LWVeducation
What kind of organization would want to keep failing charter schools afloat? It seems it is the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. It is a group of state legislators who favor limited government, free markets and federalism. The organization drives an agenda that formulates legislation for states across the country.
ALEC has posted its latest priorities. The first is the Student and Family Fair Notice and Impact Statement Act.
What should our legislative priorities be?
Two years ago, the League made a statewide call for better oversight of charter schools. Major reports on charter fraud, waste and abuse made national headlines. The FBI raided charter schools across the country. Just this year, a new scandal erupted in several Florida cities. The U.S. district attorney has brought charges.
The problems extend beyond corruption and enter the realm of civil rights. The U.S. Department of Education and the President cautioned the charter movement about its tendency to increase racial and economic segregation in its schools. Charters, moreover, under represent children with disabilities. Critics claim that these enrollment policies reflect charter school management companies’ profit seeking priorities.
Lack of charter oversight is a design feature, not a bug says PR Watch. Charters were to be given free rein to ‘change the system’. Accountability was to be based on student academic achievement. The appWearance of academic achievement, however, is easy to manipulate. If charters attract strong students to begin with, their schools will be successful. Under the school grade system, good students, not good teachers, make good schools. Concerns about screening out students abound.
Charters have been operating long enough for the consequences to become apparent. Federal and state authorities have begun to officially recognize the abuse in the system and make marginal efforts to correct it.
FEDERAL ACTIONS
STATE OF FLORIDA ACTIONS
UPDATED LEAGUE STUDY
SCHOOL DISTRICT ACTIONS
Florida officials have taken small steps to improve charter school laws, but the lack of oversight over how these laws are implemented remains. School districts authorize charters but have limited access to information about how they are run.
What more needs to be done to improve the system?
The next legislative session may, once again, tackle the charter school management and oversight problems. In the past, legislators have proposed everything from creating a charter school institute to be housed at Florida State University to forming charter school districts. There are sporadic efforts to improve collaboration between charters and local public schools, but they are often stymied by the inherent competition between the two systems.
WOULD A NEW STUDY OF CHARTER MANAAGEMENT HELP?
Identifying successful collaborative efforts, if any, could be instructive. A 2013 Center for Reinventing Public Schools report on a Gates Foundation initiative was not hopeful. Some argue that the Washington D.C. model is effective, but it too has had large scale scandals. The seven member D.C. Public Charter School Board is appointed by the Mayor. A 2015 Washington Post article reports on the need for more transparency in D.C. charter school management. It appears D.C. has the same mismanagement problems as those in other cities.
There is a report on different oversight models in the country. Minnesota and New York have ‘hands on’ oversight models. Others states are much more passive. The U.S. has a public school management and oversight system that has survived for about 100 years. If we need some schools to do a few different things, one would think that some incentives could be provided without using a wrecking ball to destroy one system in order to replace it with a more imperfect system over which the public has no control.
There is the law, and then there are the regulations to implement the law. Some say the new federal Department of Education proposed regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) overstep the intention of the law. They create more stringent rules about testing and accountability than the ESSA intended. The Florida Department of Education has put out a call for your input about the regulations. You have until July 22, 2016 to respond. Responding in a meaningful way takes some thought.
The fall out from the school funding train wreck bill in the last legislative session continues. The Florida State Board of Education will consider newly drafted rules to make charter facility funding easier.
When is it a conflict of interest for a district school board member’s campaign to be financed by a charter school management company and its associates?
The Tampa Bay Times reports that one third of a Hillsborough school board member’s 2016 election campaign is financed by the charter sector. Contributions to local school board candidates from charter advocacy groups is becoming a national strategy. Is this democracy in action or something more sinister? The issue is complicated by questions about the meaning of public education.
Palm Beach County Schools say ‘NO’ to Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) and duplicative, inefficient school choice. This is more than an anti charter complaint. It is a call to enforce the original legislative purpose for charter schools in Florida.
The Tampa Bay Times has education writers who use their critical thinking and problem solving skills. They provide four reasons why Governor Scott should veto the education bill HB 7029:
Some of you have interest in particular education legislation. Here is a list of what was passed in the 2016. The school choice and principal autonomy bills passed. I have not reviewed all of the others, but if you would like to see one, just google it e.g. “SB 0012 Florida 2016.”
The topics are varied and include health, mental health, social problems, students with disabilities, Bright Futures and transportation. Some funding bills passed as well. Nice that so many of the really destructive bills did not make it.
by Paula Dockery
Paula is a syndicated columnist and member of the Florida LWV Board. She wrote a column summarizing the Florida legislative session. I extracted her description of the process in developing education policy this year. I personally thought of it as a ping pong match. She uses the analogy of a train. This train kept criss crossing the tracks. Enjoy her description.
We know a long train of education proposals passed this legislative session. What did the Florida legislature NOT pass? The Tampa Bay Times produced a quick summary.
We will review what DID pass tomorrow.