LWVeducation
Money and people power in California are shifting the balance of influence in the California legislature. For years, the legislature listened closely to the public school interests. Teachers, parents and unions wielded great power. Now the charter sector is gaining ground. In 2016, a bill to regulate charter enrollment and how they discipline students was assured of passing; it did not. In this account, the advocacy strategies explain the defeat.
For over two years, this scandal drags on in one of Palm Beach’s largest charter schools. Now the school is in complete chaos. Principals come and go within weeks of each other. One third of the teachers have left. Books do not arrive. The owner of the school has legal issues. He charged the school for preparing the proposal to open the school. He also has a combative personality.
When parents complained, he attacked. He called the sheriff claiming a parent hacked into his computer system. Why? The parent had organized an online petition to clean up the school’s management problems. Over two hundred families left the school. He recruited more with glossy ads emphasizing an arts infused curriculum. The much heralded dance program had no teacher. Children wanting to play instruments had to pay extra for after school lessons.
Some children love the carefree atmosphere, but their test scores have plummeted. The school grade is down to a ‘D’. Forty percent of the students passed the State’s English Language Arts test and 24% passed the math. This is not a low income school, yet it is near the bottom in academic achievement.
Who is to blame for this fiasco? The district is investigating, but the charter school law does not give them authority to clean up the mess until serious criminal charges or total academic failure are evident. Self dealing is evidently still allowed.
Parents are told they can leave; that is their only recourse. The State of Florida does not intervene. After all, even though charters are ‘public schools’, they are run by private businesses. If a businessman wants to run the school into the ground, he can.
I watched a similar situation occur in Gainesville. Watching was all I could do. Half the parents and most teachers left. The school district shook their heads. The school is still open. The only thing public in charter schools is the money funding them.
This is the direction the Florida legislature is headed. If we want it stopped, they need to know. Tell them over and over again.
The League is adding its voice to calls for a veto of HB 7069. Share with everyone. We need a blitz.
The WORST of a BAD BUDGET
Florida revenue is up, but education funding has been cut. The legislature sent a message that our schools, teachers, and students are not valued. What’s the evidence?
The Florida House promotes school choice instead of supporting schools governed by elected school boards. The consequences are becoming clear. The U.S. Department of Civil Rights cited Florida for increasing segregation through its charter system. Charters also select fewer students with disabilities and language learners.
It is time to recognize that, in the charter system, parents do not choose schools; schools choose students. If the choice does not work, the students are ‘counseled out’.
Charters have high teacher turnover, real estate debt, and according to the national CREDO Urban Cities study, lower student achievement than comparable public school students. After three years, Florida public school students, initially matched on test scores, clearly out performed charter students in five of seven of our cities.
Parents do have a choice to make. Will they ask Governor Scott to veto this attempt to take over our schools? Will they tell the legislature that our children deserve better?
Governor Scott is considering vetoing the entire budget as well as HB 7069, the massive education bill. Encourage him! (850) 488-7146. The Miami Herald published the League call to action.
The budget:
Charters in Florida are not known to do as well as public schools, according to the latest CREDO Urban Cities report. Over three years in four of six major Florida cities, public school students outperform students matched on initial achievement scores.
High performing charters in other states are known to have student high attrition. Students who do not do well are ‘counseled out’. Forty percent of black males leave KIPP schools between grades six and eight, according to a 2017 Ed Week report.
What is the advantage of dismissing nearly half of your students? This is the turn around Schools of Hope. Give the funding to districts and help them succeed. They are OUR schools.
Every year the Florida DOE compares charter vs. traditional public school performance. The report shows percentages of proficient students in each sector. Charters win, hands down in this report but not on reports from national research studies. Why is that?
The achievement for Florida charters is dismal when compared to similar traditional public school (TPS) students. The DOE comparisons do not match students based on their test scores. The CREDO urban area study did. Look at the evidence for achievement gains, in 42 cities, between charters and traditional public school students when matched on their initial achievement levels and the amount gained three years later.
CREDO STUDY RESULTS: The picture for urban charters in Florida is not pretty. Based on results from Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa and West Palm Beach:
Only in Jacksonville and Miami are student demographics similar between charters and TPS. In other cities, Florida charters generally enroll a lower percentage of students in poverty and with learning disabilities. It should be noted that in Miami, while there are similar numbers of students in poverty, the charter sector is largely Hispanic. This is generally not the case in most of the urban areas studied. No matter how you look at the comparisons, something is lacking in Florida’s charter sector.
Some U.S. city charters do remarkably better than the TPS e.g. Bay Area, Boston, Memphis, Newark, New Orleans, and New York City. Most cities do not. These gains are largest for low-income black students and Hispanic English language learners.
While the data from these cities are disputed by reliable sources, it is important to look at the charter sectors in these areas to see if and how they differ from those in other cities. For example, Boston has a limited and tightly controlled charter group. New York City charters are known to have high dismissal rates. What is happening in these charter successful cities? Who do they really serve?
Is the formula for successful charters to weed out students whom they cannot help? Should traditional public schools do the same? Where does this road lead? Want to find out? Read the blog tomorrow.
A new mega bill HB 7069 for education was released last night–278 pages long. It combined provisions from other bills. The funding is dismal; for most districts there will be less money next year. Local district capital outlay funds do not increase and must be shared with charters which seriously harms districts.
Other provisions impact teacher bonuses and scholarships and expansion of charter schools by taking over schools in low income areas without requiring district oversight.
Testing and accountability have minor changes–Algebra II EOC is no longer required and the testing window is pushed back by allowing paper and pencil test for grades 3-6. Districts may determine data for teacher evaluations.
Schools of Excellence and Schools of Hope are created. It seems as though current state regulations now apply only to schools earning a grade of ‘B’ or ‘C’. The others are granted flexibility. The logic is flawed there. The needs for the middle (or most students) are ignored.
For more detail, continue reading.
This is a critical time to make your support for public education heard. Please contact your House and Senate representatives. Whether you are a League member or not, share our ACTION ALERT to as many people/groups as possible. We have a chance right now to make a difference. See:
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In League,
Pamela Goodman
President, LWV of Florida
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It is time to think out of the box.
The jockeying continues. According to Politico, Speaker Corcoran and Senate President Negron are negotiating over a plan to make the Schools of Hope funding competitive AND INCLUDE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. This has some logic to it. Districts that are serious about providing the support and supervision to turn around failing schools can participate.
There is no question that these schools need fresh ideas, new funding, and constant oversight. Changing the status quo is a community effort. Outside charter schools can’t do it. It will take some thoughts about zoning, racial and socio economic balance, after school programs, health and behavioral support services and extending the school day. It will take creative solutions to teacher and principal assignments.
Some changes have to reflect how people live. They work one or two jobs. Where are the children while parents work–not just poor children, all children. How can schools and communities work together to make life less complicated? Can we create a school day that allows time for serious academics, recess, physical activities, hands on learning, and exciting cultural activities? Why can’t this all happen on a school campus? How can we structure our teacher’s time more flexibly? Who can provide supervision for an extended day? We need to ask what is the quality of our after school programs? It is mostly a matter of coordination and thinking differently. Are we up to it?
The League is sending out a BLAST to everyone. WATCH FOR IT! We need citizens to make a stand to protect our public schools and help them evolve to meet the needs of the future. We need everyone to think out of the box. This is an opportunity to make a difference.
U.S. News and World Report high school rankings are out. Thirteen Florida schools made the top 100. To achieve that ranking, data is collected on the state reading and math scores. Schools that perform better than expected are identified. This includes disadvantaged students who score better than the state average for comparable groups e.g. minority and low income groups. The college readiness index include students’ scores on AP tests. Graduation rates are also factored into the rankings.
Rankings never tell the whole story. The list below gives the national rank for Florida’s top schools along with the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. If you go to the U.S. News and World Report site, you can click on each school to get a glimpse of their curriculum. Note how innovative most schools seem to be. Note also that only two of the thirteen top Florida schools are charters.
A draft budget compromise has been reached that gives the House its Schools of Hope and provides no capital outlay increase for public school facilities. In exchange, Joe Negron gets the reservoir in South Florida. If the Senate approves, public schools are left in the lurch once again.
No real details are out, but no reason to cheer.
