Have Charters Already Gamed Gavin Newsom’s Schools Task Force?
Rather than senior researchers, public finance experts and classroom learning specialists, seven of the governor’s 11 appointees appeared to have been recruited from the charter-industrial complex.
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No sooner did author-academic Diane Ravitch expose this month the charter leaningsof Governor Gavin Newsom’s task force studying the fiscal impacts of charters than California schools superintendent and panel chair Tony Thurmond found a Twitter blowtorch pointed his way. With seven of the task force’s 11 appointees appearing to be recruited from the charter-industrial complex, had the findings already been gamed? Judge the task force and him by results, Thurmond reasoned, promising that the panel would deliver recommendations for a charter code overhaul. His message was even more explicit a week later when he pointed out the gaping inequity of laissez-faire ed reform: “You cannot open enough charter schools or new schools to serve every single student in our state,” he told CalMatters. “If you take the competition approach, it means some students — a lot of students — will be left behind.”
Governor Newsom did come through on Senate Bill 126, signing into law long overdue charter transparency and public disclosure requirements that had been repeatedly vetoed by Jerry Brown. Just don’t expect Newsom’s signature on any more of the raft of reformswending their way through committee rooms — at least not before the summer recess. Newsom has already indicated that he’s taking a timeout on charter reform until Thurmond’s task force releases its recommendations in July. Something that is expected: plenty of pushback by the California Charter Schools Association. In the face of collapsing national CONTINUE READING: Have Charters Already Gamed Gavin Newsom's Schools Task Force? | Capital & Main
