LMSD a target for charter schools?!


A good read for business, not appropriate at all for education.

 In this local newspaper op ed attacking teacher pensions in PA, something interesting appeared in the comments. One commenter shared a concern about charter school investors wanting suburban tax dollars. Indeed, we have much higher spending per student than city schools. Plus, they are running out of city schools to take over.

The defensive response of "guest" sounds like it is written by someone in the charter school industry. Note how test scores are used as the measure of student success.
Very corporate education reform style. Why would we consider giving up our local schools to private operators who pay themselves big money and aren't accountable to tax payers? Interesting that the last words written are, "If charter school investors come around, let's listen to them."

Read about Brookline, which is like LMSD here.
In a national discussion about cyber charters, look what district was compared to Philadelphia in terms of spending per student...


Every school district in America is being targeted for corporate takeover. This is bipartisan and supported by the federal government. There are PR & marketing firms being paid to spin the joy of charter schools to the American public. Are students at the center of this movement? No, opening the education market is their focus.


If you care about children and want to have a voice in who runs our schools, pay close attention and work on improving and supporting our public schools. Abandoning them to the open market has no proven track record, especially in districts like ours.

I am not saying that venture capitalists and venture philanthropists are bad people. I am saying they are mainly interested in their returns on investment. Most have very little to no professional experience in the world of teaching & learning, and most do not even send their kids to public schools. 

The sharks are circling and some of them even live next door.





Comments

  1. You make a great point about the logic of cyber charter operators in targeting students in districts where the per-capita expenditure is very high. I hadn't thought of it in those terms before. Thanks for writing this up!

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    1. Thanks! Please note that it is not just cyber charters, it is ALL charter schools. Read this post to see some of the ways charter schools may keep your kids out, while real public schools welcome all:
      https://dianeravitch.net/2016/05/29/new-orleans-how-exclusive-charter-schools-select-their-enrollments/

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