charter schools, some of which received funding but never opened, emitting a rancid, overpowering odor, a byproduct of bad public policy.
And speaking about waste, Ohio has spent more than $4 billion on the charter school experiment so far, an exercise that is hell-bent on using public funds for private purposes while skirting transparency and accountability requirements.
Smith asks the people of the state:
Are West Virginians, exploited for generations by energy companies, in favor of selling off their public schools?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A quick google search and a search of this blog using the term “cautionary tale charter schools” brings up dozens of articles from across the country with warnings about this dismal path.
Why do legislators, the right, the billionaire boys club, and others ignore these warnings and the evidence and data behind them?
It can’t be they are sold a bill of goods on achievement gains because those data are data. It can’t be that charters are a haven for black children in cities where schools are portrayed as failing and unsafe.
Could it be… $$$?
Add to the mix now Critical Race Theory! If the charter schools are all about diversity and overcoming the systemic racism that is at the root of many urban/suburban/exurban differences – – – then how do the funders justify funding the schools that (allegedly) stand for diversity, equity, and social justice?
dismal: the exact descriptor
“Why do legislators, the right, the billionaire boys club, and others ignore these warnings and the evidence and data behind them?”
A. Because they don’t care. They just want to funnel tax payers money into their own endeavors.
B. Because they think educators are simpletons…. and they the smart business people have the answers.
tax dollars into their ……
and… putting your A and B together, what’s sick is that the exPres and his silent defenders live by his mantra “… and they let you do it!”
He doesn’t / they don’t care about their supposed followers who they wouldn’t have a cup of coffee with or give the time of day (unless they’re deep pockets).
Any of the hundreds of issues – they use and abuse people to get what they and only they want.
Charters = $. Period. In their universe it’s got nothing do with “saving children” or education
The answer is A. Making more money is the only thing Wall Street and Silicon Valley are concerned with. The only thing.
They’ll expand charters in West Virginia regardless of the results. They’ll then push through a voucher law, and expand that the next session. It isn’t based on education outcomes- it’s based on ideological outcomes. Privatized schools are inherently better than public schools because that’s what the ed reform ideology dictates.
From here on out West Virginia can expect all education policy to be dominated by the national ed reform echo chamber, with charters and vouchers as the top priority and public schools relegated to an afterthought.
It’s just how they roll. It’s been the same in each and every state they capture- identical.
In my opinion, what public schools should do is break away from this echo chamber and re-focus on their own schools and students. Ed reformers advocate for charter and private school students- they do nothing for public school students. Public schools will have to fill the need and advocate for public school students themselves.
In a very real way it could be freeing. Are we in the public school community happy with the work ed reformers have done as to PUBLIC schools? If not, why are we still hiring them? What if we went our own way? It’s not mandated that we continue to accept direction from the same 150 national ed reformers. We could find and hire people who support our schools and students and deliver real value to them.
Ed reforms rejection of public schools has a silver lining for public schools- we’re no longer required to take direction from them.
No one questions that the national charter organizations advocate for charter schools and do nothing for public schools. Same with the organizations promoting vouchers- nothing for public school students.
Why would public schools be any different? Feel free to advocate on behalf of public schools and public school students. The entire ed reform echo chamber does it for charters and vouchers. We can do the same for public schools. It’s allowed.
Turn it around- here’s the question for public school leaders:
Has ed reform delivered for your students? Are your students better or worse off than when this “movement” took over public education policy 20 years ago?
If the answer is “no” there’s no requirement that you continue to allow them to run your schools. Why would you? They haven’t benefited your students. Break away. It’s permitted. You don’t even need to ask the permission of the Walton Family. You can just do it.
Charters evaluate policy based upon if charter students benefit. Private schools evaluate policy based upon if private school students benefit.Public schools should do the same. It’s past time public school leaders started looking out for public school students.
“Are West Virginians, exploited for generations by energy companies, in favor of selling off their public schools?”
The disrupters have no interest in what the public wants. Instead, they cozy up to state’s representatives that make decisions without any citizen input. The deep pockets behind privatization buy political favors that gives them access to public money.
West Virginia should heed Smith’s warning. Smith has witnessed first hand the devastating impact of privatization. Just as the mountains of West Virginia are scarred from centuries of mining, your local community public schools will be stripped mined to provide profit for Wall St investors. The disrupters are selling so-called choice, but the hidden agenda is to move public money out of your communities and into the hands of the already wealthy. Privatization is exploitation, not choice. West Virginians should contact their representatives to voice opposition to the legalized theft of your public assets.
This just in: Princess Sparkle and Slender Man evict riff-raff, build 1,812,096,824,733 sq. ft. home in Southern Florida.
Ugh 😦 …. to be able to afford a $24 million dollar home…. someone must have made a lot of money during the last 4 years…. when they were supposedly serving the public.
Hmmmm….. and the beat goes on.
That last comment was supposed to be in reply to @bobshepherd
“In March 2021, the fictional ‘Hope Higgins’ emerged again, this time in West Va….attempted to catch union activists on tape”…sent an e-mail expressing a desire to donate to a cause…then met with a middle school history teacher who had been described as a major voice in the state’s 2018 teachers strike…a video was produced and posted…Texas AFT got e-mails from the same Higgins.
The title of the Daily Beast investigation (available at Yahoo news July 11, 2021),
” Survivor contestant worked as undercover sting operator”. The article which describes additional operations references Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe and the technique, “honey pot”.