As part of his promise to break the monopoly of public education, Governor Cuomo is looking into raising the existing cap on Charter schools in New York. As you might expect, there is opposition to this idea.
With this in mind, here are a few stories / links on just what’s wrong with the unfettered growth of charter schools.
- One supposed argument in favor of charter schools is greater fiscal responsibility without the bureaucracy of the public school system, but an audit of charter schools, finds rampant fraud, totaling as much as $28 million in questionable expenditures since 2002. Audits uncovered mismanagement in 95% of schools audited.
- A few weeks ago, the New York Board of Regents and the State Education Department approved a charter school to be opened in Rochester next September. The lead applicant was 22-year old Ted J. Morris, Jr. Now, If you’re thinking that is seems unbelievable that a 22-year old could have the credentials and experience to run a charter school, then you’re already one step of the Board of Regents and NYSED, who failed to do what a couple of bloggers did: uncover the fact that Morris was a fraud who had fabricated most of his resume and flat out lied about his experience. This lack of oversight is bad enough, but the response from the Board of Regents is even worse. After initially saying that the charter would proceed without Morris (who had found backers for this school “through posts on Craigslist, Linkedin, and websites for nonprofits.”), the Board of Regents eventually gave in to pressure and withdrew the charter but, as this post details, still accept no responsibility for nearly handing over responsibility for the education of close to a hundred students to a con man. But hey, their paperwork was in order.
- What about claims that charters outperform public schools? Read CHARTER SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT: HYPE VS. EVIDENCE
- Ultimately, as Zephyr Teachout writes in The Times Union, the current charter school movement is not about improving education for our kids, it’s about billionaires wanting tax breaks and a slice of the money that can made from the business of education.
- And finally, read this post from Diane Ravitch on how to analyze false claims about charter schools.
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