CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Charters Don't Want To Serve All Students

CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Charters Don't Want To Serve All Students

TX: Charters Don't Want To Serve All Students

The  charter school pitch often focuses on the idea that all students deserve choices, that families should be able to explore options.

Here's the CEO of KIPP Texas, speaking about the big Texas KIPP merger:

We realized our organizations wanted to improve student success across the state and we wanted to create an environment to serve more KIPPsters.

And here's Starlee Coleman, CEO of the Texas Charter School Association (as well as co-founder of SchoolForward, a choice PR firm; policy advisor at the State Policy Network; VP of Communications, National Alliance for Public [sic] Charter Schools; and various high-level positions with the Goldwater Institute), just last fall:

Don’t you deserve the chance to explore a variety of options, just like you have when making other decisions that impact your family’s future?

It turns out that when Coleman says "you," she doesn't actually mean "you everybody." Only certain select "you."

Here she is earlier this week, arguing against a "bad idea" that has "taken root" in the legislature. What is the bad idea? What is she railing against as a threat to charter schools in Texas?

A proposal that charter schools should have to accept all students.

Charter schools in Texas have some pretty cushy deals. For instance, in Austin, charters actually get $1740 more per students than the public system. And charters also have a fun item in Texas law-- they do not have to accept any student who has a record of disciplinary issues.

To read Coleman's piece, one would think we're talking about young felons with a rap sheet a mile CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Charters Don't Want To Serve All Students