Friday, July 27, 2018

Why charter school advocates have mixed feelings about the state Supreme Court's integration decision | MinnPost

Why charter school advocates have mixed feelings about the state Supreme Court's integration decision | MinnPost

Why charter school advocates have mixed feelings about the state Supreme Court's integration decision


On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court put a high-profile school integration lawsuit back in play by deciding that state courts can weigh in on whether or not the state has failed in its responsibility to adequately educate students.  
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Cruz-Guzman v. State of Minnesota, accuse the state of enabling racial segregation in the Twin Cities' seven-county metro area by supporting open enrollment and the creation of racially segregated charter schools. That segregation is an issue, they claim, because the public schools are failing to adequately teach poor students and students of color.

The class-action lawsuit has been winding through the court system since November 2015, when seven Minneapolis and St. Paul families and a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization filed the suit. 
In July 2016, a Hennepin County district judge ruled in favor of letting the case proceed. But in March 2017, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed the case after ruling that defining a standard of quality of education was outside the court’s realm of authority. The plaintiffs then brought their case to the Supreme Court, which overturned that ruling with its 4-2 decision on Wednesday.
The case will now go back to the Hennepin County district court, where Dan Shulman, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, says he’s hoping to get a trial date set within a year. 
If the plaintiffs prevail, state education leaders could be forced to grapple with a metrowide desegregation plan that could drastically alter the demographic makeup of many schools. 
Shulman says he has been working on putting together a desegregation plan proposal, but is withholding the details until the trial. At this point, he’s confident that some sort of desegregation plan will eventually move forward.
And that precedent, he says, will have implications far beyond Minnesota.“This opinion says, straight out, that a segregated education cannot be adequate,” Shulman said. “The implications of today’s decision are that if we prove the allegations that are in our complaint — and I expect to be able to prove them during the trial — we will establish the state has violated its constitutional duty and it will be required to remedy that. And it has implications not just here, but throughout the country. It’s a decision, I believe, people will be talking about decades from now.”

School-choice advocates raise concerns

The Supreme Court’s decision on the Cruz-Guzman case drew a mixed reaction from school-choice advocates, who were happy with Wednesday’s outcome but are critical of the Continue reading: Why charter school advocates have mixed feelings about the state Supreme Court's integration decision | MinnPost


The Details of the Koch Foundation's College Grants - The Atlantic

The Details of the Koch Foundation's College Grants - The Atlantic

Here’s How Colleges Are Spending Money From the Koch Foundation
As part of a transparency effort following ethical controversies, the philanthropy shared its newest grant agreement with The Atlantic.


On Tuesday, the Charles Koch Foundation announced that it would be making a significant change: The philanthropic behemoth would begin publishing details about the multi-year contracts that it makes with universities. The contracts, known as “grant agreements,” lay out the “term, scope, and purpose” of the funds the foundation gives to organizations. The effort at transparency was big news, not least because it came on the heels of a controversy over what exactly was in the libertarian organization’s agreement with George Mason University.

“There has been a lot of mischaracterization of our grants in the past,” Brian Hooks, the foundation’s president, told The Wall Street Journal. “The opportunity to be crystal-clear about how our foundation interacts with universities is a good opportunity.” The foundation awarded more than $49 million to more than 250 colleges in 2016, according to the Associated Press. And a new grant agreement that Koch shared with The Atlantic—the first since the announcement of the foundation’s transparency push— shows exactly what goes into those contracts.
Image result for Charles Koch Foundation
The new grant is with Arizona State University, and is being given to the Academy for Justice, a coalition of criminal justice scholars housed at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law; it is a five year grant for $6.5 million. The academy, which is led by Erik Luna, a professor at the law school, recently produced a four-volume publication which addresses criminal justice topics such as racial profiling, mass incarceration, and use of force by police, as well as potential reforms. The grant, Luna told me in an interview, will help build on the model they used to create the report—injecting rigorous academic research The Details of the Koch Foundation's College Grants - The Atlantic


We want to hear what you think. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.