Massive Charter Giveaways in ESEA Re-Write, Part 2
See Part 1 here.
Let’s begin Part 2 with a quiz. Based on your knowledge of how federal programs work, can you fill in the blank below?
‘‘(b) INFORMATION AND ASSURANCES.—Each application submitted under subsection (a) shall include—
‘‘(1) a description of—
‘‘(A) how a grant awarded under this subpart will be used to promote desegregation, including how the proposed ________ school programs will increase interaction among students of different social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds (p. 335)
If “charter” was your answer, you are wrong. In fact, your answer shows how little you know about charter schools or about the requirements for charter schools by your U. S. Congress and your U. S. Department of Education.
The answer is “magnet.” Remember those old school relics intended to combat segregation? The ones aimed to attract diverse students to a school based on interests in varied foci of curriculum offerings? Music, science, visual arts, history, drama, writing, math, etc.
There are 10 pages in the ESSA monstrosity that deal with magnet schools, and the limitations on them are severe. For instance, no grant shall go beyond 3 years, and no educational agency may receive more than $4 million in a single year (pp. 340-341). For 2015, Team Obama requested $91.6 million for magnet schools.
Contrast that with 52 pages of the ESSA that detail the special advantages that this bill offers for charter schools, whose grants are to be for 5 years, rather than 3. Consider, too, that just one charter organization, KIPP, received $13,789,074 from a single USDOE grant in 2014.
For 2015, Team Obama budgeted $248 million for charters, plus another $157 million in September 2015, even though the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools was pushing for $500 million. That number will be small potatoes if Obama signs this new bill into law.
For the second question on our quiz, let’s look see what the new ESEA says about purposes of a programs. Please fill in the blank:
The purpose of this subpart is . . .
‘‘(1) the elimination, reduction, or prevention of minority group isolation in elementary schools and secondary schools with substantial proportions of minority students, which shall include assisting in the efforts of the United States to achieve voluntary desegregation in public schools;
‘‘(2) the development and implementation of _______ school programs that will assist local educational agencies in achieving systemic reforms and providing all students the opportunity to meet State academic standards;
‘‘(3) the development and design of innovative educational methods and practices that promote diversity and increase choices in public elementary schools and public secondary schools and public educational programs;
‘‘(4) courses of instruction within _______ schools that will substantially strengthen the knowledge of academic subjects and the attainment of tangible and marketable career, technical, and professional skills of students attending such schools;
‘‘(5) improving the ability of local educational agencies, including through professional development, to continue operating _______ schools at a high performance level after Federal funding for the _______ schools is terminated; and
‘‘(6) ensuring that students enrolled in the _______ school programs have equitable access to a quality education that will enable the students to succeed academically and continue with postsecondary education or employment.
If you put “charter” in the blanks, you would be wrong again—although it would be terrific if the billions of governmental and corporate cash going to charter schools were going to fund these purposes, which are instead for the severely underfunded magnet schools.
When we examine the purposes for charter schools, we find no mention of desegregation, diversity, or “minority isolation.” We know, in fact, that if minority isolation were to be Schools Matter: Massive Charter Giveaways in ESEA Re-Write, Part 2:
