The mainstream media never tires of printing stories about the “miracle” of charter schools. A few days ago, the Washington Post published an article by Eva Moskowitz, leader of the Success Academy charter chain, titled “These schools are the answer to unlocking every child’s potential: Children born into poverty should not be consigned to failing schools.” The article was shameless self-promotion, announcing that she was expanding her brand into Florida.
But much to my surprise, readers were not buying any of her pitch. The comments following the article overwhelmingly criticized charter schools, saying they chose their students, they kicked out those with low scores, they excluded kids with disabilities, they were no better than public schools.
If all those readers get it, why don’t the editors at the mainstream media?
They still cling to the myth of charter success in New Orleans. NOLA has not been great for the students and their parents. But it has been a public relations coup.
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, pulls back the curtain in The Progressive.
Her article: “The ‘Miracle’ of New Orleans School Reform Is Not What It Seems: The city’s all-charter school experiment is a cautionary tale about what happens when democracy is stripped from public education.”
After the hurricane, parents wanted well-resourced community-based public schools. Instead they got charters focused on testing and no/excuses discipline.
The entire “reform” project is based on the practice of “charter churn.” Of 125 charters that have opened since Hurricane Katrina, half have closed and been replaced.
Burris writes:
The truth is that the all-charter experiment in New Orleans was built on the displacement of Black educators, the silencing of parents, and the infusion of foundation dollars with strings attached. As a result, students and families have faced disruption, instability, and hardship as charter schools open and close. Two decades later, the “miracle” is not what it seems. It is instead a cautionary tale about what happens when democracy is stripped from public education and governance is handed over to markets and philanthropies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It would seem a friend of mine is correct. We live in an age of great public corruption. The scope of that corruption now expands to the actual organs of our body politic. All disguises have been stripped away, and the people in charge engage in obvious corruption and graft right before our eyes. Moskowitz is just a small part of a much greater cancer on our society that tells some people they must take advantage of others to enrich themselves. So they perpetuate myths. These myths accrue like their wallets.
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Florida is going to be another cautionary tale. The governor’s embracing of universal vouchers as well as his reckless spending is turning the state’s economic surplus into a deficit. DeSantis, the man that led a tirade against the so-called indoctrination in public education, has announced that the state will partner with Talking Points USA to open charter schools based on Charlie Kirk’s beliefs.https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2025/10/28/desantis-partners-with-turning-point-usa-founded-by-charlie-kirk/86930361007/
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The voices of people who criticize charter schools are filtered out by corporate media, but they’ve found power through alternative information systems like this blog, the NPE, and Parents Supporting Teachers in LA. These networks have reshaped local politics—exposing how school board candidates are funded, pressuring some to reject charter money, and pushing Democrats to back candidates less beholden to corporate interests.
Because of Chomsky’s media filters—ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and ideology—pro–public education voices may never dominate mainstream coverage. But they’ve blunted the attacks and changed the conversation, proving that grassroots media can still move the needle.
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David,
You are so right! The mainstream media keeps printing stories about the “miracle” of charter schools. But the public doesn’t buy it. Many people have seen the damage that charter schools do to their community.
I recall a crucial charter vote in Massachusetts in 2016. The billionaires were heavily invested in expanding the number of charters. The teachers’ union, the NAACP, and most local school committees were against, but didn’t match the pro-charter money.
The vote was against more charters. The highest no votes were cast in cities and towns that already had charters. To know them is not to love them.
And then there was the overwhelmingly negative response in the comments in the Washington Post to Eva Moskowitz’s self-promoting article about her no-excuses charter chain.
Charters have been around for 35 years. Eva has demonstrated that the way to achieve “success” is to choose the right students.
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The charter industry pays rich rewards to those who produce high test scores. Eva’s Success Academy is great at producing high scores.
And Eva’s compensation reflects her success.
“Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, received about $1,018,977 in total compensation for the most recently filed fiscal year (ending June 2023), consisting of:
• $182,518 base salary
• $780,000 in related/bonus compensation
• $56,459 in other reportable compensation
These numbers come directly from the organization’s 2023 IRS Form 990 as reported by public nonprofit databases.”
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When she was challenged on the Bill Maher show, she indignantly proclaimed that she was a progressive. I had no idea being a progressive paid so well!
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Eva may call herself a progressive but there’s nothing progressive about “no excuses” discipline
Also, Trump interviewed her as a potential Secretary of Ed in his first term.
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Schools that are assigned failing grades based on standardized test results are not failing because teachers are not teaching but because of children living in poverty.
Even if Moskowitz believes her lies, they are still lies.
“While the overall U.S. average score is pulled down by a high poverty rate and a wide achievement gap, some analyses show that U.S. students from low-poverty schools perform very well, and some states show larger gains for disadvantaged students than other countries.” SOURCE: from a Google AI Overview with links to the actual sources used.
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