CSUSA Hits the News Again

There are a few facts we should know automatically. Here are some about Hillsborough:

  1. Charters compete with good public schools; they do little to help communities. There are 101 charter schools in Hillsborough. Only 35 charters serve low income area students and only a third of those achieve an A or B on school grades.

  2. Charter schools are no panacea for poverty. CSUSA for example, has 19 charters in the area. Those that serve high income schools do well just as those district-run schools do. Charters that draw predominately from low income families struggle.

  3. Charter schools have high teacher turnover. The WFTS Tampa Bay reports on Channelside, a CSUSA charter that is losing ground. Its school grade is dropping. Its students are not doing as well as they once did. The reason? A student describes the loss of her teacher for three months. They watched movies with an uncertified substitute teacher.