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The Secretary of But is Betsy DeVos helping or hurting the privitization of schools?

By MIKE MAGNER and ERIN BACON

ONE OF THE LEADING DISCIPLES of and all-around better education, some en- minded focus has been on expanding privat- the school choice movement, Jeanne Allen of trenched interests are pushing back — both ization of public schools through charters, the Center for , asked an in union halls and state capitols nationwide,” vouchers that help poor families pay private ominous question in an op-ed published in Allen wrote in South Carolina’s Charleston school tuition and tax incentives. May: “Who is killing charter schools?” Post and Courier. She has had mixed success. Her depart- Teachers’ unions are the main culprit, Al- Allen’s seeming epitaph for a cause she ment has shifted millions of dollars from tra- len opined, followed by politicians in states has been promoting for decades was striking, ditional public schools to programs benefiting like West Virginia, where legislators tabled a coming at a time when the current national charters, though within limits imposed by bill to authorize charter schools in the wake of leader on education policy, Secretary of Edu- Congress. But attempts to ease regulations for a statewide teacher strike in February. A com- cation Betsy DeVos, is the most powerful ad- private schools, such as allowing public funds promise bill that would allow three charter vocate for school choice in her department’s to be used to provide services in religious schools every three years is currently moving short history. schools, have hit roadblocks in the courts. through the state legislature. Since her Senate confirmation in Feb- Despite DeVos’ efforts, growth of charter “As advocates push districts to encour- ruary 2017 on Vice President ’s schools nationwide has slowed significant- age innovative charter schools, opportunity tie-breaking vote, DeVos’ almost single- ly, both in enrollment and the number of

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schools, compared to what it was 10 to 15 like the NEA have called for limits unless says Greg Richmond, CEO of the group that years ago when the choice movement was in there is greater accountability in funding did the “Pipeline” report, the National Asso- SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL: Photos of two schools at Fontana its heyday. and performance. ciation of Authorizers. Dam, N.C., in the early 1940s — This prompts the question: Is DeVos one National polls show a decline in public sup- “Certainly people know who DeVos is at Welch Cove Negro School and Fontana Village School — show of those who is “killing charter schools,” as port for charter schools since 2017, and some a stunning level for an Education secretary,” the importance of the struggle Allen asked? Neither DeVos, through the Ed- states have taken steps to cap their growth Richmond says. “And then people have opin- to desegregate schools. ucation Department press office, nor Allen, out of concern they are draining funds from ions about her. But in terms of translating to who was a department official in the Reagan traditional public schools, which still educate the person on the street — ‘What does Betsy administration before founding the Center about 84 percent of America’s children. DeVos think about charter schools?’ — they for Education Reform in 1993, responded to In the 2017-18 school year, there were 47.4 don’t know.” requests for interviews. million students in traditional public schools, But DeVos’ critics, of which there are 3.2 million in public charter schools and 5.8 Democratic Resistance many, and some of her supporters are more million in K-12 private schools, according to Richmond says a bigger reason support for than willing to discuss the secretary’s impact national data. charter schools may be waning is the shift in on trends in K-12 education after 29 months Growth in charter school enrollment has the political winds. ’s support in office. slowed to around 6 percent a year since 2015, for charter schools made it tough for Dem- Bob Tate, senior policy analyst for the na- about half the annual growth rates from ocratic politicians to strongly oppose them, tion’s largest teachers’ union, the National 2005 to 2010, the National Alliance for Pub- even though teachers’ unions had been push- Education Association, argues that Devos lic Charter Schools and the Department of ing hard in that direction for a decade, he says. and President have per- Education say. “The rank-and-file Democrats knew their haps not been the best promoters of charter Establishment of new charter schools has president was supporting this. Well, that’s gone schools. also dropped to the point that an organization now. They had the teachers’ unions pushing “There were charter advocates who were of state officials who oversee charter schools them and they don’t have the president pulling wary when Trump and DeVos [took] their issued a report in March entitled “Reinvig- back. So there’s been an erosion of the middle current positions … who thought of Trump orating the Pipeline,” assessing the recent on the Democratic side of the aisle.” and DeVos as not helpful,” Tate says. “I think trend of fewer new schools being proposed or On the Republican side, there seems to be there was a recognition that policies of this approved. less enthusiasm for charter schools and more administration are extreme.” Those trends began well before DeVos for “pre-market kinds of school choice,” A spokesman for the teachers’ union in took office, so the question becomes whether such as publicly funded vouchers to pay for

Michigan, where DeVos got her start in edu- her advocacy for charter schools is acceler- private-school tuition and tax-exempt educa- National Archives Courtesy cation policy by financing school-choice ini- ating a decline or merely having little effect, tion savings accounts, Richmond says. tiatives, agrees there has been a The changes in the political cli- proposed increase going to programs in tradi- profit charter schools if elected in 2020. (The The movement blossomed in the 1980s backlash against her. mate are reflected in the difficul- tional public schools that she wanted to cut, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools as President Ronald Reagan advocated “Betsy DeVos has been very ties DeVos has faced getting her such as grants for teacher training and stu- says about a third of charter schools have for greater of many govern- helpful in stemming the tide Student bodies budget proposals through Con- dent support. private managers, and two-thirds of those ment services, including education, and a we have been fighting against Enrollment in charter schools has tripled since gress, even when Republicans Meanwhile, a DeVos-backed plan to pro- have nonprofit tax status, while the rest are blue-ribbon commission established by the for-profit charters,” says David 2005, but leveled o in recent years. were in control of both the House vide $5 billion a year in tax credits for dona- for-profit companies.) And Sen. Cory Book- White House issued a report in 1983 called Crim of the Michigan Educa- and the Senate. tions to private-school scholarships and de- er of New Jersey, a Democrat also making “A Nation at Risk” that fueled attacks on tion Association. “Each time 3.5 M students While she did get an increase in velopment programs, introduced in March a presidential bid, has faced criticism from public schools. she speaks, and is unable to ar- funding for charter school grants by Republican Sen. of Texas (S 634) teachers’ unions for his longtime support of The Clinton administration encouraged 3 ticulate a reasoned rationale for — from $333.2 million in fiscal and GOP Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama the school-choice movement, highlighted by charter schools in the Improving America’s these corporate charters, it hurts 2.5 2016 to $440 million in fiscal 2019 (HR 1434), appears to be going nowhere. his attendance at a 2012 event sponsored by a Schools Act in 1994, and the trend was fur- her cause.” — DeVos in her fiscal 2019 budget “House Democrats will not waste time on pro-charter group, the American Federation ther advanced by the No Child Left Behind The general philosophy behind 2 proposal had requested $500 mil- proposals that undermine public education,” for Children, then chaired by DeVos. Act passed during the first year of the George charters was that parents needed lion and did so again in the de- said Education and Labor Chairman Robert W. Bush administration and signed into law a better choice when their only 1.5 partment’s fiscal 2020 proposal. C. Scott of Virginia in a statement when the The Charter Boom in January 2002. option was a neighborhood public However, the 2020 budget plan bills were unveiled. The idea of school choice had its birth in Today charter schools have been autho- 1 school with poor facilities, inade- put forward by House Democrats Charter schools have also come under at- the South after the Supreme Court in its 1954 rized in 44 states and the District of Colum- quate staff and dismal academic 0.5 in May would cut charter grants to tack this year from Democratic presidential ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, found bia, with Minnesota the first to open a pub- performance, especially in im- $400 million. candidates, while Trump has said little on the that segregated schools were unconstitution- licly funded, privately run school in 1992. poverished inner cities. 0 The House (HR 2740) also subject, other than proclaiming May 12-18 as al. In the face of forced desegregation in the California also passed a law allowing charters 2015 The charter movement ex- 2005 2010 wants to boost the overall de- National Charter Schools Week. 1960s and ’70s, some Southern states put the same year and now has by far the most ploded in the 1990s and ear- partment budget by $11.9 billion Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont indepen- public funds into vouchers so students could — 1,275 charter schools in the 2017-18 school Sources: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, U.S. Department ly 2000s, but in recent years of Education more than DeVos requested, to dent seeking the nomination, announced attend all-white schools, though they also had year attended by about 11 percent of the growth has leveled off as groups Jason Mann/CQ Roll Call $75.9 billion, with much of the in May that he would advocate a ban on for- the choice of going to integrated schools. state’s K-12 student population.

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In the nation’s capital, where public schools “Betsy DeVos has 50s — Michigan was in the top 10, sometimes were falling apart in the 1990s as wealth- the top five or six public school systems in the School Choice Means Shifting Dollars ier residents fled to expensive but high- been very helpful country, both in funding and student achieve- quality private schools, the school choice in stemming the ment,” Crim says. Now the state ranks in the n numerous studies on the financial movement took hold in 1996 when the first mid-30s in the amount of public revenue per issues associated with public charter charter schools were authorized to provide tide we have been student, he says. schools, two conclusions are most prom- competition in hopes of spurring improve- fighting against “Campaign contributions that the De- Iinent: ments in the traditional public schools. The Voses made paved the way for them to create • Charters do siphon money from tradi- District went further in 2004 when it received for-profit charters,” this very wide-open, for-profit charter school tional public schools in their districts, and assistance from the federal government in says David Crim law, which has drained now $1 billion a year • Charters on average receive less public the form of vouchers allowing students from out of the K-12 budget, out of traditional, money on a per-pupil basis than other lower-income families to attend private and of the Michigan neighborhood public schools,” he says. district schools. parochial schools. Today nearly half of all Education The money isn’t always giving students But the verdict from these two phenom- D.C. students attend charter schools, though a better alternative to traditional public ena is less clear. Ralph Freso/Getty Images Ralph Freso/Getty the voucher program faces funding hurdles in Association. schools, either. The Michigan Department The financial drain from traditional public SEEING RED: Arizona teachers march to the state Capitol in Phoenix on April 26, 2018. Congress each year. “Each time she of Education regularly identifies the state’s schools has become a focal point over the poorest-performing schools and assigns past year or so for teachers in places with The Michigan Experiment speaks, and is them to partnership agreements with the the largest number of charter schools. school is draining money from public education. They say, ‘Terrific, we Betsy DeVos and her husband, heir unable to articulate state to try to help them avoid closure. Char- In Arizona last year, a six-day strike in April and May resulted in needed a new high school.’ Dick DeVos, were early players in the school ter schools make up a large portion of those more pay for teachers, but also exposed concerns about the effects “The implication is that we wouldn’t have any problems in tradi- choice movement as wealthy conservative a reasoned schools. of the state’s popular voucher programs on funding for traditional tional public education if it weren’t for charter schools,” he adds. “It activists in Michigan, where charter schools rationale for these All states with charter schools, including schools. West Virginia teachers held a statewide strike in February is really at the heart of a lot of the assertions in the teacher strikes in were first authorized under a law signed by Michigan, include some where students do — one year after a walkout over pay — in protest of a bill to allow the California. That, I think, is not accurate. But it’s part of the rhetorical Republican Gov. in 1994. The corporate charters, better than their peers in traditional schools, first charter schools in the state. The bill was tabled after a veto threat debate going on right now.” DeVos family financed a lobbying effort for it hurts her cause.” but also some that perform worse academi- from the governor. Pro-charter groups are quick to point out that on average nation- the new law, and then as chairwoman of the cally. The track record in shutting down weak And in Los Angeles earlier this year, teachers in the nation’s wide, the per-pupil funding for charters is below the amount provided Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to schools varies widely, too: In Michigan, for second-largest school district forced the school board to seek a for students in traditional public schools. 2000, Betsy DeVos pushed to expand char- example, 210 charters have closed since the statewide moratorium on new charter schools until the financial In Florida, for instance, charter schools received $7,307 in tax dol- ter schools statewide, with the failing law authorizing them was enacted in 1994, effects of current charters are assessed. lars per student in the 2015-16 school year, while other public schools school system a top priority. reported last year. But in A study of three California school districts last year gave some received $10,308 per pupil, according to the Florida Charter School Now Michigan has a higher percentage of neighboring , few charter schools were credence to the teachers’ concerns. Professor Gordon Lafer of the Alliance. for-profit schools than any other state, with closed until a new law strengthening stan- University of Oregon’s Labor and Education Research Center found An analysis of per-pupil funding in 15 U.S. cities for the 2015-16 roughly 4 in 5 operated by for-profit manage- dards was passed in 2015, according to the that the presence of charter schools in Oakland, San Diego and Santa school year found a similar pattern. On average, charter schools in ment groups, says the Michigan Education Columbus Dispatch. Clara County meant tens of millions of dollars were no longer avail- those cities received $5,828 per student, 27 percent less than their Association’s Crim, and the results are trou- Some of the poor-performing schools in able for programs in traditional schools. district peers, according to a report this year by Bellwether Education bling to him. Michigan are authorized by state colleges, California law doesn’t allow local school boards to consider how a Partners, a national nonprofit group. “When I was growing up — I’m in my mid- putting them in a tough spot. If they close a charter school might affect the finances of other schools, Lafer noted While some argue that increased funding for charter schools would school to protect the university’s reputation, in his report. “However, when a student leaves a neighborhood school help improve their academic performance, others point out that they lose the revenues they receive from tax- for a charter school, their pro-rated share of funding leaves with privately run charters often have fewer costs than district schools. In payers to educate those students. them, while the district remains responsible for many costs that those some states, charters have no obligation to provide bus transporta- Central Michigan University is a prime funds had supported,” he wrote. “This intensifies fiscal pressure to tion, for example, nor are they required to have lunches available on example. CMU had 72 charter schools under cut core services like counseling, libraries, and special education, and site as are other public schools. its authorization in 2015 — one-fifth of all the increase class sizes at neighborhood schools.” In most states, charter schools also are exempt from mandates to charter schools in Michigan — and the overall A 2016 study by Bruce Baker of the Rutgers University Graduate provide special education programs, says Robert C. Bobb, a Washing- performance of the schools was given a grade School of Education also said that charter schools inevitably shift ton consultant on school management. of “C” that year by Education Trust Midwest, funds away from traditional schools, but Baker said most districts “I do think charter schools have not done a good job accepting an education policy nonprofit. figure out ways to cope. “District schools are surviving but under children with special needs,” Bobb says. “The services to them are Several of CMU’s schools were among increased stress,” his report said. very expensive and the charter schools have not accepted them in a the state’s top-performing schools, but there While critics of charter schools claim they drain money from big way.” were also four that were “severely underper- traditional schools, Greg Richmond, head of the National Association Bobb also points out that charter schools can more easily dismiss forming,” the group’s report card on CMU of Charter School Authorizers, has a different take. “They’re really problem students, forcing them on traditional public schools. “If a said. The university also closed two schools draining it from public control — it’s not in the control of the district child is disruptive, are they going to continue to work with that child

Ed White/AP Ed that were ranked among the worst in the state budget office,” he says. as opposed to expelling them?” he asks. “If not, the public school DeVOS LEGACY: Students gather between classes at Aviation Academy in Grand in 2013-14, the report said, helping to raise “New schools get built around the country all the time,” Richmond system becomes the education system of last resort.” Rapids, Mich., a charter high school at Gerald R. Ford International Airport founded by Dick DeVos. CMU’s score slightly in 2015. says. “When that happens nobody pops up and says that new high — Mike Magner

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t’s fair to say that Robert C. Bobb, now a Among charter schools in Michigan, some of 74-year-old Washington consultant on city the lowest test scores in the state show up in and school management, is the Forrest Gump the Detroit schools, and minority students rarely Iof charter schools, having been a part of three have alternatives because they live too far from major urban school districts heavily invested in the best-performing schools in a city with poor publicly funded, privately operated schools. transportation services, according to a recent He was born and raised in New Orleans and investigation by the . visits there frequently to watch his beloved Saints A study published in March by researchers at play in the NFL, so he’s paid close attention to the Harvard and Stanford universities made a distress- only school system in the nation that is now 100 ing finding: The gap in academic performance percent charters. between advantaged and disadvantaged students After stints as a city manager in Kalamazoo, has hardly closed at all in a half century. Mich.; Oakland, Calif.; and Richmond, Va., Bobb Robert C. “On the positive side, the country has launched Bobb became Washington’s city administrator, deputy Call Roll Bill Clark/CQ multiple compensatory education programs, in- mayor and school board president from 2003 to cluding Head Start, school desegregation, federal 2009, as the city was in the midst of expanding the private role in its aid to districts with low-income students, special education programs troubled public schools. and court-ordered reductions in fiscal inequalities across school And then, after losing control of the D.C. schools to upstart Mayor districts,” Stanford economist Eric Hanushek said in a statement is- Adrian Fenty, Bobb was appointed emergency manager of the sued with the study. “On the negative side, we appear to have seen a financially drowning Detroit school system, a job that kept him busy decline in teacher quality that has had particularly dire consequences for two years closing dozens of neighborhood schools and replacing for low-income students.” NEW ERA: Students attend music class at the Encore Academy charter school in New Orleans, them with charters. All public schools, both charter and traditional, are struggling with where more than 100 schools were damaged or New Orleans, Washington and Detroit also happen to be majority “the geographic segregation and achievement gap between students destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The district is now entirely made up of charter schools. black school districts, and the results of the school choice movement of different racial, ethnic and income groups,” a nonprofit research in those cities reflects what is happening in communities across the organization, Bellwether Education Partners, wrote in a report on Mario Tama/Getty Images Mario Tama/Getty country — some good, some bad and some not making much differ- charter schools earlier this year. Crim says charter authorizers have a fi- which has happened.” ence at all in closing the seemingly intractable gap between white The NAACP is so concerned by the lack of progress that the promi- nancial incentive to downplay poor perfor- The president of a pro-charter group called students and minorities in academic performance. nent civil rights organization issued a call in 2017 for a moratorium on mance by their students, because 3 percent the Michigan Association of Public School In New Orleans, all 86 public schools are now charters after the charter school expansion “until there is accountability and transpar- of the approximately $8,000 per student Academies, Dan Quisenberry, says despite system was reconstructed following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Over- ency in their operations.” The report said there is particular concern provided by taxpayers goes to the sponsor- problems at some schools, charter schools are all the result has been improved academic performance, according about for-profit charter schools because they have an incentive to ing organization. “We’re seeing here still popular in the state. to a number of assessments, but the Urban League of Louisiana says keep operating even if performance is dismal. “So their incentive to sort of police these “There continues to be strong public sup- there is still a racial divide: Minorities, who make up 93 percent of the Bobb says he agrees with the NAACP that there is an accountabil- schools for academic integrity is marginal- that these prom- port, parental support, for charter schools in total enrollment, are often the entire population in schools with the ity issue with charter schools. And that applies to all of them, even if ized by the fact that they’re making money ises of lawmakers Michigan,” Quisenberry says. worst grades while white students primarily attend schools with A- they claim to be nonprofit, he says. from them,” he says. “Charter schools have never been about and B-ratings, the group reported in 2017. “Some charter schools say they are not for-profit but at the end of Robert C. Bobb, now a K Street consultant are really hollow the number,” he says. “It’s been about meet- About half the schools in Washington are now charters, and low- the day they are for-profit,” and it shows up in the higher compensa- on education and city management, was ap- promises and ing the needs of a community, meeting the income students have more opportunities to choose better- tion usually given to charter managers compared to their peers in the pointed emergency manager for the Detroit needs of a particular population or a city and performing private schools thanks to a federally funded voucher traditional public schools, he says. Public Schools in 2009, when the system they were really finding people that are interested in opening program. But Bobb says he was disappointed this spring when the Does Bobb believe the K-12 education system in America has faced a $219 million deficit. In his first year on geared at trying to a school.” D.C. Charter School Board authorized five new charter schools and become too politicized? the job Bobb closed 29 neighborhood schools Many charters provide unique programs only one will be located east of the Anacostia River, the area of the “It would be naïve to think there’s not politics involved one way or that were replaced by privately run charter underfund public not offered in traditional public schools, city with the most disadvantaged students. the other,” he says. “But here’s the thing, and I just keep harping back schools, but it wasn’t long before accountabil- schools and divert Quisenberry says. The decision raises a question that charters face nationally, he says. to it. We have charter organizers, unions and politics, but what about ity issues began to surface. “I can tell you there were 295 charter Are minorities being served as well as white students? the parents? Let’s focus on giving the parents the choice. “In some cases management brought in money away so schools in Michigan this past school year, “The charters will make the argument we serve all children, no “It’s hard to take the politics out of it. But at the end of the day friends and relatives to serve on the board that people can and there’s 295 different stories that fit that,” matter race, creed or color or where their ZIP codes are,” he says. “It’s if I’m a parent, I want to send my child to where they’re going to and there was really no hard oversight,” he says. Some of those schools, he says, fo- up to charter schools to prove it’s true. … Take the state of Michigan get a great education, where they’re going to be in a safe envi- Bobb says. He began requiring training for make profits off cus on science, technology, engineering and and the enrollment of charters — are the successful ones serving ronment, and where they’re going to be in a caring and nurturing all charter school board members in their our kids.” math, and the needs of the business com- children of color? I would pull from a sample of the major urban areas system. And you find that in very good public schools and in very fiduciary responsibilities, “so the manage- munity — “a new education, project-based that have a large population of children of color and then determine good charter schools.” Andrew Spar, Florida Education ment company isn’t enriching themselves, Association vice president learning kind of environment. Well, tradi- whether those charters are equalizing their services.” — Mike Magner

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1988 Albert Shanker, president of the American Feder- ation of Teachers, proposes a new kind of school called “charter schools” where teachers could ex- 1954 1954-59 1964 The Supreme 1974 1979 1980 1983 periment with new Supreme Court in Eight Southern Passage of the Court rules a University of Massachusetts profes- Congress Economist Milton Friedman hosts A White House commission appointed by approaches to edu- Brown v. Board of states establish Civil Rights Act Virginia county sor Ray Budde publishes a paper, establishes the a PBS series, “Free to Choose.” President Ronald Reagan to assess the state of cating students. Education declares voucher programs gives the Justice violated the equal “Education by Charter,” suggesting Department of In one segment he laments K-12 education issues a report called “A Nation segregated schools giving students Department protection clause that groups of teachers work with Education, com- that parents in disadvantaged At Risk” that says “the educational founda- unconstitutional. public funds to authority to force of the Constitution local school boards to “charter” bining offices communities cannot escape poor tions of our society are presently being eroded attend all-white integration of by replacing its new schools with the freedom to from a number neighborhood schools. “They are by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens private schools; the schools. public schools develop new, innovative approaches of different fed- simply stuck,” he says. “They have our very future as a Nation and a people.” vouchers could also with subsidized to education. eral agencies. no alternative.” 1989 be used for integrat- private, white-only Wisconsin estab- 2004 ed schools. academies. lishes the nation’s Congress approves first modern a voucher program voucher program, allowing low- providing public income students funds to allow in the District of low-income stu- Columbia to attend dents in Milwaukee private schools. to transfer to non- sectarian private 2002 1999 1994 1992 1991 schools. No Child Left Behind law Florida establishes President Bill Clinton California becomes Minnesota is the requires “report cards” on all a statewide vouch- signs the Improving the second state to first state to autho- public schools and parents with er program giving America’s Schools Act allow public funds rize charter schools, children in schools “in need of lower-income fam- that includes federal for charter schools. and the first one improvement” for two years are ilies public funds to grants to developers opens in St. Paul the given the option of transferring transfer to private of publicly funded, pri- following year. to another public school. schools, including vately operated charter religious schools. schools. 2005 After Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana takes over New Orleans schools and begins converting them all into charter schools.

2007 2009 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 Utah’s legislature approves President Barack Obama Stanford University’s Massachusetts Longtime school Statewide teacher A strike by Los a universal voucher program establishes a “Race to Center for Research on voters reject a plan choice advocate strikes in West Angeles teachers with no limitations on stu- the Top” program giving Education Outcomes to expand charter Betsy DeVos Virginia and leads to con- dents to obtain public funds grants to schools that reports that 40 percent of schools in the state. becomes secretary Arizona lead to pay sideration of a for private school tuition, but score high on a Depart- Ohio’s charter schools are of Education. increases for public moratorium on new voters reject the program at ment of Education point in urgent need of improve- school teachers charter schools in the ballot in November. system for innovation. ment. The report leads the and greater scru- California. state legislature to pass tiny of proposals a bill in 2015 requiring to expand charter stronger oversight and schools. West closure of poor-perform- Virginia legislature ing schools. later tables a bill to allow charter schools.

24 JULY 8, 2019 | CQ CQ | JULY 8, 2019 25 ||| COVER STORY COVER STORY ||| tional schools can do that too, but the ability leased this spring said students from charter the drain, and are bringing it to the atten- both here and Florida and at the national lev- Student makeup full control over its operations, making it dif- to create a school that addresses those spe- schools in eight major cities ended up with tion of lawmakers and parents alike. el. What you’re seeing is this push to privatize Nationwide, charter schools have a ficult for parents to have a voice when they cific things from scratch is more doable in about 44 percent greater lifetime earnings po- Statewide strikes by teachers in West public education. higher percentage of minorities have concerns about a school’s management. some ways [in charter schools].” tential than students from traditional schools. Virginia and Arizona last year brought new “And we see attempt after attempt to try Some of those parents recently formed a co- than traditional public schools. Students in Boston’s charter schools are scrutiny to the impacts from charter schools to make this myth that charter schools are alition called Erase the Board, which says on Performance Questions showing both higher test scores and college in a “Red for Ed” campaign that has spread the answer more appealing, and again, I Two or more races its Facebook page that the mission “is to Elect 100% Many studies have been done comparing entrance rates than their peers in traditional nationwide, with teachers wearing bright red don’t think parents are buying it. And they AI/AN School Board Members who will follow the Asian/ academic performance in charter schools public schools, according to a study released shirts saying “The Educators Strike Back” shouldn’t. Because when you really look at Pac. Is. Louisiana Constitution which requires them with that of traditional schools and the results in May by the National Bureau of Economic and other slogans. the research, the research shows that charter 80 to run and operate schools.” have been decidedly inconclusive. Research based at Harvard University. Los Angeles teachers won concessions to- schools are not accountable to the same lev- One of the coalition organizers, Ashana A report released in January by Bellweth- But there is a downside: According to the ward a cap on charter schools after a strike els as the public schools. They don’t have to Black Bigard, explained the goal in May to a writer er Education Partners, a national nonprofit Boston Globe, as more students move to char- this year, and California leaders are now con- answer to parents.” 60 for the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news focused on improving education for un- ter schools, state aid is shifting to them as well. sidering a statewide moratorium on charters. A spokesman for the Florida Charter School service that covers education. derserved children, concluded that about Boston is set to receive $220 million in “It’s clear in Los Angeles that there is wide- Alliance, Ralph Arza, has the opposite view. “So when stuff happens, like if there’s a a quarter of charter schools perform better state education aid this year — about $167 spread awareness that charter growth does “All charter schools in Florida are nonprof- 40 Latino security guard or dean of students that’s con- in both reading and math than traditional million for charter-school tuition for 10,000 not come without a cost,” says the NEA’s Tate. its, number one, and they only exist because stantly beating or harassing kids, they can put public schools, while 31 percent perform students, and a little more than $50 million parents choose to send their children to these 20 that up so that the public can be aware and worse in math and 19 percent perform for the city schools’ 55,000 students, the The Florida Experience charter schools,” Arza says. we can put pressure on the schools to get rid worse in reading. The rest were about equal newspaper reported in January. Under a string of Republican governors In fact, while all charters must be governed White of that person,” Bigard said, adding that cur- in performance. The financial drain from traditional starting with in 1999, Florida has by a nonprofit board, they can contract with 0 rently at Orleans Parish School Board meet- TPS students Charter Stanford University researchers in 2015 schools has been so great in Massachusetts, gone all in on school choice, and 10 percent for-profit management companies to handle students ings, “Our voices literally have no weight.” analyzed academic performance at charter which has some of the top-performing char- of the state’s 2.8 million K-12 students now day-to-day operations. Source: National Center for Education Statistics Another concern about the New Orleans schools in 41 metro areas, and found that ters in the country, that state voters in 2016 attend charter schools. In May, Gov. Ron The fact that Trump formally announced Jason Mann/CQ Roll Call schools, exposed this spring in a nationwide “urban charter schools on average achieve turned down a ballot proposal to allow more DeSantis signed Florida’s fifth school choice his re-election campaign in Orlando on June report on waste in the federal grant program significantly greater student success in both charter schools in the state, even though pro- law, creating a $130 million Family Em- 18 — a week before Democratic candidates for charter schools, is that the parish has re- math and reading, which amounts to 40 ad- ponents of the issue far outspent the oppo- powerment Scholarship program that will held their first debates in Miami — suggests ceived $23.8 million for 110 charter schools ditional days of learning growth in math and nents. (See related story on page 21.) provide 18,000 students with vouchers to that K-12 education issues will be prominent since 2006, but 51 of those schools are either 28 days of additional growth in reading.” Public school teachers in heavy charter attend private schools this fall. Families with in the 2020 elections, Arza says. closed or never opened. And a study re- states have become profoundly aware of up to $77,250 in annual income are eligible “What’s happening is Florida is ground Overall, nationwide more than $1 billion for the vouchers. zero in the political landscape going into next in federal grants have gone to charter schools The Florida Education Association says year,” he says, adding that opposition to char- that never opened or have been closed, ac- the program represents a further drain on ters primarily comes from the teacher’s union cording to the report by the Network for Pub- Choice movement traditional public schools, already “one of the and the League of Women Voters. lic Education, which says its mission is “to Led by D.C., the share of public school children enrolled in charter schools worst-funded school systems in the nation,” “What they don’t understand is they’re not preserve, promote, improve and strengthen has jumped in many states on a per capita basis. says the group’s vice president Andrew Spar. attacking charter schools, they’re attacking public schools for both current and future 50% children in Teacher salaries are so low that the state Edu- those moms and dads who choose to send “Charter schools generations of students.” charter schools cation Department expects 10,300 vacancies their kids to charter schools,” Arza says. “It’s In the summary of its report, recom- will need to be filled this summer. like if the taxicab industry got mad at every- have never been mending an end to the department’s Char- “And so that whole disinvestment in public body that rode in Uber.” ter Schools Program, the group said: “Our 40 about the number. schools, and putting out there that panacea investigation finds the U.S. Department of that charter schools and vouchers are the an- Charter All the Way It’s been about Education has not been a responsible stew- swer, has not materialized,” Spar says. “We’re After Hurricane Katrina devastated New ard of taxpayer dollars in its management of 30 meeting the needs 2016 seeing here that these promises of lawmakers Orleans in 2005, the state of Louisiana took the CSP. Based on what we found, we believe 2010 are really hollow promises and they were over the school system and rebuilt it with of a community, it is likely that one billion dollars of federal 2005 really geared at trying to underfund public charter schools, a process that was completed meeting the needs ‘seed money’ has been wasted on charters 20 schools and divert money away so that people in December when the last traditional high that never opened or shut their doors. We can make profits off our kids.” school was turned over to a private manager. of a particular were equally dismayed to find that many of Spar says the same scenario is playing out Most reports say the schools have improved, population or a city the CSP-funded charter schools that survived 10 nationally. with 61 percent of the system’s high school did not fulfill their stated mission, especially “You have someone in Betsy DeVos who graduates in 2017 going on to college, com- and finding people in regard to enrolling proportionate numbers has no education credentials whatsoever,” he pared to 37 percent in 2004. that are interested in of disadvantaged youth.” 0 D.C. Ariz. Colo. La. Utah Del. Fla. Mich. Calif. Nev. says. “That doesn’t necessarily mean these There are still some issues, though. Asked about the report at back-to-back are bad people per se, but it does mean that An elected Orleans Parish School Board opening a school.” House and Senate hearings in March, DeVos Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, U.S. Department of Education they don’t understand what’s needed for kids now has oversight of the system, but each Dan Quisenberry, president of the had just one answer: “We need more charter Michigan Association of Public School Ryan Kelly/CQ Roll Call to be successful. And they push an agenda, school is considered autonomous and has Academies, a pro-charter group schools and not less.”

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