Will Anyone Stop Charter School Corruption?
When politicians and pundits take to the barricades to defend “wonderful charter schools,” is this what they’re thinking of?
A recent article in a Minnesota newspaper reported about a change in state law that could imperil the existence of a charter school that serves a student body sorely in need of heroic efforts. According to the reporter, “Nine out of 10 of the school’s 275 high schoolers meet the legal definition of ‘highly mobile,’ meaning they do not have stable housing; 109 are flat-out homeless. Some couch-surf. Some sleep in cars, some in bus stations. Often they spend the night in small groups, for safety. Poverty – a given – is usually the least of their worries. To teens forced to support themselves, a diploma is a life raft.”
The schools founder and chief operator is quoted: “We have kids who are one credit away from graduating … We are one of the first consistent things in their lives.”
A compelling story for sure and likely one example, among others, that was in the minds of most in Congress when the US House of Representatives recently passed controversial legislation to expand federal funds for more charter schools without placing any substantial new regulations on those schools.
What lawmakers in Washington, DC had been told, of course, was that starting up lots and lots of charter schools was going to create a “marketplace of education,” where the problem of “quality” would take care of itself as “bad” charters “go out of business,” and the wonderful ones that do such great things for the most unfortunate children get picked up and replicated all over the world.
For sure, there were those on “the outside” who advocated against expanding charter schools without taking into account steps toward stricter regulation. As The Nation’s Zoe Carpenter pointed out, the bill’s emergence in the House coincided with publication of a report by the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education that documented “shocking misuses of the federal funds being funneled into the poorly regulated charter industry.”
Nevertheless the charter sector won the Hill that day and has continued to ascend in state capitals around the country since. Meanwhile, real evidence of “the good charters” remains mostly anecdotal, as financial corruption and poor education results from “bad ones” continue to mount with every passing month.
Just look at Ohio.
Buckeye State Boondoggle
The Buckeye State, where charter schools have operated for well over a decade, has had loose regulations, business-minded state governance, and a Beltway-based conservative think tank serving as a charter sponsor. According to a recent report in the Akron Beacon, “Enrollment in Ohio Will Anyone Stop Charter School Corruption?: