AUSTIN, Texas —Using data showing Texas’s so-called “charter schools” are over-funded and under-performing—compared to promises to parents and lawmakers—the Texas Federation of Teachers is campaigning against GOP-pushed state legislation to remove the few strings the Lone Star State attaches to chartering charters and giving them money.
TFT faces an uphill battle. Though it’s one of the largest unions in Texas, the state is notoriously anti-union. It’s also a deep-red state with a lot of power vested in its lieutenant governor—and GOP Lieut. Gov. Dan Patrick backs the “Charter Schools Equity Act.”
The fight is important to teachers, parents, and students and not just in Texas. Studies nationwide show inconclusive results for students attending charter schools, as opposed to regular public schools. Meanwhile, the private firms that run charters make money off them, hand over foot.
Charters are also one of the favorite ways right-wingers and their corporate backers nationwide use to destroy public school systems, trash teachers, and wreck unions, all goals of those interests. Charters often “cherry-pick” students, thus avoiding educating kids of color.
In Texas, charters educate 6% of all students, but get 16% of the state’s education aid, TFT reports. There are few strings attached in the right-to-work state and the charter bill, which already passed the State Senate, CONTINUE READING: Texas teachers campaign against Republicans’ school charter bill – People's World