Bernie Sanders Calls for Tough Restrictions on Charter Schools
CNN says that Senator Bernie Sanders will deliver a major address on education on Saturday.
He will call for a flat ban on for-profit charters.
He supports the NAACP’s call for a moratorium on new charters.
Most important is this:
The Vermont independent also will call for a moratorium on the funding of all public charter school expansion until a national audit on the schools has been completed. Additionally, Sanders will promise to halt the use of public funds to underwrite all new charter schools if he is elected president.
That would mean elimination of the federal charter slush fund, which has wasted nearly $1 billion on schools that never opened or that closed soon after opening. This program, called the Charter Schools Program, was initiated in 1994 to spur innovation. It is currently funded at $440 million a year. Secretary DeVos used the CSP to give $89 million to KIPP, which is already amply funded by the Waltons, Gates, and other billionaires and is not a needy recipient. She also has given $225 million to IDEA, part of which will be applied to opening 20 charters in El Paso.
If Senator Sanders means to eliminate CSP, that’s a very good step forward.
Every other Democratic candidate should be asked what they will do about the federal charter slush fund.Bernie Sanders Calls for Tough Restrictions on Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog
Citing Harm to Public Education, Bernie Sanders Calls for Ban on For-Profit Charter Schools
"Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system."
Ahead of the official introduction of his sweeping education platform in South Carolina this coming weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday became the first 2020 presidential candidate to call for a national ban on for-profit charter schools.
"Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system," Sanders tweeted. "When we are in the White House we will ban for-profit charter schools."
Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system. When we are in the White House we will ban for-profit charter schools. https://t.co/LGY3ZaWiVm— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 17, 2019
Sanders's support for banning for-profit charters comes as President Donald Trump's Department of Education—under the leadership of billionaire Betsy DeVos—is pushing for the expansion of charter schools nationwide.
"We need more of them, not fewer," DeVos said of the schools during a congressional hearing earlier this year.
According to CNN—which got an advanced look at Sanders's plan before its official release—the senator's platform will also include a moratorium on federal funding for all public charter schools until a "national audit on the schools has been completed."
CNN reported that the senator will also propose:
- Mandating that charter schools comply with the same oversight requirements as public schools;
- Mandating that at least half of all charter school boards are teachers and parents;
- Disclosing student attrition rates, non-public funding sources, financial interests and other relevant data;
- Matching employment practices at charters with neighboring district schools, including standards set by collective bargaining agreements and restrictions on exorbitant CEO pay;
- Supporting the efforts of charter school teachers to unionize and bringing charter schools to the negotiating table.
"As president I will stand with groups like the NAACP and put a moratorium on federal CONTINUE READING: Citing Harm to Public Education, Bernie Sanders Calls for Ban on For-Profit Charter Schools
