Did you know that New Orleans was once the most integrated city in the U.S.? Now it is one of the most racially and economically segregated cities and a school reform target. After all, how can you not help struggling students whose homes were ravaged by floods? The Broad and Walton foundations are pouring in money. They also are funding elections to make the reforms stick. Is this the future of American education?
Category Archives: Charter Schools
What does the future hold for Nashville and the Achievement School District?
by Anne Marie Farmer, Nashville League of Women Voters
If you follow public education in Nashville, you’ve probably heard mention of the Achievement School District, or ASD. But, many people are unsure what the ASD is and how it impacts Nashville. This article is a quick primer on the ASD, its performance, and its footprint in our town.
More on ‘The Prize’
Dale Russakoff was interviewed on NPR’s program Fresh Air today. Her comments were similar to those I reported yesterday. She added a few points that are important to consider:
Making Your Voices Heard
There are many ways to be heard. Responding to the DOE webinar and survey is one. Writing your legislators both at the state and national levels is another. Showing up at school board meetings can help. In the end, we will also need the courts.
There is a lawsuit: Citizens for Strong Schools that comes to trial in March. The suit supports public schools based on Florida’s constitutional requirement for a unified, strong, efficient, high quality system. Note the word ‘unified’. The school reform movement advocates privatizing our schools by creating charters and tax credit scholarships to private schools.
Testing is the accountability strategy for school reform.
Southern Legal Counsel is the firm that has filed the Citizen’s for Strong Schools lawsuit. They are operating pro bono. If you can help them raise money to cover expenses, then go to their website. You can donate there. Just click the DONATE button. Any amount can help.
Broad Academy Graduates On The March to Charters
by Carol Hentschel, LWV Palm Beach
Carol told me that in his application for Superintendent in Palm Beach County, Robert Avossa spoke of his passion for public education. He did not suggest he would turn Palm Beach into a charter school district. Now, this is exactly what he wants the Florida legislature to do. Fulton District Schools in Georgia, where Avossa was Superintendent, became a charter district under his watch. Carol says she has a wonderful blues CD by BB King performing at San Quentin prison. He sings ” Nobody loves me but my mother , and she could be jiving me too”.I called the Fulton District Schools and was told that “a charter district was not a district of charters”. The district was exempt from state regulations governing public schools, but it managed the schools and hired the faculty. It did not turn schools over to charter management companies, and students attended their locally zoned schools. We are looking closely at this distinction. We should be wary, because Avossa is a Broad Academy graduate. This is a hand picked group of school reformers, and Carol tells you more about them.
Charter Corruption and Chaos
AlterNet published another story on the origins of school choice in Florida. The story begins with Jeb Bush’s term as governor. What may have been intended to dramatically improve schools only turned out to be dramatic in the number of reports of corruption and chaos. The article ties together the power brokers and the growth of for-profit charter schools.
It is a money and politics tale. You can read it here: How Jeb Bush’s Florida Plan School ‘Choice’ Created Industry Corruption and Chaos. You will find reports about the League of Women Vote’s study including data from Sue Legg and Pat Hall (LWV Hillsborough).
The Competition Next Door
By Margery Marcus, LWV Broward County
The local Broward League interviewed the principal of Pinewood School. Their story is one most districts must consider. How do you balance student needs, financial support, and school choice in a diverse district. School grades reflect the socio-economic backgrounds of students. Remove a large group of higher income families, and a school’s grade goes down. Create a magnet program in a low income school, the grade goes up. Perhaps even more important, maintaining a reasonable balance of students from different backgrounds allows a culture of possibility and achievement to flourish. Without a view into a larger world, schools get mired in defeat.
The League will continue to watch Pinewood in the hope that the district will not abandon it. There is support coming for the school.
School Choice Climate of Corruption
Jeff Bryant has done it again. In today’s AlterNet, he writes about How Jeb Bush’s Florida Plan for School Choice Created an Industry of Corruption and Chaos. Bryant quotes Rosemarie Jensen, from United OptOut and Nan Rich, former State Senator whose views on charters have changed as they watched the consequences of school choice in Florida. As early as two years after Governor Bush launched school choice, it became clear that money, not improving education was the driving force in Florida.
Much of the profits in charter schools derive from real estate dealings. Charter management companies have their own companies. They build or purchase facilities and lease them to charter school boards, often at exorbitant rates. Bryant summarizes reports of corruption and abuse that has ensued. The case in Broward County quotes League studies of rapid expansion at the cost of traditional public education.
This is a comprehensive article that underscores the problems associated with inadequate planning and oversight of charters. The Senate Education Committee is planning hearings. They need to hear from you.
Testing, When is Enough, Enough?
I wrote this piece as a lead in to the testing forum sponsored by the Gainesville Sun on September 16th. The issues are there. So are some ways to think a little differently about current tests and testing alternatives. The article was published today. It starts like this: “Florida has been using tests to drive instruction for years”. It ends with putting Florida’s legislature to the test. In between are some ways to think about improving our schools. See the article here.
Nathan Crabbe, the Gainesville Sun’s editor, announced a forum on testing to be held on September 16th at 6 p.m. in Pugh Hall on the University of Florida campus. He will moderate a panel that includes Superintendent Owen Roberts, Sue Legg (President Alachua County League of Women Voters, Susan Bowles (Teacher of the Year), and Shan Goff, Foundation for Excellence in Education.
Charters Unconstitutional in Washington State
Late yesterday, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that charter schools were unconstitutional. The lawsuit was brought by the League of Women Voters, the Washington Education Association, and the State District Superintendents. Charters are new to Washington, only a few opened last year. More are scheduled to open this year. There is a twenty day period for response to the ruling.
The basis for the ruling is explained below.