Archives for category: Ohio
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

News: Ohio Wasted Millions in Federal Funding on Charters that Never Opened and on Very Low-Performing Charters

By dianeravitch
May 26, 2016 //
26

A new study based on publicly available data on the state’s website finds that the state has wasted millions of federal dollars designated for charter schools. Of the state’s federally funded charter schools, 37% either never opened or were among the state’s lowest performing schools. Only recently, the U.S. Department of Education decided to award another $71 million to expand the charter industry in Ohio, but the new funding has been delayed because of outrage over scandals in the state’s charters. The study was conducted by the Ohio Charter School Accountability Project.

 

 
New Study Shows Millions Intended for High-Performing Charter Schools
Went to Some of Ohio’s Worst – and Others That Never Even Opened

 

 

For Immediate Release: May 26, 2106

 

 

COLUMBUS – The federal government has sent more money to Ohio to expand “high-performing” charter schools than all but two other states, but Ohio spent millions on some of the lowest-performing schools. And nearly $4 million went to schools that never opened, according to a new analysis.

 

 

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project did the analysis to determine how a state with so many of America’s worst-performing charter schools could be in line for so much federal money intended to help the best ones.

 

 

Ohio ranks third nationally in total money received during the program’s 21-year history. During that time, the U.S. Department of Education did just one assessment of the grants’ success in Ohio. Although it raised serious questions about the Ohio Department of Education’s ability to properly distribute the money, nothing appears to have changed as a result.

 

 

“As Ohio takes steps to make charter school sponsors more accountable under the reform law passed last year, it’s important that policy makers understand the past,” said OEA President Becky Higgins. “Together with our colleagues at Innovation Ohio and ProgressOhio, we examined how these Charter School Program (CSP) grants have been awarded, and tried to identify the shortfalls along the way. Ohio cannot afford to waste money on failing charter schools. It needs to invest in the good ones.’’

 

 

The new analysis, Belly Up: A Review of Federal Charter School Grants, shows how state and federal education departments ignored warning signs, systemically wasted tax dollars and made learning more difficult for many Ohio students.

 

 

Among the main findings:

 

 

· Of the 292 Ohio charter schools that have received federal CSP funding since 2006, 108 (37 percent) have closed or never opened, totaling nearly $30 million. Meanwhile, barely 2 percent of all companies nationwide that have received any federal grants or incentives since 2000 have failed.

 

 

· The Ohio tally includes 26 charter schools that received nearly $4 million in CSP funding but never opened. There are no records to indicate whether any of these public funds was returned.

 

 

· Ohio charters that received past CSP funding and State Report Card grades in the 2014-2015 school year had a median Performance Index score that was lower than all but 15 of Ohio’s 613 school districts.

 

 

· Since the federal grant program began 21 years ago, its lone assessment – conducted by WestEd – identified material weaknesses that appear to have been ignored by federal grant makers. In one instance, a potential grant reviewer even told the Ohio Department of Education that she was unqualified for the job and asked to be excluded from its reviewers’ list. Instead, the department thanked her for “agreeing to participate as a community school grant reader.”

 

 

· Paolo DeMaria, recently appointed Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction, was Associate Superintendent of Finance and School Options at the time WestEd raised concerns about Ohio’s processes for distributing the federal money to charter schools.

 

 

Of the 44 Ohio charter schools where State Auditor David Yost conducted surprise attendance audits recently, 17 had received federal CSP funding. One of them – the London Academy – only had 10 of the 270 students ODE thought it had in attendance the day Yost’s investigators showed up. All told, these audited schools received about $6.6 million in federal funding.
Last September, federal officials stunned education experts by announcing that Ohio would receive $71 million in CSP grants – more than any other state. Ohio’s large award came in spite of its reputation as one the worst charter states in the country, according to national charter advocates. The swift and severe criticism that followed prompted USDOE to put Ohio’s award on hold.

 

 

“We urge federal regulators to revamp the way in which it makes grants so that the money goes to the best performing charter schools,” said Innovation Ohio President Keary McCarthy. “The mistakes of the past should not be repeated in the awarding of future grants.”

 

 

Those mistakes include giving millions to the state’s most notorious charter school scofflaws, including:

 

 

· Horizon Science Academies and Noble Academies: Total CSP Grants: 7.6 million

 

 

Linked to a Muslim cleric exiled in Pennsylvania, the chain is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation, and WikiLeaks revealed cables showing the U.S. State Department notified the CIA about suspicious visas for teachers and administrators. In June 2014, 19 of its schools were raided by the FBI, including four in Ohio. The Ohio schools also have been dogged by allegations of test-tampering, teachers using racial slurs in the classroom, unqualified teachers, sexual misconduct in the classroom. ODE investigated allegations raised by teachers who witnessed the problems but found no wrongdoing.

 

 

· Imagine Schools: Total CSP Grants: $5.9 million

 

 

The chain has been under fire nationally for saddling schools with exorbitant leases paid to its subsidiary, SchoolHouse Finance. Imagine recently lost lawsuits in Indiana and Missouri over the same type of abusive leases seen in Ohio. A federal judge in Missouri ordered Imagine to pay $1 million and called the lease arrangement “self-dealing.’’ One of the chain’s worst-performing Ohio schools, Romig Road in Akron, is among the charters that closed – but received federal grant money. All of Imagine’s Ohio schools received a D or F on the most recent state report cards.

 

 

· White Hat Management: Total CSP Grants: $1.4 million
Owner David Brennan has been the most powerful and influential of Ohio’s charter school operators since state money started flowing to them. Brennan’s schools also are routinely among the lowest performing. While Ohio’s historically lax regulations make it difficult to close even the worst schools, several of Brennan’s schools have been shut down for academic reasons or contractual non-compliance. Staffers for GOP state Auditor David Yost made surprise visits to charters to see if they are padding attendance records and concluded that White Hat’s dropout recovery schools were among the worst.

 

 

It’s been well documented that ODE’s grant application for the $71 million was inaccurate and misleading, prompting state officials to revise the number of poor-performing charter schools in Ohio from six on its initial application to 57 – a tenfold increase. The author of the application, David Hansen, was forced to resign as head of ODE’s office of school choice and community schools after getting caught illegally cooking the state’s accountability system to benefit Ohio’s politically connected eSchool operators.

 

 

It is unclear when or if federal regulators will release the $71 million.

 

 

The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project is a joint venture of the Ohio Education Association, Innovation Ohio and ProgressOhio. OEA and IO host the website, knowyourcharter.com, which provides data from the Ohio Department of Education on how the state’s charter schools are faring compared to local public schools.

 

 

For More Information, contact:

 

 

Stephen Dyer, Innovation Ohio Education Fellow, 330-338-1486
Keary McCarthy, Innovation Ohio President, 614-425-9163

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fraud, Ohio, Privatization, U.S. Department of Education

New Study: How Charter Schools Affect Public Schools

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2016 //
39

As the charter industry grows, many observers have wondered how their expansion affects the public schools in the same district. A new study published by the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, addresses that question.

 

Policymakers have assumed that the charter sector would provide healthy competition for district public schools. The promise originally was that they would spur innovation and efficiency, and at the same time would be accountable for results. We know from the example of Milwaukee, which has had charters and vouchers for 25 years, that none of these promises were true. Nonetheless, the claims still are repeated and all too often believed by a gullible media and public, which seldom if ever hears critical views.

 

The present study should be distributed to every news outlet, so they understand the collateral damage that charters inflict on public schools.

 

“Little scholarship has been devoted to the impact of charter schools on, one, how much revenue school districts collect through local property taxes and, two, how school districts budget that revenue.

 
“With “The Effect of Charter Competition on Unionized District Revenues and Resource Allocation,” Jason B. Cook fills this void. Cook, a doctoral student in economics at Cornell University, focuses on Ohio, home to a high concentration of both online and brick-and-mortar charter schools, and examines school budget data in the state from 1982 through 2013. In addition to confirming in detail that charter competition has reduced federal, state, and local support for district schools, Cook finds that charter competition has driven down local funding by depressing valuations of residential property and has led school districts to redirect revenue from instructional expenditures (in particular, teacher salaries) to facility improvements. Cook complements these two important findings with thorough explanations.”

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Funding, Ohio, Teacher Pay

Denis Smith: Ohio’s Voodoo Economics Benefits Charter Schools, Hurts Public Schools

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2016 //
20

Denis Smith, who previously worked in the Ohio Education Department’s charter school division, writes here about the Byzantine school finance system of the state, which enables charters to be funded at the expense of public schools.

 

He writes:

 

Last fall, the Columbus Dispatch published an article, Are local school taxes subsidizing Ohio Charters? that confirmed the Byzantine nature of Ohio school finance and the complexities surrounding the calculation of state school aid. If comprehending how the formulas work which allow districts to receive state aid is enough of a challenge, readers also learned that the state was adding insult to financial injury by sending extra money to charters by calculating the amount of local support in the charter aid formula. This calculation method further assists charters by using the local share amount (viz., local property taxes raised by the district for its schools) in the formula to determine charter payments at the expense of public education.

 

How novel: starve public schools of state funds for years but use local support dollars to calculate the level of state charter payments. So much for local control.

 

Let’s get back to that word Byzantine again. Consider this one example of how state school aid works.

 

“When a student living in the Columbus district attends a charter school, the state subtracts nearly $7,800 on average from the district’s state funding. But the state is giving Columbus only an average of about $3,900 in basic aid per pupil,” the Dispatch’s Jim Siegel reported. “Once charter-school money is subtracted, the district gets just $2,604 for each student who is left, a $1,312 loss that is also, by far, the highest in the state,” he explained.

 

As we’ve read before on these pages, voodoo public policy begets voodoo economics which begets voodoo accounting. In the Dispatch story, Sen. Peggy Lehner, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, confirmed the perfidious nature of state school aid when it comes to charters. “It’s kind of a shell game with the money,” she said. “It’s state dollars, but you have to use local dollars to backfill the state dollars. I think it’s pretty clear that these kids are getting local dollars.”

 

School boards and voters are starting to catch on to the shell game that causes the dollars to flow out of their public schools and into the coffers of privately managed charter schools.

 

The situation is bringing financial distress to many districts, which explains why dozens of districts have invoiced the state for the money they have lost to charters.

 

Scam. Voodoo public policy. Shell game.

 

How long will the voters of Ohio stand for this financial undermining of the public schools that educate more than 90% of the state’s children?

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Funding, Ohio

Florida: Charter Management Company Indicted for Criminal Fraud

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2016 //
9

A grand jury in Escambia County in Florida indicted Newpoint Education Partners and its vendors for fraud and other crimes. Newpoint Education Partners was created by former employees of Ohio’s controversial for-profit White Hat Management company.

 

“An Escambia County grand jury indicted Newpoint Education Partners and three other companies for grand theft, money laundering and aggravated white collar crime.

 

“Newpoint managed charter schools in Escambia County for 21st Century Academy of Pensacola. Last year, the Escambia County School Board revoked charters for Newpoint Academy and Newpoint High for grade tampering and misuse of public funds. All three Newpoint schools — Newpoint High, Newpoint Academy and Five Flags Academy — closed. The enrollment at the three schools totaled about 350 students.

 

“The grand jury alleges that Newpoint and its vendors fraudulently billed 21st Century Academy hundreds of thousands of dollars for supplies, equipment and services. Newpoint and its vendors allegedly laundered the proceeds of the thefts through multiple bank accounts to conceal the criminal activity.

 

“The source of the alleged laundered proceeds was charter school grant funds appropriated by the state for charter schools to use to procure supplies, equipment and services necessary for startup.

 

“I’ve prosecuted charter schools before, but not this particular type of scheme,” Assistant State Attorney Russell Edgar said. “I’ve prosecuted people involved with charter schools for committing theft of funds and prosecuted people for misusing children to work off campus during school, but this is the first time prosecuting a managing company.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Education Reform, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio

Bill Phillis: The Federal Government is the Enemy of Public Schools

By dianeravitch
April 27, 2016 //
33

Bill Phillis is a retired administrator who champions the cause of public schools in Ohio. He founded the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy. Having served as a deputy commissioner of the state education department, he closely tracks the state budget. He frequently writes about the charter industry and its unscrupulous raid on public monies. If you care about public schools in Ohio, you should add your name to his mailing list and consider a contribution.

 

Today he writes:

 

“Federal government adds $333 million to $3 billion already spent to expand the failed charter industry

 

“Congress and the U.S. Department of Education made a devilish wrong turn in public K-12 education policy with the enactment of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Departing from its historical role of supplemental support for the public common schools, the federal government, in some respects, turned against what Horace Mann declared the “greatest discovery of mankind”- the public common school.
“NCLB provided a variety of weapons to discredit and punish the public system. In that context, the feds have appropriated $3 billion to promote the charterization of the public system. In spite of the corruption and racketeering in the charter industry and its dubious performance, the feds have put an additional $333 million in Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for 2016 to further expand the industry.
“The charter industry seems to have a stranglehold on the federal politicians. The charter lobby, via campaign contributions and other perks, are able to advance this inferior alternative to the great American common school system.

“Those great political and educational leaders, who founded the common school system, never envisioned that government would become the enemy of the real public school system.”

 
William Phillis
Ohio E & A

 
Ohio E & A
100 S. 3rd Street
Columbus OH 43215
Sent by ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, For-Profit, Fraud, Ohio, Resistance, Supporting public schools, U.S. Department of Education, Virtual Charter Schools

Ohio: Should the Property of Charter Corporations Be Tax-Exempt?

By dianeravitch
April 23, 2016 //
18

Bill Phillis of the Ohio Equity and Adequacy Coalition reports on a court case that would relieve charter corporations of any obligations to pay property taxes.

 

He writes:
“Case before the Ohio Supreme Court: Is a non-profit real estate company that leases property to a Dayton charter school and is owned by a charter school corporation eligible for a property tax exemption?

“The tangled web of Ohio charter school policy is fertile ground for the weeds of inefficiencies; crafty, convoluted and intertwined contracts; corrupt financial arrangements and duplication of programs and facilities.
“Recently, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that White Hat Management, an operator of charters, owns the publicly-funded physical assets of the charter operation. Now, a charter operative wants the Court to grant the bonus of a property tax exemption for property leased to a charter.
“The Court will hear this case (250 Shoup Mill LLC v. Joseph W. Testa, Tax Commissioner of Ohio et. al.) on April 19. Public school advocates will be very interested in the decision.
“The Ohio charter school experiment, that was supposed to be an incubator of innovation and creativity, continues to waste tax dollars on mostly poor-performing charters. The charter plaintiffs in the 250 Shoup Mill case seek to compound the harm to taxpayers by a request to shift their tax burden to other taxpayers.”

 

Is there any doubt that a court that would turn over real property purchased with public funds to a private charter entrepreneur would give charters property tax relief?
William Phillis
Ohio E & A

 

Join Our Mailing List!
Ohio E & A
100 S. 3rd Street
Columbus OH 43215

Sent by ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Ohio

Hoax: Laura Chapman on Ohio’s Phony Review of Common Core Standards

By dianeravitch
April 1, 2016 //
21

Laura Chapman, who lives in Ohio, has written extensively on this blog about the defects of the Common Core standards. She notes here that the state of Ohio is pretending to review the CCSS. But they have made the review so difficult that few parents or educators will be able to make their views known to the state. This cannot be an accident.

 

 

Chapman writes:

 

 

Common Core is up for review in Ohio, sort of.

 

 

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) only wants comments from the public that will tweak specific standards, not reasoning that might warrant dumping them all. The press (in this case the Newark Advocate) repeats the myth that the standards were developed by a broad coalition and correctly raise the bar for U.S. students, who often lag their international counterparts.”

 

 

The ODE only wants to know which standards need to be tweaked and according to a spokesperson, the current review has nothing to do with controversies.

 

 

ODE has set up a website for “feedback” relevant to three questions:

 
1. Are these standards still appropriate for the students in each grade?
2. Do these standards still reflect what is most important in each subject area?
3. Do these standards still reflect what students need to know to be successful after high school?

 

 

In order to offer a response you must go to a website where you can enter the feedback system. It is structured with five entry points for 963 Common Core standards: K-8 Math (229), HS Math (156), K-12 ELA (32), K-5 ELA (250), 6-12 ELA Literacy (296).

 

 

The number of standards is daunting enough (the system as dropped subordinate parts (e.g., a-f ) attached to many of standards–the parts that steer instruction and complicate judgments. The feedback system is semi-structured. You can search for standards by grade level and major topics, or enter a key word and see what that turns up.

 

 

Casual comments are clearly ruled out. When you have identified one standard for a comment, you are asked to follow these steps. (Begin quote)

 
1. Type of Suggestion Select the type of edit being suggested for the standard above. —Clarity—Grade Level Appropriate—Content Error—Other
2. Claim. Provide a description of your content-focused issue or concern with the standard you identified.
 Characters 0/1000
3. Resolution. Provide a description of a possible resolution to the issue that you claimed above.
 Characters 0/1000
4. Research/Rationale* Provide research, information or data that supports the claim made above concerning this standard. Characters 0/1000 If you have none, enter “None” into the box. (End Quote.)

 

 

So far the state has received over 350 comments. I am trying to find out the ending date for the on-line comments and more about “a committee” that will meet after the on-line comment period is closed.

 

 

This on-line comment “opportunity” is inexpensive, limits responses, and demands more time than most people can devote to it. I think the CCSS will not be changed much. It is not just that educators played such a marginal role from the get-go, and that Bill Gates paid for the CCSS, and the rest.

 

 

Ohio already has 3,203 standards on the books, an average of 267 per grade level, including the existing Common Core (including parts a-e). There are no caps on standard-setting.

 

 

There are also brand new national standards that might be worthy of concurrent review—including National Core Arts Standards (2014) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013). In fact, the NGSS include 410 cross references to the Common Core: 203 in math, 96 in reading, 90 in writing, and 21 in ELA literacy—all before high school.

 

 

Apparently Ohio “continues to review the NGSS document for the purpose of identifying related resources and strategies that schools can use to support Ohio’s Learning Standards in Science, which began serving as the foundation for Ohio’s State Tests in Science in 2014-2015.”

 

 

It seems doubtful that Ohio ever intended to have a serious and “actionable” review of the CCCS. Why? Ohio has already contracted with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for math and English tests that are supposed to be ready now (Spring 2016) having dumped PARCC. In addition, AIR already has contracts for science and social studies tests. The “feedback form” is at http://www.ohio-k12.help/standards

Categories Common Core, Education Industry, Ohio, Testing

Ohio: Districts Demand Return of Millions Allotted to “Parasitical” Charter Industry

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2016 //
10

William Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy, has been tracking the movement by school districts to bill the state for money lost to charters. Ohio has many charters rated D or F by the state that divert funding from public schools.  Be sure to read the linked letter.

He writes in his latest post:

“Morgan Local School Board invoices the state for $1,138,235 in local funds deducted for charter schools

 

“School districts continue to invoice the state. The Morgan invoice is for local levy funding only. Superintendent Lori Snyder-Lowe’s thoughtful letter to the state emphasizes the education abuse suffered by charter students residing in the Morgan Local School District. The dismal performance of charters should be of grave concern to all local district officials and educators. Is it not a fiduciary responsibility of local school officials to ensure their students the most efficacious educational opportunity possible?

 

“State officials have the constitutional responsibility to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools. The Ohio system was declared unconstitutional four times by the Ohio Supreme Court. Since those declarations, $7 billion has been deducted from school districts for the parasitical charter industry.”

William Phillis

Ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Ohio

Cleveland: Charter School Teachers Form a Union

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2016 //
5

One of the main reasons that billionaires like the Waltons fund charters is to cripple the teachers’ unions. Ninety percent of charter schools are non-union. The teachers are often unlicensed and lack certification. A large number are Teach for America and have no intention of making teaching their career. Charter teachers serve at-will and may be fired for any reason.

 

The American Federation of Teachers announced that charter teachers in Cleveland have joined their union.

 
Educators Win Historic Union Charter School Organizing Victory in Cleveland

 

Teachers and Support Staff at University of Cleveland Preparatory School Join the Ohio Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers to Address High Turnover and Improve Education for Their Students

 

CLEVELAND—In a historic first for Cleveland, teachers and support staff at University of Cleveland Preparatory School voted overwhelmingly today to join the Ohio Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, hoping to improve conditions for students and teachers. UCP is part of the network of charter schools operated by Cleveland-based I CAN SCHOOLS.

 

The successful vote represents the first union charter school organizing victory in Cleveland, adding to a growing national movement of charter school educators demanding a voice for their profession.

 

Educators across the I CAN SCHOOLS chain are organizing to form a union to challenge the conditions that lead to high teacher turnover. Teachers and support staff say lack of job security has a chilling effect on raising concerns or suggestions to better support students’ individual needs. Teachers have had no voice in professional development or their evaluation process.

 

Today’s win was hard-earned. In 2014, in response to teachers’ organizing efforts, I CAN SCHOOLS undertook a brazen anti-educator campaign. Seven teachers who were instrumental in union organizing were fired as punishment.

 

In spite of this, teachers did not back down. They continued their organizing efforts and remained committed to a shared vision of real partnership among families, the administration and teachers; transparency in school policy, procedures and decision-making; a strong voice for educators to promote student achievement; reasonable expectations and workload; adequate staffing; protected planning time; educational support; and accountability. Families of I CAN students joined the effort by issuing an open letter to the administration demanding turnover be addressed, demanding meetings with members of the administration and circulating an online petition to support teachers.

 

“This takes us one giant step closer to our goal of a contract for educators and support staff that improves school accountability, respects our professionalism and gives us a strong voice to advocate for students,” said Abi Haren, a second-grade assistant teacher at UCP.

 

Haren was among the fired I CAN teachers. All seven were reinstated with full back pay after the National Labor Relations Board found I CAN had violated their rights by wrongfully terminating them based on their union activity. In total, 17 unfair labor practice charges were filed against I CAN SCHOOLS in 2014. Currently the National Labor Relations Board is investigating additional unfair labor practice charges involving illegal surveillance and retaliation against pro-union teachers at UCP and Northeast Ohio College Preparatory School.

 

“These hardworking educators deserve a seat at the table, and the students and families served by UCP deserve teachers and staff who are empowered to deliver the best education possible—that’s what forming a union is all about. We’re proud to welcome our new union sisters and brothers at UCP,” said Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke, who is an AFT vice president. “Those closest to the education process must have a voice in education policy and practice.”

 

“We welcome the teachers and support staff of UCP into our union. We know we share many common challenges and a common vision of professionalism and high-quality, student-centered education,” said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper, also an AFT vice president.

 

“This vote to have a voice through a union is a historic move for the charter educators in Cleveland. There is now a growing movement of teachers at charter schools across the country who are committed to raising their voices so they can better advocate for the students they serve,” said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

 

“I CAN teachers and staff have overcome serious anti-union tactics, and they have stuck together and united with I CAN families to speak out for their students. They want the same things all educators want: a voice in decisions that affect their students, fair evaluations that help them grow professionally, due process protections, and transparency and accountability from their employers.”

Categories Education Reform, Ohio, Support for public schools, Unions

Mercedes Schneider: Save Detroit’s Children from Predatory Reformers

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2016 //
8

Mercedes Schneider, relentless investigator, here analyzes a proposal to turn Detroit public schools into an all-charter district.

 

Detroit is drowning in debt, most of it incurred since the state took control of the district. In particular, state-appointed superintendent Robert Bobb added $300 million in debt during his brief tenure.

 

The district’s schools are in terrible physical condition, unfit in many cases for children or adults.

 

The reformer proposal: fix everything by turning every school into a charter. Open and close charters at will.

 

Only a corporate reformer could come up with a plan that completely ignores the needs of students and teachers. Students need stability and security, not churn. Teachers need an environment conducive to teaching and learning, one where they get to know their students and can plan ahead and work together as a team.

 

Mercedes checks out the fellow who made this dumb proposal. It turns out he is affiliated with the Mackinac Center, Governor Rick Snyder’s favorite policy tank, which enjoys funding by the Koch brothers.

 

He is also associated with groups sponsoring charters in Ohio. Mercedes documents the multiple embarrassments of the scandal-ridden charter sector in Ohio.

 

Why would anyone want to inflict disruption on the children of Detroit? It is not for their benefit. Who does benefit?

 

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Detroit, Education Reform, Ohio
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »