News Item – GAO: Grant-funded charter schools show greater enrollment growth

This item scrolled across my electronic desk last week.

GAO: Grant-funded charter schools show greater enrollment growth

An analysis found smaller percentages of students with disabilities at all charter schools compared to traditional public schools.

This finding jives with the NEPC work that Gary Miron has been doing related to cyber charter enrollment data – particularly his sections of the Virtual Schools in the US reports and the Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations reports.

NEW REPORT – Chartered for Profit II: Pandemic Profiteering

A very important read from the Network for Public Education.

Dear Michael,   In the fall of 2021, one in every five (20%) charter school students was enrolled in a for-profit run school.     There is no other way to put it–the for-profit charter industry saw an opportunity to expand its market share during a national health crisis and took it. Worst of all, 27% of for-profit enrolled students attended a low-quality virtual charter.   Read NPE’s latest report, Chartered for Profit II: Pandemic Profiteering.

READ THE REPORT

Profiteering and grift are possible because for-profit operators use their taxpayer-funded wealth to influence lawmakers to keep regulations and oversight lax. In a single year in Arizona, 91.8 percent of charter schools were granted exemptions from procurement regulations meant to ensure taxpayer funds were being spent responsibly. Sweeps contracts are commonly used to give the for-profit operator financial control over the allegedly nonprofit school. Sweetheart deals and related party transactions allow the operator’s family and friends, board members and even employees to cash in on public funds meant for kids. Through elaborate webs of property flips and purchases by related companies, operators find ways to fill their bank accounts from charter schools. We explain it all.   Read and share our report using this link: https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Chartered-for-Profit-II.pdf Three states with a high proportion of charter schools–Michigan, Florida and Ohio–are now dominated by the for-profit-run charter industry with over half of their schools being nonprofit in name only. And Nevada and Arizona are quickly catching up. Will your state be next? Read Chartered for Profit II and find out the how and why of the charter for-profit world. It’s time we demand reform.

READ THE REPORT

2023 Conference

We hope you’ll join us for the NPE/NPE Action 2023 Conference in Washington, D.C., Public Schools: Where Democracy Grows. We will be gathering at the Capital Hilton in the heart of the nation’s capital to celebrate our 10th Anniversary on October 28-29, 2023.

JOIN US

You can book your hotel reservations here, and if you would like to present at the 2023 conference fill out the application for panelists here.

Donate to NPE

Please consider making a donation to the Network for Public Education. We rely on donations from supporters like you to produce reports, organize our conference and so much more. We were so grateful for our 2022 supporters that we created a page on our website to thank them.   We hope we can rely on your financial support in 2023! You can make a donation here.   You can share a link to our newsletter with this link: networkforpubliceducation.org/new-report—chartered-for-profit-ii-pandemic-profiteering/

Thanks for all you do,

Carol Burris Network for Public Education Executive Director

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Religious charter schools?

A colleague sent this around before the holidays.

Oklahoma attorney general greenlights religious charter schools

 The headline doesn’t tell you why I send this to you, but  the 2^nd Paragraph does.

The opinion was issued after the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City announced its intent to launch a virtual Archdiocesan charter school in a letter to the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.

https://www.k12dive.com/news/religious-charter-schools-Supreme-Court/638477/

Then earlier this week, this item came through my inbox.

Oklahoma’s Endorsement of Religious Charter Schools May Alter Legal Landscape Oklahoma is set to become the first state to weigh the approval of a charter school that explicitly allows religious instruction, heightening concerns about separation of church and state. Acting on an opinion from the state’s former attorney general, Brett Farley of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma told reporter Linda Jacobson he sees “green lights” for the movement, but critics predict “massive constitutional violations.” Go Deeper: Maine: ​​Supreme Court Throws Out Ban on Religious Schools Receiving Public Funds North Carolina: Attorneys Consider Asking SCOTUS to Weigh in on Public Status of Charter Schools

I guess now that the Supreme Court, using their originalist doctrine (because the 200+ year old separation of church and state isn’t original enough), has removed the restriction of public education funding being used in voucher programs that benefit private religious schools, it only makes sense that religious groups could also profiteer from public education funding through charter schools.  I mean why should corporations get to have all the fun).

And let’s face it, the Supreme Court will also support this action based on their political positions (not ideological, but political) because that is what the Supreme Court (and much of the US judiciary) has become – an extension of the Republican party policy arm.  Do in the courtroom what you can’t do at the ballot box.

News: The for-profit charter school problem

So this item came across my desk last week and I wanted to highlight it.

The for-profit charter school problem

Photo by CDC on Unsplash – people sitting on chair inside room

 Jeff Bryant and Our Schools

July 28, 2021

The top lobbying group for the charter school industry is rushing to preserve millions in funds from the federal government that flow to charter operators that have turned their K-12 schools into profit-making enterprises, often in low-income communities of color.

The group, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), objects to a provision in the House Appropriations Committee’s proposed 2022 education budget that closes loopholes that have long been exploited by charter school operators that profit from their schools through management contracts, real estate deals, and other business arrangements. NAPCS also objects to the legislation’s proposal to cut 9 percent from the federal government’s troubled Charter Schools Program (CSP).

To continue reading, go to the original article at https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/for-profit-charter-schools/ (plus it supports local journalism)

The article was interesting to me because it highlighted specific examples of how the charter school industry (and yes, it is an industry and not some altruistic version of public education) try to basically lie about the nature of regulation to suit their own goals.  Take this example from the article:

The Reality – The specific provision regarding for-profit charters that NAPCS objects to states, “None of the funds made available by this Act or any other Act may be awarded to a charter school that contracts with a for-profit entity to operate, oversee or manage the activities of the school.”

The Charter Industry Fiction –While the proposal from House Democrats is clearly aimed at ending federal funding of a specific type of charter school operation, NAPCS, in its petition campaign, claims that the new legislation would “cut off ALL federal funding” to any charter school that contracts with any sort of business entity, which would seem to suggest that the proposal jeopardizes federal funds to all charters, since virtually all schools, charter and public, outsource some services—such as transportation, textbooks, or grounds maintenance—to outside providers.

NAPCS’s president and CEO Nina Rees told a CNN reporter that the legislation “could impact schools that contract out for cafeteria services, special education services, or back office staff.”

There are many other examples in the article, so be sure to check it out yourself.  But this does highlight how this industry is more concerned with pilfering the public purse for the purpose of profit than they are any sort of responsibility or accountability – and definitely any concern for public education.

Review Finds EdTech Claims Can Be Misleading – You Don’t Say?

So this item came through my inbox in the past 7-10 days and I’ve been mulling over what to say about it.

Review finds edtech claims can be misleading

(Unsplash)

Education-technology companies often make bold promises about their products’ effectiveness, particularly regarding students’ academic gains. However, a review of three companies’ claims finds that the research on which they are based is dubious and could be misleading.

Full Story: The Hechinger Report (5/20)

I have to be honest and say that I’m disappointed – but not surprised – that this “finding” has been big news.

Let’s forget about the whole media/technology doesn’t impact learning perspective, that has been the dominant view in the field of educational technology for decades.  And for those to whom this is news, technology is a medium through which instruction is delivery.  What impacts learning is how that instruction is designed, delivered, and supported.

But does it really surprise anyone that corporations use selective and misleading data to promote their products?  I mean tobacco companies still won’t admit that smoking is bad for you.  Fast food companies still make claims about the healthiness of their products.  Why do we expect corporations involved in the educational sphere to act any differently?

The more important question, in my opinion, is given this reality that I think we can all pretty much agree upon…  Why do we still allow corporations to directly or indirectly operate public schools?

A deep question for you to ponder over the weekend.