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Ohio’s Disgraceful Charter Sector 

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
6

Stephen Dyer of Innovation Ohio reports on the latest comparisons between charters and public schools.

“Here are the toplines:

“72.5 percent of all state charter funding went to charters that DO NOT outperform the local school district.

“Nearly 1 in 3 charter schools receive all their state funding from higher performing local school districts. 

“50 percent of the charter dollars that leave the Youngstown Schools go to charters that perform worse on the state report card.  

“80 percent of all money sent to eSchools came from higher performing local school districts. 

“92 percent of Ohio school districts (563 of 609) received less per pupil state funding because of the way Ohio funds its charter schools.  

“Here’s my blog about the report and some more about its methodology: http://bit.ly/1RiretJ

Stephen Dyer

Education Policy Fellow

Innovation Ohio

35 E. Gay St.

Columbus, OH 43215

http://www.innovationohio.org”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding

Breaking: Pennsylvania Has a Budget!

By dianeravitch
March 23, 2016 //
6

Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania legislature have been deadlocked over the state budget for months. Public schools are near bankruptcy. Some borrowed money to stay open, incurring heavy interest debt.

 

But the legislature finally passed a budget that Governor Wolf will neither sign nor veto. It will become law without his veto.

 

It increases education funding, as the governor hoped, but added no new taxes, as he had hoped. Pennsylvania is extraordinarily generous to the fracking industry, which pays minimal taxes while extracting the state’s resources and polluting its waters.

 

 

Categories Education Reform, Funding, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania: Schools Near Financial Collapse Without State Budget

By dianeravitch
March 18, 2016 //
7

Lawrence Feinberg produces this comprehensive summary of news about education in Pennsylvania every day. It is an excellent redource, especially valuable during the state’s prolonged budget crisis. The failure of the legislature and governor to agree on a budget has wreaked havoc on the state’s schools.

 

Keystone State Education Coalition

PA Ed Policy Roundup March 18, 2016:

All daily postings are on our blog site at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org

“School districts are in the business of preparing kids to be productive members of society. The reduction in staff (450-plus positions) and budget cuts ($102 million) of the last five years left us with fewer services for Allentown students who have the greatest needs. The end result is we have fewer positions for remediating academic needs, increased class sizes, less social-emotional support, fewer electives, and fewer opportunities to build one-on-one relationships that all kids need, especially ours.”

Allentown’s Mayo: It’s more about the kids than state budget | Opinion

C. Russell Mayo is superintendent of the Allentown School District.

The financial crisis for the Allentown School District and other districts, created by the absence of a state budget for this 2015-16 fiscal year, is devastating. Needless financial costs and evaporated services are appalling, but that does not compare to the loss of hope — which is the essence of this crisis. Of course, our district suffers from additional financial costs and expense restraints from having no state budget. (The state funds 54 percent of our annual budget.) This past fall, we spent about $47,000 in fees and interest in borrowing $50 million. We covered unpaid bills remaining from the first semester and paid back the borrowed funds when a portion of the state money arrived in January. Since then, we have had to exhaust our fund balance and local taxes collected. In spite of spending on only essential items, delaying hiring for positions, and reducing payments to charter schools, the district now has to borrow $64 million to stretch to our next round of local taxes. Assuming the court approves this loan, we will incur at least $90,000 in additional fees with the potential for $500,000 in interest payments. Additionally, a lower Standard and Poor’s bond rating is likely. Even though these financial concerns are staggering, the major problem is the concern for our students.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/03/its_more_about_the_kids_than_t.html
 

Local school districts facing financial collapse
Bradford Era By ALEX DAVIS Era Reporter a.davis@bradfordera.com

 

Local school districts on the brink of a financial collapse faced yet another roadblock on Wednesday in their efforts to secure months-overdue state funding. The latest hurdle came as Gov. Tom Wolf promised to veto a supplemental budget that would have restored funding to several programs, including education. The Senate and House passed the measure earlier in the day. Under that plan, House Bill 1801 would have increased education funding by $200 million and restored a majority of the $6 billion in funding cuts by Wolf’s line-item vetoes. The $30.031 billion spending plan would use existing revenues without a tax increase, according to Republican Senate officials. Now, school districts are back to square one, and that’s a position that doesn’t bode well for several area districts, especially the Austin Area School District, the smallest public school district in the state. That district could be left with only $54,460 in the general fund by the end of April, Business Manager Peggy Derr told The Era on Wednesday.
http://www.bradfordera.com/news/local-schools-districts-facing-financial-collapse/article_7a141afa-ebd9-11e5-975d-5f9c0e0af478.html
“The resolution relates to a high-profile case filed November 2014 in Commonwealth Court by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and the Education Law Center, on behalf of six school districts, including William Penn, seven parents, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference.

 

The case was filed against legislative leaders, state education officials, and the governor “for failing to uphold the General Assembly’s constitutional obligation to provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education.”

 

 

Haverford board votes to support William Penn School District in lawsuit
Delco Times By Lois Puglionesi, Times Correspondent

 

 

In an uncharacteristically divided tally, school directors voted 5-3 with one abstention to adopt a resolution expressing support for plaintiffs in the William Penn School District lawsuit “as they seek to enforce Pennsylvania’s constitutional guarantee of a thorough and efficient system of public education.” The resolution also urges the General Assembly to provide school districts with adequate revenues, based on a fair and predictable formula calculated to grant all students resources they need to meet state standards and lead productive lives. School director Larry Feinberg, who serves as legislative liaison, chair of the Delaware County School Districts Legislative Council and co-chair of the Keystone State Education Coalition, introduced the matter in January, when it sparked lively debate. School directors voted to table the measure in February, pending revisions Feinberg made.
http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20160317/haverford-board-votes-to-support-william-penn-school-district-in-lawsuit
For more info on the above lawsuit:
Thorough and Efficient
Pennsylvania School Funding Litigation Website: The Education Law Center of Pennsylvania and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.
– Article III, Section 14, of the Pennsylvania Constitution
https://edfundinglawsuit.wordpress.com/

 

Gov. Wolf Video: ‘Pennsylvania is running out of money’
WTAE.com Video Runtime 2:54 UPDATED 5:43 PM EDT Mar 17, 2016
Governor Wolf brought his message to Pittsburgh Thursday focusing on the importance of education funding
http://www.wtae.com/news/gov-wolf-pennsylvania-is-running-out-of-money/38569932#.VusoxP203jM.twitter

 

“Wolf said he would veto the current budget proposal by Republican legislative leaders to release education funding. He has called it “irresponsible and unbalanced” and said it does not properly fund schools or fix the deficit. “We’ve got to get this right. And fixing this for another three months, four months, then coming back and having exactly the same conversation in July, August, September, is not going to get us much,” Wolf said.”

 
Gov. Wolf addresses prospect PA budget battle could force some school district shutdowns

WTAE By Bob Mayo

 

PITTSBURGH —Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf visited Pittsburgh Brashear High School to spotlight its career and technical education programs Thursday, but also to warn of continuing danger to state education funding in the ongoing budget battle between the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled state Legislature.. “We have a choice. And it’s a really stark choice,” Wolf told students, teachers, and staff after his tour of the school. The choice, Wolf said, is between the state making a commitment to raise revenue to support and expansion education or continuing on a path he said would risk education cuts in the long-term. “Pennsylvania is running out of money. We have been using smoke and mirrors in our budgets. We have been spending money we don’t have,” Wolf said. The governor said if the state’s budget isn’t resolved by July — the start of the next fiscal year — Pennsylvania will face a $2-billion deficit that could lead to a billion dollar cut in education funding.
http://www.wtae.com/news/gov-wolf-addresses-prospect-pa-budget-battle-could-force-some-school-district-shutdowns/38570774
No Wolf veto yet on GOP-backed Pa. budget bill

 

GoErie By Kevin Flowers 814-870-1693 Erie Times

 

Gov. Tom Wolf took no action Thursday on his threat to veto a new, $6 billion Republican-backed spending bill approved by the state Legislature aimed at ending the 8-month-old state budget fight. Wolf was at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on Thursday, outlining a proposal for government reform that includes calling on the state Legislature to ban gifts, contracting, reforms, more oversight of lobbying and other moves to increase transparency. He did not indicate when a veto might happen. On Wednesday, Wolf said he would officially reject the new spending bill, designed by Republicans to be part of a $30 billion spending package that would help finish the partially completed 2015-16 state budget. The bill would increase spending from the state’s main bank account by about $870 million, and deliver half the public school aid increase, or roughly $200 million, that Wolf had initially sought for fiscal year 2015-16, which began July 1.

 

http://www.goerie.com/no-wolf-veto-yet-on-gop-backed-pa-budget-bill

 

Reading School Board told state budget impasse’s cost: $1,000 per day in interest
Reading Eagle

 

The Reading School District is racking up $1,000 per day in interest payments thanks to the ongoing state budget impasse, and district officials are fed up. At the Reading School Board’s workshop meeting Wednesday night, several board members expressed dismay about the impact the impasse is having on the district, which was forced to borrow $20 million to make up for state funding that has been held up. “It’s just so frustrating to be in this position,” said board President Robin Costenbader-Jacobson. Costenbader-Jacobson expressed anger toward state officials, saying more pressure needs to be put on local members of the Legislature to get a deal done.

 

– See more at: http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/reading-school-board-told-state-budget-impasses-cost-1000-per-day-in-interest#sthash.EjXGk9aW.dpuf

 

 
Auditor General to research how budget crisis is costing schools

 

WITF Written by Ben Allen and Radio Pennsylvania

 

 

– Schools have already had to borrow nearly $1 billion to cover operating costs while Governor Tom Wolf and state lawmakers fight over a completing this year’s budget.

 
Now, state’s top fiscal watchdog is planning to put more pressure on those who have failed to get a deal done. It’s round three for Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. His office has already released two reports on how the budget crisis is affecting schools. Now, he’s planning to do a third, just as some districts are warning they may have to shut down or declare bankruptcy.
Red Lion in York County recently said it faces that option. DePasaquale says it is not alone.
“Allentown talked about borrowing, certainly seen that it in Erie as well, those are two others. And we’re starting to see how others are affected. April’s a pretty big month if there isn’t a budget by then,” says DePasquale.

http://www.witf.org/news/2016/03/auditor-general-to-research-how-budget-crisis-is-costing-schools.php
 

Education Advocates: PA Budget Bill Falls Short

 

Public News Service

 
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The budget passed by the General Assembly on Wednesday falls far short of providing what Pennsylvania schools need, according to education advocates. More than eight months after the budget was due, lawmakers have sent Gov. Tom Wolf a supplemental budget bill that would increase K-through-12 school spending by $202 milion over last year, far short of the $400 million the governor had sought. Cheryl Kleiman, staff attorney for the Education Law Center, said that just isn’t enough. “We have called for an increase of at least $600 million between this year and next,” she said, “and this budget simply doesn’t get us there.”
Wolf also has said the bill, which passed on an almost party-line vote, does not adequately fund education and doesn’t address the looming $2 billion deficit in next year’s budget. He has said he will veto the bill. –
See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2016-03-18/education/education-advocates-pa-budget-bill-falls-short/a50922-1#sthash.NbLUlVDX.dpuf
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2016-03-18/education/education-advocates-pa-budget-bill-falls-short/a50922-1

 
Vogel Supports Restoration of Funding for Schools, Agriculture, Hospitals
ElwoodCity.org

 

HARRISBURG — Senator Elder Vogel Jr. (R-47) issued the following statement today in response to the Senate’s passage of legislation to restore approximately $6 billion in funding for education, agriculture, and hospitals that Governor Wolf eliminated from the state budget in December: “Today, I voted for and the Legislature restored the $6.05 billion in funding that was vetoed by Governor Wolf back in December. If Governor Wolf signs it into law, our public schools will remain open, the 1,000+ folks that work for Penn State Extension will not be laid off, and we can finally move past this ugly situation and do the work that Pennsylvanians expect from their government.

Vogel Supports Restoration of Funding for Schools, Agriculture, Hospitals


Blogger note: Tim Eller was formerly Press Secretary for Governor Corbett. The Keystone Alliance for Public Charter Schools is an alliance of brick and mortar charter schools only and does not advocate for cyber charter schools.

 

 

Proposed budget dooms Pa. charter schools
The Evening Sun

 

Tim Eller is the executive director of Keystone Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

 

Supporters of public school choice next year will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law. Since 1997, the number of brick-and-mortar charter schools has grown to 160 and enroll nearly 100,000 students, with tens of thousands more on waiting lists. At a time when the charter school sector should be gearing up to celebrate this significant milestone, instead, it is preparing to battle anti-school choice advocates’ efforts to close down charter schools and force students back into the very schools they fled that failed them year after year. Governor Wolf in February proposed a 2016-17 spending plan that calls for cutting nearly $500 million in funding to charter schools, which would result in the shutting down of virtually every charter school across the state. Without understanding how charter schools are funded, the Wolf administration’s proposal selectively aims to cut by at least 50 percent the per-student funding amount charter schools receive for educating disabled students.
http://www.eveningsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/03/17/proposed-budget-dooms-pa-charter-schools/81871868/
 

Gov. Wolf should drop veto threat – it’s time to get it done: Thursday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek

jmicek@pennlive.com

 

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before:
The Republican-controlled General Assembly sends Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf legislation it hopes will end Pennsylvania’s ages-old budget standoff. The bill sails through the House and Senate, mostly along party lines, and lands with a thud on Wolf’s desk. And that’s when it all goes wobbly: Proclaiming it inadequate and not up to the task of righting the state’s fiscal ship and closing the deficit, Wolf vetoes it, resetting the clock and starting the drama anew.

 

That’s a scenario that’s played itself out at least three times since the Senate GOP sent Wolf a budget bill last June 30. And it seemed likely to play itself out again this week as the chamber teed up yet another spending bill for a swift voyage to Wolf’s desk. But on Wednesday, there were encouraging signs that, at least it as it concerns the current year’s budget, Pennsylvanians might be spared an encore performance of the increasingly tedious budget drama.
http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2016/03/another_budget_another_veto_th.html#incart_river_index
Commentary: Policy failures fuel Pa. budget impasse
Inquirer By Berwood A. Yost

 

 

Berwood A. Yost is the chief methodologist for the Franklin and Marshall College Poll, director of the Floyd Institute’s Center for Opinion Research, and director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy Analysis. byost@fandm.edu

 

Why don’t we have a state budget? The answer is neither short nor simple.
Pennsylvania’s budget impasse is the direct result of three state policy failures: the failure to find the reliable funding sources that state government needs to operate, the failure to reduce the spending growth that existing laws require, and the failure to support reforms that make elections more competitive. Corporate taxes as a share of general-fund revenues have steadily declined because the amount of money generated by those taxes has remained, in inflation-adjusted terms, unchanged since 1988. Revenue based on consumption taxes, such as the state sales tax, has grown by 27 percent, and revenue from other sources, such as the personal income tax and table games, has grown by 87 percent. This is policy failure one: not finding a sustainable revenue stream to replace money lost because of changes to corporate taxes.
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20160316_Commentary__Policy_failures_fuel_Pa__budget_impasse.html#R5rK4x12K3LgERPk.99
 

Education philosophies clash at packed Philly SRC meeting
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY MARCH 18, 2016

 

Thursday’s Philadelphia School Reform Commission meeting again became a forum to debate the school district’s plans for drastic intervention at several of its lowest performing schools.
The evening began with a clash of minds on the front steps of district headquarters. Before the meeting, the NAACP joined the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and other traditional public school advocates in a rally against the district’s school conversion plans — all of which would result in dramatic faculty shakeups. NAACP Philadelphia chapter president Rodney Muhammad called for the SRC to be abolished with a reference to the slave trade. “They are nothing but a consultant group for private industry who wants to take over our children and put them back on the auction block,” he said. Muhammad’s statement was directed in part at Mastery charter — one of three nonprofit charter organizations that has applied to takeover three low-performing elementary schools. Those remarks didn’t sit well with Kirby Ames, a senior at Mastery’s Shoemaker campus in West Philadelphia. He stood on the other side of the steps with dozens of other Mastery supporters listening to speakers bash the charter’s motives.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/92000-education-philosophies-clash-at-packed-philly-src-meeting?linktype=hp_impact

 
Plan for 3 more Philly charters draws protests, counterprotests
by Mensah M. Dean, Staff Writer

 

Before the School Reform Commission could start its scheduled meeting Thursday, the School District’s plan to hand over several struggling schools to charter operators drew demonstrators and counter-demonstrators to the steps of district headquarters on North Broad Street. On one side, about 150 parents, teachers, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan, State Rep. Curtis Thomas, and Philadelphia NAACP president Minister Rodney Muhammad were cheered as they spoke passionately in opposition to turning public schools into charters. “This is a dangerous arrangement for our children, it’s a dangerous arrangement for public education,” Muhammad said. “The NAACP is here to shut the SRC down. They’re nothing but an advertising agency for privatizing education in Philadelphia.” On the other side: About 150 people, including many parents. One of them, Jathiya Singleton, could not comprehend the depth of emotion.
Her three children, ages 7 to 10, attend Wister Elementary in Germantown, one of three schools the district has targeted for charter management.

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20160318_Plan_to_convert_3_Philly_schools_to_charters_draws_protesters_and_counter-protesters.html#X9syrBIDxkq33aJB.99

 
Emails show effort to sway SRC on Wister charter conversion

 

Documents reveal the Philadelphia School Partnership moved to influence SRC members. PSP says its preference for Renaissance charters is no secret.

 

The notebook by Bill Hangley Jr.

 

Newly released documents shed new light on behind-the-scenes moves by the Philadelphia School Partnership to revive Mastery Charter School’s bid to run Wister Elementary, after Superintendent William Hite had reversed course and recommended that the school remain under District control. The documents, mostly emails, were released by the Philadelphia School District after requests from the American Federation of Teachers and the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools (APPS) under the state’s Right to Know law. Among them is an email to School Reform Commissioner Bill Green from a senior PSP executive. It indicated that PSP board members planned to call SRC members Sylvia Simms and Feather Houstoun to encourage them to “move for and/or support a resolution to transfer Wister to Mastery.” PSP sent its email just days after Hite, citing some academic improvement at the school, decided to take Wister off the charter transformation list.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2016/03/17/emails-show-effort-to-sway-src-on-wister-charter-conversion

 
Senator eyes legislation requiring public superintendent contracts
The Sentinel by Amanda St. Hilaire abc27 News Mar 16, 2016
Questions have arisen about school district transparency in light of legislation that would require school boards to be more open with taxpayers during hiring processes. “If you can’t defend something publicly, then it’s probably not a good idea,” Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said. It’s his mantra, and he believes school districts should follow suit. Often called Pennsylvania’s fiscal watchdog, DePasquale can now be called the inspiration for a new bill promoting transparency After seeing DePasquale’s scathing audit of Connellsvile Area School District in Fayette County, state Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Fayette, is getting ready to introduce legislation that would require school boards to publicly post employment offers for superintendents and principals at least two weeks before voting. “At a minimum, I hope it spearheads a discussion on some of the iss es taking place in some of the school districts,” DePasquale said.
http://cumberlink.com/news/local/education/senator-eyes-legislation-requiring-public-superintendent-contracts/article_7ce5231a-c32c-5d19-9cff-c8b639b3bfd4.html

Nazareth teachers put off plans for Friday strike; classes are on
Sarah M. Wojcik Contact Reporter Of The Morning Call March 17, 2016
The Nazareth Area teachers union has postponed plans for a strike Friday, preventing at least temporarily what would have been the first teacher walkout in the Lehigh Valley in seven years.
The school district announced on its website that all schools will be open Friday and operating on a regular schedule. “As part of the ratification process, the Nazareth Area Education Association will be presenting a [contract] proposal to teachers early next week,” the district said. The school board had scheduled a special meeting for 9 a.m. Friday. That meeting is still on, the district said. The two sides had a series of bitter exchanges Wednesday, with the union announcing plans for a strike and the district issuing a long rebuttal. On Thursday, they came together in an attempt to hash out an agreement. The district said the teachers had until 7 p.m. to decide whether they still intended to strike. Shortly before 8 p.m., the strike postponement was announced.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/nazareth/mc-nazareth-teachers-strike-0317-20160317-story.html

Tennessee school funding proposal threatens status quo
Education Dive By Erin McIntyre | March 17, 2016
Dive Bref:

 

A proposal that passed through a Tennessee House panel and is now set to be considered by a Finance Committee would amend the state constitution to grant the General Assembly sole discretion over school spending.

 

Bill sponsor Rep. Bill Dunn (R), says the legislation will protect taxpayers from activist judges who might rule the state is not adequately funding education, and from situations in other states where courts have increased taxpayer burdens.

 

 
Interested in letting our elected leadership know your thoughts on education funding, a severance tax, property taxes and the budget?
Governor Tom Wolf, (717) 787-2500
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Turzai, (717) 772-9943

House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173

Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377

Lawrence A. Feinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
Visit us online at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition.org
Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education. Are you a member?

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Funding, Pennsylvania

Jan Resseger: The Truth About John Kasich

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2016 //
31

Jan Resseger, a social justice advocate in Cleveland, warns us to beware John Kasich’s calm and mild-mannered approach. He presents himself as the responsible, sensible candidate, not a dyed-in-the-wool conservative like Trump and Cruz. Although Resseger doesn’t mention it, Kasich tried to eliminate  collective bargaining, but the law passed by the legislature was repealed by a referendum. Kasich is a strong proponent of privatization, including charters, vouchers, and cyber charters.

 

Resseger writes:

 

“You do have to give Kasich credit for one thing. He has been honest about his priorities: he is a tax slasher and a charter school supporter. He is also delusional about his accomplishments as Ohio’s governor since 2010. He claims the state has turned around economically. If there has been a turnaround, it hasn’t yet come to Ohio’s Rust Belt cities. He continues to claim he has turned around the Cleveland schools, but that isn’t true either. To his credit, he did, against the wishes of those in his own party, expand Medicaid.

 

“He has also slashed the income tax, eliminated the estate tax, and eliminated a reimbursement the state had created for local governments and school districts when a previous administration summarily eliminated a local tax on inventories and equipment. The Plain Dealer reminded us last Friday that local governments have been busy trying to pass local taxes to make up for enormous losses of state revenue because of Kasich’s “sharp reductions in the state’s Local Government Fund, which was created during the Depression when the sales tax was enacted to share money with the cities and villages.” Under Kasich, according to Friday’s Plain Dealer, state funding in Cleveland this year is down by $21 million, in Columbus by $27 million, and in Cincinnati by $28 million, and the big cities are not the only losers. The inner ring suburb where I live is down over $2 million this year. School districts across the state are struggling to pass levies at the same time they are increasing class size and charging students large fees to play sports.

 

“In a stunning piece published yesterday by Politico, Kimberly Hefling summarizes Kasich’s troubling record of flawed oversight of Ohio’s charter school sector, despite that Kasich has made charter school regulation “a priority.” She quotes Kasich in 2014 claiming: “We are going to fix the lack of regulation on charter schools. There is no excuse for people coming in here and taking advantage of anything.” That was the claim. And to give the governor credit, Kasich signed a law at the end of 2015 that, Hefling explains, “improves the state’s ability to revoke the rights of the poorly rated charter school sponsors and makes it more difficult for schools to switch sponsors.” (It has been a practice in Ohio that if an authorizer tries to shut down a charter school for academic or financial reasons, the school could merely “hop” to a new sponsor.)

 

“Here, however, are some realities described by Hefling, that demonstrate the seriousness of Ohio’s problem with charter schools and that undermine Kasich’s claim that he has led the way to better regulation: “Ohio ranks among the top five states in the number of charter schools. It has more than 370 charters that enroll 132,000 students… but the sector has been plagued with problems including mid-year school closures, allegations of financial improprieties and charter schools ‘sponsor shopping’ to avoid scrutiny. Ohio has more than 60 charter school sponsors, or authorizers, that open and oversee the schools… A 2014 study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes paid for by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute found students in the state’s charter schools perform worse on average in reading and math than their peers in traditional public schools.

 

“And then there are the notorious online charters. “A big player among Ohio online charters is the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, which enrolled 14,000 students last year and was founded by longtime GOP booster William Lager. Another longtime Ohio charter school backer is David Brennan, founder of White Hat Management, who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Kasich over the years. Innovation Ohio has estimated that since charter schools first opened in Ohio in the late ’90s, $1.8 billion of the $7.3 billion the state has spent on the sector has gone to schools run by Lager and Brennan—or $1 out of every $4 spent. Then, there’s the 11,000-student Ohio Virtual Academy, run by K12 Inc., that donated $100,000 in 2014 to the Republican Governors Association.”

 

“Finally, Hefling reports, there was the scandal that began last summer when David Hansen, then head of the charter schools office at the Ohio Department of Education, submitted a federal charter school expansion grant application that painted a rosy picture of the performance of Ohio’s charter schools and mysteriously omitted the horrible ratings of Ohio’s online charter schools. This whole mess is very much connected to Kasich, because Hansen’s wife was then the governor’s chief of staff and is now the head of Kasich’s presidential campaign. When the U.S. Department of Education responded by awarding what is a $71 million grant to expand charters—and to take over and charterize the Youngstown City Schools—a firestorm broke out. David Hansen was fired for his flawed rating system, and the federal government has demanded documentation that charter school regulation is being improved. As Hefling reports, “(T)he state took the embarrassing step in January of updating its application figures to say that instead of having nine charters schools that are poor performing, 57 are in that condition.” But even in the updated federal application, Ohio’s amended figures rate only brick and mortar schools and omit the politically connected virtual academies….

 

“Hefling summarizes her concerns about Kasich and the charter schools he loves: “Ohio Gov. John Kasich is an avid proponent of school choice, but his home state’s notoriously problematic charter school sector is often held up as an example of what can go wrong.”

 

Resseger includes links to all her statements. Open the post to see them.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Funding, Unions, Vouchers

NYC Comptroller Issues First Charter School Audit: $135,000 Unaccounted For

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2016 //
40

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has released the first of a series of charter school audits. His audit team found that a charter school in the Bronx had not documented $135,000 in expenditures.

 

$6,000 for ice cream. $16,000 for unlimited MetroCards. $7,000 so the principal could travel to Boston, Albany and Las Vegas.
“If you’re going to go to Vegas, you better document it,” said City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Over a two-year period, officials at the South Bronx Charter School for International Cultures and the Arts spent more than $135,000 without the proper authorization or documentation, according to city auditors.

 

Until now, the city’s charters have audited themselves. Eva Moskowitz led a legal battle to prevent external audits, and she prevailed in court. But the legislature passed a law authorizing the city comptroller to audit the charters since they are publicly funded.

 

The Success Academy charters will be audited. The report is supposed to be released later this year.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Funding

John Merrow: Who’s Making the Big Bucks in Charter World?

By dianeravitch
March 1, 2016 //
17

John Merrow decided to calculate which school leader was making the most money based on the number of students enrolled.

 

Carmen Farina pulls down about $.20 per child, $.40 if you include her pension.

 

“New York’s most prominent charter school operator is, of course, Eva Moskowitz, the founder and CEO of Success Academies. She has received a significant pay raise and now makes $567,000 a year, as Ben Chapman reported in the New York Daily News. Success Academies enrolls 11,000 students, the same number as in Chicago’s Noble Network.

 

“Let’s do the math. 567,000 divided by 11,000 equals 51.35, meaning that Ms. Moskowitz is earning $51.35 per student, nearly two-and-one-half times what Mr. Milkie is paid per student.

 

“If Carmen Fariña were running Success Academies instead of the nation’s largest school district, at her current pay rate of 40 cents per student she’d be earning $4400 a year!

 

“Put another way, Eva Moskowitz is being paid about 128 times more per student than Chancellor Fariña.”

 

But guess what? Eva is not the highest paid charter leader.

 

Who could it be?

 

“Like Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academies, this network loses a lot of students, but, unlike Success Academies, the remaining students here perform poorly. Here’s the percentage of students in one school who scored ‘proficient’ in English Language Arts, by grade: 5th-8%; 6th-12%; 7th-11%; and 8th-28%. In another school, 4%, 20%, 17% and 30% .

 

 

“In Math: 5th-6%; 6th-36%; 7th-52%; and 8th-48%. In another school, 27%, 37%, 39% and 34%. (And as the NAEP scores below suggest, those high-ish math scores may be illusory.)

 

 

“Scores on the NAEP, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, were unimpressive. In 4th grade, 36% scored ‘proficient’ in Reading and 35% in Math. In 8th grade, 33% scored ‘proficient’ in Reading and 31% in Math. In another of her schools the respective numbers are 36%, 35% 33% and 31%.

 

“This same charter network has famously high turnover rates among teachers too. In the most recent report, 38% of teachers departed, meaning that 4 out of every 10 teachers left. In another school, 31% left. One thing that students in high-poverty schools need is continuity, which they apparently do not get in this network.

 

“Oh, by the way, the CEO who makes all that money also has her own car and driver, according to Ben Chapman of the Daily News.

 

“I am referring to Dr. Deborah Kenny, the founder of Harlem Village Academies, a network of just five schools and 1400 students. Somehow, I suspect she’s happy to have Eva Moskowitz taking all the flack in the media about harsh discipline and high turnover rates, because that means her network’s performance is not being scrutinized. It clearly should be.”

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Funding

Sick School Buildings Deter Teaching and Learning

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2016 //
7

This comment was posted in response to this morning’s commentary on the neglected schools of Detroit: 

“As a long time D.R. blog lurker, I finally decided moved to post. For the past 30+ years my work has been that of an environmental science evaluator of mostly urban public schools on behalf of occupants and the organizations that represent them – not for district management. I think we have missed a very large boat — great leaders – yes!; great staff – yes! but without schools that are in acceptable condition, nothing else matters — great leaders and great staff don’t come to, or else end up leaving schools that are falling apart. It is impossible to teach or to learn effectively in such schools. People are sickened and absent. Books, and other materials destroyed and unavailable. Mold, lead and asbestos, as well as leaks, broken windows, chipping and flaking paint all conspire to make a school unworkable. If we don’t resolve these conditions now, nothing else can be successfully achieved.”

Categories Detroit, Education Reform, Funding

Detroit: Legislature Abandons 47,000 Children

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2016 //
22

The schools of Detroit have been under state control for most of this century. The state has failed miserably to improve education or even to maintain the schools in decent physical condition. No governor or legislator would allow this to happen to their own home district. 

The Detroit Free Press published a blistering editorial about the legislature’s malign neglect of the children of Detroit. They like to go on about how terrible the district’s test scores are but forget to acknowledge that the state is in charge and is accountable. Don’t blame the teachers. They work in terrible conditions and are never consulted about the needs of their students. They are akin to nurses in an intensive care unit that have been denied the tools to do their jobs.

The state of Michigan is in charge of Detroit school and the best the legislature can come up with is a bankruptcy plan. 

The editorial says the plan, fashioned by Governor Snyder and amended by Republican legislators, is “an insult.”

“The House is thinking that because Detroit Public Schools’ needs are so urgent — the state’s largest school district could run out of cash in April if the Legislature doesn’t act on a reform plan mulled by Gov. Rick Snyder for almost a year — this is a fine time to tie a raft of noxious, anti-union, anti-Detroit addenda to a reform package the Legislature must pass in order to keep the district’s doors open…..

“Are the Republican leaders of the state House of Representatives so craven, so insensible to the fact that their work affects children, that they’d risk the futures of the 47,000 souls enrolled in DPS with a slate of ideologically driven “reforms” sure to divide any vote along party line?…

“The House’s DPS reform bills sticks to the “old company, new company” model advanced by Snyder. The old company would keep DPS’s name, elected school board and operating millage, and exist solely to pay off the district’s debt, while the new company would receive the district’s per-pupil allowance and an additional state subsidy, and would educate Detroit’s children.

“But changes larded on by Republican lawmakers mean this legislation would essentially create a school district in Detroit with lower standards than any district in the state.

“By gutting some provisions of the state law that requires collective bargaining for some portions of teacher contracts, by allowing the new district to hire teachers with “alternate” certification, by tying teacher pay and benefits to nebulously defined performance standards, the bills’ sponsors are saying that Detroit’s children, of all the children in the state, deserve less. Much less. Detroit kids, it seems, don’t deserve the same quality of education as kids in West Bloomfield or Grosse Point….

“It is an undisputed fact that the district has spent the bulk of this century under the guidance of a state-appointed emergency manager. The state bears both moral and legal responsibility for the district’s hefty debts — much of the district’s short-term debt, after all, was incurred during that period. State intervention is predicated on the state’s constitutional responsibility to provide an adequate education for every Michigan child. State intervention came with a promise to fix DPS. But state intervention, indisputably, made the problem worse….

“Here’s our challenge to the lawmakers championing these plans: If these reforms are destined to ensure excellence, pass them statewide.”

Categories Budget Cuts, Detroit, Education Reform, Funding

Jeff Bryant: The Lesson of the Walk-Ins: Americans Are NOT Giving Up on Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2016 //
22

Earlier this week, I posted an interview with Peter Cunningham of Education Post, who said that more and more Americans are abandoning public schools for privately managed charters (which may hire uncertified teachers and generally do not get higher test scores than public schools), for homeschooling (where the quality of their education depends directly on the quality of their parents’ education), and vouchers (where children get public money to attend religious schools where many teachers are uncertified and the curriculum may be based on the Bible).

 

Jeff Bryant sees the walk-ins that occurred yesterday as a response from many thousands of parents and students who support their public schools.

 

He writes:

 

In Boston, the walk-in took place at City Hall where hundreds gathered outside to protest an estimated $50 million budget shortfall for the city’s schools. “At the proposed level, district schools could lose teachers, after-school programs, and elective classes like languages and arts,” according to a local news account. The crowd presented to the mayor a list of demands and a petition with more than 3,500 signatures, then proceeded to march to the State House to present their demands to the governor too.

 

As part of the protest, ninth graders at one school, according to the Boston Globe, wrote a letter to the mayor complaining of the budget cuts and “asking that you come to our school and explain to our students why you are letting this happen.”

 

School budget cuts were a point of contention in Chicago as well, where walk-in protests occurred at hundreds of schools across the city. “We’re united as a community, “Chicago Teachers Union vide president Jesse Sharkey tells a local reporter. “The cuts are unacceptable.”

 

Parents and students joined the teachers at many of the Chicago events, according to another local reporter, and voiced their disapproval of school budget that have swollen class sizes and eliminated course offerings. “Not every school is able to get what they want for their students,” one teacher explains. “I hope they get exactly what they’re asking for,” a parent chimes in.

 

Jeff cites the statement by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, which coordinated the walk-ins:

 

The future of public education in the United States stands at a critical crossroad.

 

Over the past two decades, a web of billionaire advocates, national foundations, policy institutes, and local and federal decision-makers have worked to dismantle public education and promote a top-down, market-based approach to school reform.

 

Under the guise of civil rights advocacy, this approach has targeted low-income, urban African-American, Latino and immigrant communities, while excluding them from the reform process. The reforms have sown distrust and division among parents and teachers, and utterly failed to improve educational outcomes for children. These attacks are racist and must be stopped.

 

The time is ripe for a new education movement that provides students throughout the United States, regardless of their race or income, with equitably resourced neighborhood schools.

 

Today, I stand with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools to demand and fight for:

 

Full, fair funding for neighborhood-based community schools that provide students with quality in-school supports and wraparound services
Charter accountability and transparency and an end to state takeovers of low-performing schools and districts
Positive discipline policies and an end to zero-tolerance
Full and equitable funding for all public schools
Racial justice and equity in our schools and communities.
There is too much at stake to be silent in this moment. I commit to fighting until we bend the political will in this country so that we create public schools where parents want to send their kids, students are engaged and educators want to work; the schools all our children deserve.

 

Members of the public are invited to sign the AROS statement.

 

Jeff writes:

 

Views can differ on whether there is “a web” of collaborating groups – as AROS contends – directing education policy, and whether or not the intent is to “dismantle” public schools, but it’s very clear the thousands of people involved in this week’s walk-ins feel they have little choice in what’s happening to their schools.

 

They did not choose to chronically under fund their schools and send public money somewhere else. Someone else chose to do that.

 

While some parents may find charter schools and vouchers can provide useful workarounds for them, that doesn’t correct the chronic under funding of the entire system and the unwillingness of political leaders to take that problem on. Participants in this week’s walk-ins see the hard, bitter truth of that. Good for them.

 

Anyone who denies that there is a “web” of collaborating groups has not been paying attention. Start with Gates, Broad, Walton, Dell, Helmsley, the Fisher Family, Teach for America, ALEC, the Koch brothers, Stand for Children, Democrats for Education Reform, Families for Excellent Schools—or save some time by reviewing the list of those groups that are funded by the Walton Family Foundation. There is a very large part of the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

Los Angeles: “Walk-In” Protests Charters, Privatization, and Billionaires

By dianeravitch
February 17, 2016 //
9

Pro-public school demonstrators marched in Los Angeles as part of the national “walk-in” for public schools.
The 20th Street Elementary School was one center for the protest because it has been targeted for privatization by the billionaire-funded “Parent Revolution.”
“Parents at 20th Street filed a petition earlier this month to convert the school into a charter school. To make the change, they’re using the state’s “parent trigger law” that allows parents to decide who will take control of a low-performing campus once the school district confirms that a majority of parents had signed a petition.
“The parent group hasn’t yet chosen an organization that would run the charter school. Under state law, only parents who signed the petition will have a vote. The advocacy group helping them, Parent Revolution, is backed by nonprofit organizations that support the growth of charter schools, including the Walton Family Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, the Arnold Foundation and the Broad Foundation.
“The petition drive has divided the campus, with supporters accusing teachers of misconduct and retaliation. The union, in turn, has accused Parent Revolution of using deceptive tactics to gather signatures. Both sides have denied any wrongdoing.
“The signs and posters at 20th Street focused on what students loved about their school — the teachers, the music — scrawled in colorful, children’s handwriting.
“Some rallygoers at Hamilton High School in Palms were more direct in their attack on the charter school expansion plan, which was originally spearheaded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. That proposal laid out a plan to spend $490 million to double the number of charters in L.A. over eight years.
“Protesters held white posters that proclaimed in black block letters: “Billionaires, have a heart. Your plan will tear our schools apart!” and “Billionaires: Pay your taxes so we can get smaller classes!”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Funding, Los Angeles, Parent trigger
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