Texas Charter Schools: Don’t Believe the Boasting and Hype
William J. Gumbert has prepared statistical analyses of charter performance in Texas, based on state data.
Charters boast of their “success,” but the reality is far different from their claims. They don’t enroll similar demographics, their attrition rate is staggering, and their “wait lists” are unverified.
Their claims are a marketing tool.
They are not better than public schools.
They undermine and disrupt communities without producing better results.
Yet Texas is plunging headlong into this strategy that creates a dual system but benefits few students.
Texas Charter Schools – Perception May Not Be Reality
Part 5: The State’s Efforts to “Privatize” Public Education in Local Communities is “Simply Indefensible”
By: William J. Gumbert
If you are a parent residing in an urban or suburban area of Texas, it is likely that you have received promotional materials recruiting your child to enroll at a privately operated, charter school (“charters”). Charters are taxpayer funded, private organizations that the State approves to independently operate schools in community-based school districts. Despite it being your students, schools, tax dollars and communities, the State has unilaterally decided that a “dual education system”, consisting of locally governed, community-based school districts and State approved, privately governed charters, is best for local communities. The State has also CONTINUE READING: Texas Charter Schools: Don’t Believe the Boasting and Hype | Diane Ravitch's blog