The charter-school scam deepens: The sick new “bubble” that could explode urban schools
A charter-school bubble is growing, and it's young black kids in cities who are most in danger
A new study warns that we may be headed towards a charter school “bubble.” Jennifer Berkshire of the Edushyster blog spoke with one its authors, Preston Green, who is also the John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.
It’s unusual to see the words “hair-raising” and “academic study” in tandem, but your new study merits that marriage. You and your co-authors make the case that, just as with subprime mortgages, the federal government is encouraging the expansion of charter schools with little oversight, and the result could be a charter school “bubble” that blows up in urban communities. Do I have it right?
The problem of subprime mortgages began in part because the government tried to increase homeownership for poor people and minorities by enabling private entities to offer more mortgages without assuming the risk. Under the old system, the mortgage originator was still at risk if the mortgage went into default. With subprime, they were able to spread that risk by selling the mortgages on the secondary market. You had all these mortgage originators that could issue more mortgages without careful screening because they no longer had skin in the game. Now how are charter schools similar to subprime? In the charter school context, charter school authorizers are like mortgage originators.
There’s a great moment in the new movie “The Big Short” when Selena Gomez turns to the camera and explains to the world what collateralized debt obligations are. Here’s your opportunity to do the same, but for the convoluted world of charter school authorizing.
Promoters of charter school expansion are calling for an increase in independent authorizers, such as nonprofits and universities. Supporters of charter school The charter-school scam deepens: The sick new “bubble” that could explode urban schools - Salon.com:
