| FEDS SHUT DOWN BOGUS PA CHARTER PERFORMANCE SYSTEM | ||
The federal government has intervened in the attempt by the Governor and Secretary of Education to establish a separate and unequal evaluation method to it easier for charter and for-profit schools to appear to score higher on the Average Yearly Progress (AYP) test than Pennsylvania’s Public Schools. "Pennsylvania is obligated to make AYP decisions for all schools and hold all schools to the same standards," the order, signed by Deborah S. Delisle, assistant U.S. education secretary last week states. This unequal system was rigged by state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis to conceal the failure of many charter schools across the state to perform as well as the state’s public schools. Using the inflated method, about 59 percent of charters and for-profit schools met a minimum AYP federal benchmark; however using the federally approved method, only 37 percent of those charters would hit the AYP benchmark, as compared to 50 percent of all public schools in Pennsylvania. The federal government has ordered the state Department of Education to rescore and publicize by January 2013 all charter schools' 2011-12 AYP grades in the same manner as public schools. This clearly biased attempt by the Corbett administration to conceal the failing charter school experiment in Pennsylvania comes on the heels of the PA House refusal this fall to pass charter lobby created legislation which would have prohibited public access to publicly financed for-profit charter schools’ financial accountability, governance and ethic violation reports as required of public schools in Pennsylvania. Rep. Paul Clymer (R., Bucks), chairman of the House Education Committee, said in October that members "felt there were ways in which the bill was more favorable to the charters and cyber charters than to public schools.” He said "there was just not a good feeling about this legislation." In particular, Clymer noted, legislators were concerned that the commission to propose charter funding changes "was too stacked with pro-charter people." These actions continue to raise questions among critics opposed to the outsourcing of public tax dollars to private and hugely profitable educational schemes that are unregulated, under performing and heavy contributors to the governor and supporters of the charter lobby. There are calls from charter opponents asking Pennsylvania’s incoming Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Attorney General Kathleen Kane to investigate what many see as a rampant abuse of power and waste of tax payer money. About the Citizens Alliance for a Better Future Citizens Alliance for a Better Future engages taxpayers in a meaningful discussion regarding the decisions being made by our elected officials that will impact all of us for years to come. Recent cuts in education and other state funding have pushed the financial burdens onto local property owners. At the same time, officials are implementing new laws that reduce the transparency and accountability of our taxpayer dollars. | ||