Dem Candidates: Charter-School-Enabled *Profiteering* Is the Problem. What’s Your Plan?
Some Democratic hopefuls for the 2020 presidency have taken to saying that they do not support “for-profit charter schools.” (See here and here and here.)
On July 07, 2019, Network for Public Education (NPE) executive director, Carol Burris, called them out for promoting a false distinction. Below is Burris’ commentary, in part:
When Democratic candidates are questioned about charter schools, many typically reply, “I am against for-profit charter schools.” Everyone cheers. Politicians have created a convenient (and false) dichotomy that says nonprofit charter schools are good, and for-profit charter schools are bad.Don’t be fooled. There are now only 2 states that allow for-profit charter schools—Arizona and Wisconsin. California changed its laws.However, 35 states allow for-profit Charter Management Organizations (CMOS) to run their nonprofit charter schools. …The question candidates need to answer then are:“Do you support for-profit Charter Management Organizations, and if you do not, what are you going to do about them?” …There is a reason the charter lobby never complains when a candidate says that he/she is against for-profit charter schools. It means nothing will change.
What Burris demonstrates is that there are layers to profiteering off of charter schools, with the term “nonprofit” being a key distractor to layered profiteering.
The for-profit CMO behind the “nonprofit” charter school is one such example, but there are others.
For instance, consider the California-based Today’s Fresh Start Charter School CONTINUE READING: Dem Candidates: Charter-School-Enabled *Profiteering* Is the Problem. What’s Your Plan? | deutsch29
