The surprising source of key data in a report critical of the federal Charter School Program - The Washington Post

The surprising source of key data in a report critical of the federal Charter School Program - The Washington Post

The surprising source of key data in a report critical of U.S. Charter School Program

I recently wrote about a report by the advocacy group, the Network for Public Education, about waste in the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP). It was the second such report published in 2019 by the group, which was co-founded by historian and activist Diane Ravitch. Both of them, not surprisingly, received pushback from charter school supporters.

The first report, published last March and titled “Asleep at the Wheel,” said that the U.S. government had wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons. It also said the Education Department does not adequately monitor how its grant money is spent.

The second report, published last month, was titled “Still Asleep at the Wheel” and provided new details about waste in the Charter School Program. It noted that the state with the most charter schools that never opened was Michigan, home to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Report: Federal government wasted millions of dollars on charter schools that never opened

Ever since the second report was published, critics have been attacking it, saying that it was exaggerated and even that the authors were basing their claims on data they obtained from teachers’ unions. The lead author of the report, Carol Burris, said the critics have it wrong, and in the following post, she explains where the information came from and how the results were reached.

Critics may be surprised to learn that some of the key data came from none other than DeVos herself (although not intentionally). DeVos has often said she is no fan of federally funded education programs, though she still defended the CSP in a letter to a U.S. legislator cited below.

The Network for Public Education is an alliance of organizations that advocates for the improvement of public education. It is headed by Ravitch, a former official in the administration of President George H.W. Bush who broke with corporate-based school reform and became the titular leader of the movement opposing it.

The network opposes charter schools — which are publicly funded by privately managed — seeing them as part of a movement to privatize public education. However, its two 2019 reports are focused not on the place charters hold in American education but about how the federal government spent its money CONTINUE READING: The surprising source of key data in a report critical of the federal Charter School Program - The Washington Post