Molly Olmstead writes in Slate that the rightwing plan to replace public schools with charter schools just took a big step backward in Tennessee. Governor Bill Lee, an evangelical Christian, wanted to bring 100 charter schools designed by extremist Hillsdale College to Tennessee to spread the gospel of patriotism, capitalism, and evangelical religion to the state. Hillsdale scaled the plan back to 50 schools, expecting to spread them across the state.
But then someone taped a conversation between Bill Lee and Larry Arnn, the president of Hillsdale. Arnn said insulting things about teachers. The Governor didn’t speak up. Then school boards got angry. They respect their teachers. Their teachers are their neighbors. Lots of Tennessee teachers are Republicans. Their neighbors don’t think they are “radical Marxists.” They know they are not “grooming” their children.
Arnn and Lee made the Hillsdale brand toxic. Arnn was out of touch. So was Governor Lee. The people of Tennessee don’t want to dump their public schools. They don’t like it when people dump on their teachers.
Back off, Governor Lee.
Go back to Michigan, Larry Arnn.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Charter schools are public schools
When they want taxpayer money. When they are asked for transparency, they aren’t.
Exhibit A: PPP funds.
Did ANY public school qualify? Nope. But KIPP, among other (cough) public charter schools, did.
Why? How? BS.
Hillsdale is a perfect case to consider, and it’s an existence proof that MjGB is wrong about this. Hillsdale’s 1776 curriculum for its charter schools is basically extremist rightwing indoctrination, including religious indoctrination.
Kelley,
Thanks for the reminder.
Both public schools and charter schools received COVID relief funds.
Public schools were not eligible for PPP funds. Only small businesses and nonprofit organizations qualified for PPP funding. Charter schools requested and received more than $1 billion in PPP, admitting that they are not public schools.
Private schools also applied and received PPP $$$.
But not public schools.
Oxymoron: Public school Christian nationalist fundamentalist madrassa
You may not like the idea of charter schools, but they are in fact public schools. Every state operates then differently, but they are public schools in every state. Yes, they are able to operate with more freedom in terms of how they teach, but they are not allowed to use public moneies to teach religion, and cannot require anyone to particiapte in any religious instruction.
In 2017, the USSC, in Trunity Lutheran CHurch of Columbia v. Comer found that it was unconstitutional for a state to discriminate against religious organizations when making grants to non-profit organizations for non-sectarian purposes.
If you want to argue that no organization should recieve public dollars if it has any religious affiliation, then don’t be looking for the Salvation Army in the next flood, hurricane, tornado, or terrorist attack that hits your neighborhood. Heck, close all the faith based food banks and shelters that might get a few public dollars. WHile the Red Cross is no longer a faith based organization, its founders were inspired by faith. Do they get money?
Like it or not charter schools are here to stay and are growing. Government has screwed up traditional public education. Teachers are doing the best they can in a bad, bureaucratic, inefficient system. To blame the teachers is like saying anyone who teaches in a charter school is a Christian nationalist fundamentalist supporting madrassas.
Charter schools are hardly the final solution. Just like other public schools, there are good charter schools and bad charter schools.
Unlike in a Madrassa, no one in a charter school is forcing a religious ideolofy on students. If they were, you can be sure it would be brought to the attention of everyone, and that school would be forced to change or shut down, as it should be.
Charter schools are not public schools. They are privately operated, sometimes for profit. You can pass a law declaring that a camel is a horse, but it’s still a camel.
🙂
I would love to see ZERO public dollars going to any religious institution and for religious institutions to start paying freaking taxes. And it’s breathtakingly naive to think that there aren’t charters forcing ideologies on students. The Hillsdale 1776 curriculum is pretty rightwing. And all lovey-dovey about religious superstition.
Again, like it or not, Charter schools are public schools. The U.S. Department of Educaiton classifies charter schools as public schools. They receive public monies, offer a free education, and are held to the same nondiscrimination standards as any traditional public school..
In 2019-20 there were 98,469 public schools in the US. Among that group, there were 7,547 charter schools (about 7.6% of all schools) and 3,497 magnet schools. Depending on the state, the local public school district has considerable discretion and control over these charter schools, including approving a charter. In some states they have less control.
In that same year, enrollment in public schools in the US totaled 50,437,821. This included just 3,431,230 students enrolled in charter schools (about 6%). This suggests that class sizes in charter schools are on average smaller, something education experts think is a good thing.
Those figures do not suggest that class sizes are smaller. They only tell us that the median total enrollment was less.
Charter schools are a way station to vouchers. They are privately owned and operated, sometimes for profit. No public school is run for profit and managed by a private, self-selected board.
To learn more about the history of charter schools, read my books “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” “Reign of Error,” and “Slaying Goliath.”
When they were launched, their promoters (I was one, unfortunately) claimed that they would be more accountable than public schools, they would be more successful than public schools, and they would cost less than public schools.
Thirty-four years later, we now know that they are less accountable than public schools (they oppose accountability), they are no more successful than public schools (and many are far worse than public schools serving the same kids), and they do not cost less than public schools (they hire less qualified teachers but pay more to administrators).
They have met none of their goals, but they have certainly made headlines with profiteering, embezzlement, self-dealing, and massive frauds.
“Charter schools are hardly the final solution. ”
Yes, I believe someone else had that one covered.
Perfectly said, Diane.
I honestly wonder if some of the commentators like MjGB have ever read Diane’s books and comments here. Try addressing the facts, research, and proven experience of her cogent arguments. Polemics without justification don’t fly with this audience. If you believe so strongly, start with factual, objective sources that refute any argument she makes. Or better yet, invest a little time in her books as a starter.
Lecturing Diane about charters. It’s like Matt Gaetz and Marjory Taylor Greene ‘splaining math to Edward Whitten.
MjGB–that’s like saying every word of the Bible is true because it was handwritten by God HImself. Charter schools have been repurposed into a pernicious, putrescent business model to suck up taxpayer dollars for bare minimal services, the neoliberal model of schooling towards privatization.
Isn’t that like saying public schools have been repurposed into sustianing an environmenal religious cult that promotes having 8 year olds determine their own gender. Of course using tax pater dollars to do it.
Both your statement and mine are highly inaccurate.
MjGB
Did you mean, “promotes” 9-year-old-girls becoming mothers?
“every word of the Bible is true because it was handwritten by God HImself”
In the not-too-distant future, this may be the basis of American constitutional law.
Alert the press- MjGB is in a chain of command in the state of Ohio, above the Ohio Supreme Court which ruled charter schools are not public.
And what an idiot, he admits his statement is inaccurate–obviously a charter school graduate himself. I rest my case.
Actually, several federal courts have ruled that charter schools are not “state actors.” That is, they are private schools. The NLRB ruled the same. The Supreme Court of Washington State ruled that they are not public schools because the state law says that public schools have elected school boards.
Of course, as often happens on this site, those who express the non-dominate opinion are insulted with personal attacks, perhaps in an attempt to drive any alternative opinion away from this site. Kool-Aid drinkers unite!!!
Certainly not a place for healthy debate, which is sad, but happens all too often on both sides of the political spectrum.
Good job Linda and Yossarian. I rest my case.
…..a last word freak (smh).
MjGB-
Say what?
Ohioans like me have the right to feel umbrage, not you. The money that went to ECOT is unrecoverable. Charter grifters gave to the Ohio Republican Party in order to get the abomination of privatization enacted. Gates and Fordham greased the wheels as oligarchs do. Then, people like you discount and dismiss the ruling from the state Supreme Court.
MjGB was paid to make others drink the Kool-aid. Then, when they refuse, he claims victimhood. It should be a Saturday Night Live skit except it’s not original enough.
This is the tactic of true believing ideologues. They make unsupported statements (the support tends to be along the lines of “others have said”) and claim this is not a place debate. Evidence, facts, experience. If you can’t argue those, you have no argument.
“This doesn’t happen in America. Maybe Ohio.”
I plan to vote for Whaley if the machine will allow it.
Well, that is certainly debatable; it is also not what this post addresses. Please try to stay on task.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ad infinitum.
Why do charter contractors go to such lengths to convince everyone they’re not private contractors? It’s like an army of hired mercenaries trying to convince everyone they’re the U.S. Army. So dumb. Charters putting the word ‘public’ in the names of their privately owned and operated schools is like all those fools wearing and waving before them the stars and stripes while they stormed the Capitol. Why? Charters are not government actors.
So dumb.
exactly
I love how Diane put it above: You can pass legislation calling a camel a horse, but that doesn’t make it one.
Now seems to be a good a time to re-watch John Oliver’s classic takedown of charter schools (approaching 14 million views, btw):
People were so desperate for teachers during the first year of Covid. We were “heroes.” Now we’re back to being treated like dirt- by our own governor no less. He has tried to pretend that he didn’t insult us, but everybody knows that his lukewarm response is hollow.
Where I live many teachers are Republicans. Teachers in North Florida are generally respected, particular by military families that seek a comprehensive, quality education for their children. They do not see public school teachers as the enemy. They see them as an important part of the community, no matter how loudly Sinclair Broadcasting bangs its right wing drums. Anything posted by the local TV station about book banning or CRT in schools is countered by parents that support the community teachers. They know that teachers are doing their best in a very difficult politicized climate.
In my Tennessee county, sports rules as king. Almost every decision made by parents regarding schools at least partially involves sports. Note that Gov Lee has done nothing that will affect his home county of Williamson. That is because any competition with the public schools in the area would be looked on with definite hostility. That would cause a revolution.
When you helped create the vicious junk yard dog who is now turning on you and attacking you, its really hard to sympathize.
Hard to feel sorry for these people.
It’s interesting that what is most upsetting to them is they are essentially being lumped in with liberals whom their own party frequently attacks as “radical socialists who groom children”
Hypocrisy?
“back to Mich.” Arnn may be loathed in Mich., as well. One of the primaries to watch Aug. 2 is in western Mich. where a Black candidate (GOP) is endorsed by Trump. The district was redrawn and now leans Democratic. The Dems prefer to run against Trump’s choice, Gibbs. Gibbs’ opponent is the silver spoon baby, Peter Meijer (of the retail giant, Meijer’s). He’s an incumbent who voted to impeach Trump.
Democratic wins in Mich. would show people like the DeVoses and Hillsdale crowd that the conservative religious don’t have a hold on the state. It would set the Church Militant wackos back on their heels.
Trump’s John Gibbs converted to Catholicism recently. Catholic Vote which endorsed him 5 days ago posted info. about Gibbs. He likes the idea of one church and he wants to be part of the movement that pushes the nation in that direction. He’s anti- abortion. Btw- previously, Catholic Vote praised Orban of Hungary. Lately, after his mixing of races comment, Orban has been described as a Christo-fascist.
Gibbs’ education was at Stanford and Harvard Kennedy School of Government where, IMO, POC get their buy-in to colonialism and Whites get a refresher course.
Yesterday I met Elissa Slotkin, member of Congress from Michigan, at a fundraiser. She is smart, thoughtful, impressive. If you live in the 9th Congressional Dustruct, vote for her!
I hope she wins for the sake of democracy.
When a fascist MAGA moron claims all teachers are libtards and they are training children to be “whatever,” here are a few facts that might help counter their crap:
“By and large, educators aren’t fans of school choice—even if they voted for Trump, who made it a signature issue. A plurality of all those surveyed—45 percent—”fully oppose” charter schools, while another 26 percent “somewhat oppose” them. And 58 percent don’t support using government funds to help students cover the cost of private school, while 19 percent said they “somewhat oppose” vouchers.”
And according to this survey from EdWeek, 5% of public school teachers are very liberal, 24% liberal, 43% moderate, 23% conservative, and 4% very conservative.
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/survey-educators-political-leanings-who-they-voted-for-where-they-stand-on-key-issues/2017/12
But, that will probably mean nothing to a MAGA fascist, because everyone that doesn’t agree with and think like them is a liberal traitor, even conservatives who are no labeled RINOs by the extremist on the far right that aren’t even close to a real conservative.
Thanks for the stats, Lloyd. Ofc, what Repugnicans say and reality are not even distantly related.
Go back to Michigan, Larry Aarn”
Leonard Cohen wrote a song about that.
So long, Larry Aarn
Thanks for the music.
Please don’t send Arnn back to Michigan!!
Sent from my iPhone
Who wants Arnn?
Not Michigan?
Where should he go?
Hungary?
Good idea. He can take Propaganda Ministers Stephen Goebbels Miller and Pig Pen Bannon and Grand Kleagel Jeffrey Beauregarde Sessions with him.
I commented in detail earlier but it did not appear. Lee will do a lot to promote private education, but I bet he is smart enough not to threaten sports teams in suburban and small town Tennessee
Such Good News. May there be more like it.
And if it helps put a stop to this traitorous assault on Public Schools and Democracy.
We remind that back in June, CNN aired a one hour CNN Special Report: DEEP IN THE POCKETS OF TEXAS.
Ed Lavandera revealed how a handful of influential billionaires steer the politics of school boards, city councils and the state legislature in Texas.
Texas is one of only 10 states with no limitations on campaign donations to candidates.
A few wealthy donors with strong religious views have an outsized influence on the government for approximately 30 million people. Known for its independence,Texas is usually at the forefront of Right Wing legislation. And its MAGA GOPee told Lavandera that what’s happening in TX now goes way beyond ideology.
A shocking documentary; but this isn’t just Texas, this is America now.
There is a huge disconnect between how our supposed representatives vote and where the people stand on the issues. Why? There is no disconnect between how these people vote and where the oligarchs who fund them stand on the issues.
Such Good News. May there be more like it.
And if it helps put a stop to this traitorous assault on Public Schools and Democracy.
We remind that back in June, CNN aired a one hour CNN Special Report: DEEP IN THE POCKETS OF TEXAS.
Ed Lavandera revealed how a handful of influential billionaires steer the politics of school boards, city councils and the state legislature in Texas.
Texas is one of only 10 states with no limitations on campaign donations to candidates.
A few wealthy donors with strong religious views have an outsized influence on the government for approximately 30 million people. Known for its independence,Texas is usually at the forefront of Right Wing legislation. And its MAGA GOPee told Lavandera that what’s happening in TX now goes way beyond ideology.
Thanks for spreading the good news…
Go back to Michigan, Larry Argh-Arnn. Michigan is okay, but you could go to Siberia. Try it. There’s also a tiny island off the coast of Antarctica you could try, as long as you can keep from indoctrinating the penguins. Maybe Bezos would be willing to send you to Mars on his phallus ship. No teachers for you to insult in any of those places. North, south, heavens, hell… definitely go to somewhere, Larry.
Why do they call it The Rapture? Because the people left behind are so happy to have the fundies elsewhere.
You’re right Bob. The Rapture’s a great idea. When right wing religious gather for political purposes we should have chants that show our support for the Rapture. “Take them up, Take them up”
And in AZ :
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2019/08/09/eddie-farnsworth-charter-school-champion-retire-legislature/1971950001/
“Farnsworth . . . who made 14 million dollars last year from the sale of his schools.”
Let’s see. They are public schools. But you can make millions when you sell yours.
They are public but they are yours. Yeh, that makes a lot of sense.
The Stone Age is far in these guys future! What idiots!