Who profits from charter schools?
In regards to "Governor makes pitch on charter schools to pastors" (Dec. 31), before anyone accepts the arguments of the deceptively entitled "school choice" advocates (i.e. pro-charter and pro-voucher), I urge them to question the underlying motives of this movement - and to dig out the data.
A few years ago The Courier-Journal reviewed the very readable 2013 book entitled "Reign of Error - The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools" by Diane Ravitch (currently a professor of education at New York University). Formerly a supporter of the so-called "reform" movement (she was the assistant secretary of education for President George H.W. Bush), Ms. Ravitch has done the digging - and presents the data. This is her second recent book on this topic, and as she states in her introduction:
"In this book, I report additional evidence about the failure of the Bush-Obama 'reforms.' "
"In this book, I report additional evidence about the failure of the Bush-Obama 'reforms.' "
Those who stand to profit from a widespread switch to the privatization of public schools want us to believe that they have a simple solution to the complex challenges facing our schools; they don't want us to know that such privatization just happens to allow them to pocket billions of public dollars -- money that would much better be devoted to addressing the underlying causes of our schools' achievement gaps - poverty and the inequitable distribution of our education funds.
I hope our local pastors and our new governor will read Reign of Error - soon!
Keith Wilhelmi Letter | Who profits from charter schools?: