More Obnoxious Charter School Propaganda
Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!
State Sen. Shirley Turner recently introduced legislation seeking a moratorium on expanding enrollment for New Jersey’s charter public schools. This legislation will rob educational opportunity from thousands of New Jersey’s children already in charter schools, and deny more than 20,000 children on waiting lists the opportunity to attend a charter public school. Turner’s bill (S-2887/A-4351) intends to incarcerate thousands of students in the generationally failing local public schools that they are trying to escape. We cannot allow this bill to become law -- and I will tell you why. [emphasis mine]So now we're equating public school students with prisoners. Just lovely.
How many times do I have to point out the "Sixty bazillion children on the NJ charter waiting list!" talking point is a complete crock? How many times do I have to challenge the New Jersey Charter Schools Association to show us, once and for all, their source for this absurd claim?
I have no doubt that Dale Caldwell's charter school has terrific teachers and amazing students and committed families, and that he should be be very proud of all of them and their work. But what he writes here is both toxic and idiotic:
Why would Turner, vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, introduce such legislation? The bill is nothing more than an attempt to limit parent choice in communities of need and stunt the educational achievement of our state’s charter public school students. Achievement that is very real and measurable. Charter school students’ success is a direct threat to the lucrative franchise the NJEA holds on a public education system that has failed generations of New Jersey children, especially in some of our state’s most challenged communities, including Trenton, Newark, and Camden. And this is where we need to address the miseducation of our lawmakers.Oh, I see: the problem isn't poverty, or chronic school underfunding (nearly $30 this year for Trenton alone), or the extra money districts have to pay charters under the new "hold harmless" provision (nearly $1 million for Trenton alone). No, the problem -- in some evil, magical way that Caldwell doesn't care to explain -- is unionized teachers!
(By the way -- the NJEA does not represent Newark's teachers. But, hey, why let facts destroy a good sliming?)
Why would someone like Caldwell make such an obnoxious argument? Because he doesn't want you to think too carefully about this:
Wrong, senator. The five charter schools in the Trenton area (Sen. Turner’s home district) outperformed the district schools as measured by both the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) standardized tests. HSPA math scores were 30 percent higher, and- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/07/more-obnoxious-charter-school-propaganda.html#sthash.UCatqfB9.dpuf