Lack Of Charter School Accountability Was Baked Into the System From the Start | The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

Lack Of Charter School Accountability Was Baked Into the System From the Start | The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

Lack Of Charter School Accountability Was Baked Into the System From the Start

Note [of exasperation]: I'm beginning to think the Star has a policy: "Never write the words, 'According to an article by Craig Harris in the Republic . . .'" Harris has written a groundbreaking series of articles on charter school corruption and profiteering which has statewide relevance, but to my recollection, the Star hasn't mentioned any of them, nor has it done similar investigations on its own.

Craig Harris has a new article in The Republic that takes another look at the lack of charter school regulation and accountability. Not only does the State Board for Charter Schools conduct minimal charter school oversight, it doesn't acknowledge public complaints about charters on its website. 

For the past three years, each charter school's profile on the site displayed the message: "This charter has no complaints."

According to Harris, the board received 91 complaints during the 2017-18 school year. Two months into this school year, it has already received 141 complaints.

The board's motto: See no evil. Hear no evil. Post no evil.

According to Harris, the website has addressed the problem, though the board has yet to release complaints, which are public records, to the paper.

None of this is recent, or accidental. It's part of a pattern that goes back to charter school beginnings in Arizona. The state charter board has always been more a promoter of charters than a regulator. Here's some historical background.

Lisa Graham Keegan was the state senator who shepherded Arizona's charter school law through the legislature in 1994. She became education superintendent in 1995. While charter schools were sprouting up all over the state, she was cutting the size of the department of education. The staffing went from over 450 employees to 350 in her first year.

The cuts were part of Keegan's overall educational philosophy: cut regulations and accountability for public schools, and keep charters as regulation-free as possible. In an article titled The Continue reading: Lack Of Charter School Accountability Was Baked Into the System From the Start | The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch