Chicago to join Gates Foundation charter compact
Though they are still in negotiations over the details, Chicago Public Schools officials are set to sign on to a national intiaitive that encourages stronger cooperation between charter schools and traditional schools, as well as providing equitable district funding for charters.
Nine cities have already signed such agreements, called District Charter Collaboration Compacts, which are being promoted and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. According to a Gates press release, on Tuesday, CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and New Schools for Chicago President Phyllis Lockett will join the leaders of school districts in Houston and Baltimore in a conference call in
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charter school compact
Here is a press release from Gates about the compact:http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/new-charter-school-p...
According to it, these nine cities have signed on: Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, Conn., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, New York City, and Rochester, N.Y.
Here is a link to Denver's compact:http://osri.dpsk12.org/dps_charter_compact
Opening the ed market for edu-preneurs like K-12 Inc and Pearson
The upshot of the Compact is to give considerable taxpayer dollars -- including billions of Title 1 dollars and dollars raised by city bonds -- and other support to charter schools, while preserving the charter operators' right to make purchases entirely independent of the district.
Shifting huge sums of tax dollars to charters will, of course, diminish the amount left for neighborhood schools, which are already suffering. The schools will be less attractive. Declining enrollment is likely.
The Compact also makes it easier for edu-preneurs like Pritzker, Pearlman, Milken and Murdoch to sell real estate services and
computer-based learning systems, etc. to charters -- as they will now have access to really big dollars.
The Compact is the key to dismantling traditional CPS schools and letting our elite make billions in the process.
