Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Jersey Jazzman: Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I

Jersey Jazzman: Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I:

Democracy, Markets, & Charter Schools: Part I


I promise I'll get back to Teachers Village in a bit and wrap up that series. But recent events have got me thinking more about the intersection of democratically elected school boards, local control, race, class, and charter schools.

Because the argument I often hear from the "reform" industry is that people like me have no business expressing our skepticism about charter schools (nor should we ever dare to call out the incoherence of those who make poor cases for chartering) because charters represent a "choice" that urban families of color -- who are often at economic disadvantage -- make, and no one has the right to take away that "choice" if the only alternative is a "failing" school.

As I've said many times: I'll never blame a parent for enrolling their child in a school that they believe best meets their child's needs. But the idea that the "choice" an urban parent makes when enrolling their child in an urban charter is somehow equivalent to the "choice" a suburban parent makes for their child's schooling is just wrong:


Charter "choice" is not suburban "choice." Shuffling children around within the borders of their district into schools that have unequal access to resources and unequal commitments to educating all students is not the "choice" offered in the suburbs. Offering families either underfundedcrumblingfilthy public schools or charters that are not state actors and do not afford students and
- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/12/democracy-markets-charter-schools-part-i.html#sthash.lBdZKqP1.dpuf