Reflections: Then and Now
The Question Not Asked In Charter School Controversy
Submitted by Frank Murphy, April 28, 2011
The current controversy that surrounds the School District’s plan to convert Martin Luther King High School into a charter school is raising questions about the ethics of school reform. For many years, the media message has been that our public schools are failing us and they need to be overhauled. The solution most often offered for this stated problem is to privatize public schools and services. In so doing, the advocates of this strategy claim, the competitive nature of free market forces will compel schools to either improve or close.
What the corporate reformers don’t mention as they pitch their school makeover plans, is the profits they stand to make. Suave entrepreneurs and corporations who manage to gain control of public school funds guarantee for