Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look

"Juan Rangel, longtime leader of the clout-heavy United Neighborhood Organization, is out as UNO’s $250,000-a-year chief executive in the wake of a scandal that cost the group millions in state funding and led to a federal investigation of its bond dealings.
 

Rangel’s departure “by mutual agreement” with the board of the not-for-profit group that operates the largest charter school network in Illinois is effective immediately, UNO officials said Friday.
 

Rangel had three family members on the UNO payroll. Sources said two of them quit recently, including Rangel’s nephew Carlos Jaramillo, UNO’s deputy chief of staff."
http://www.suntimes.com/24207915-761/juan-rangel-out-as-boss-of-charter-school-giant-uno.html ;

By Adam Schott and James Jack - "If it was viewed as a single school district, Pennsylvania’s expansive cyber charter sector would represent Pennsylvania's second-largest district, with more than 35,000 students attending 16 schools statewide. Cyber charters received approximately $366 million in taxpayer funds in 2012-13—drawing payments from 498 of the state’s 500 school districts.

The sector’s presence may grow further still: in addition to the 16 cyber schools authorized by the state Department of Education, six more have been proposed, with applications currently pending before the agency."...
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/11/before_state_officials_expand_cyber-charters_take_a_look_at_the_data_as_i_see_it.html#incart_river ;

By Stephanie Simon - Feb. 13, 2013 (Reuters) -

Excerpt from main article (may be accessed by clicking link above):
 

"Charters are public schools, funded by taxpayers and widely promoted as open to all. But Reuters has found that across the United States, charters aggressively screen student applicants, assessing their academic records, parental support, disciplinary history, motivation, special needs and even their citizenship, sometimes in violation of state and federal law."

'I didn't get the sense that was what charter schools were all about - we'll pick the students who are the most motivated? Who are going to make our test scores look good?" said Michelle Newman, whose 8-year-old son lost his seat in an Ohio charter school last fall after he did poorly on an admissions test. "It left a bad taste in my mouth."

Set up as alternatives to traditional public schools, charter schools typically operate under private management and often boast small class sizes, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus. They're booming: There are now more than 6,000 in the United States, up from 2,500 a decade ago, educating a record 2.3 million children."

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"And from New Hampshire to California, charter schools large and small, honored and obscure, have developed complex application processes that can make it tough for students who struggle with disability, limited English skills, academic deficits or chaotic family lives to even get into the lottery.

Among the barriers that Reuters documented:

* Applications that are made available just a few hours a year.

* Lengthy application forms, often printed only in English, that require student and parent essays, report cards, test scores, disciplinary records, teacher recommendations and medical records.

* Demands that students present Social Security cards and birth certificates for their applications to be considered, even though such documents cannot be required under federal law.

* Mandatory family interviews.

* Assessment exams.

* Academic prerequisites.

* Requirements that applicants document any disabilities or special needs. The U.S. Department of Education considers this practice illegal on the college level but has not addressed the issue for K-12 schools."...

Full post at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-usa-charters-admissions-idUSBRE91E0HF20130215

By Julian Vasquez, Ph.D., - April 19, 2013 -  

Selected quote: "BASIS wants to grow. Wealthy individuals put up $1,000,000 to attract the BASIS charter managment organization to San Antonio.  What is notable about BASIS is that they are for-profit/non-profit. The schools are “non-profit” but the umbrella management organization is “for-profit.” What?"...

Full post at: http://cloakinginequity.com/2013/04/19/what-basis-nepotism-and-aggrandizement-in-charters/

(Photo  - News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch  - Credit: AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

"Getting Rich Off of Schoolchildren: Stop Pretending Wealthy CEOs Pushing For Charter Schools Are Altruistic "Reformers." They're Raking in Billions" - By David Sirota March 11th, 2013: 

"Last week, Los Angeles provided yet another example of a cadre of anti-public-school millionaires swooping in to try (and in this case, fail) to buy a big-city school-board election. And once again, that sparked a round of Orwellian newspeak that distorts what’s really happening in education politics.

You know how it goes: The pervasive media mythology tells us that the fight over the schoolhouse is supposedly a battle between greedy self-interested teachers who don’t care about children and benevolent billionaire “reformers” whose political activism is solely focused on the welfare of kids. Epitomizing the media narrative, the Wall Street Journal casts the latter in sanitized terms, reimagining the billionaires as philanthropic altruists “pushing for big changes they say will improve public schools.”...
Full post at: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/getting_rich_off_of_schoolchildren/