Charter School Claims Funding Unfair

In today's Buffalo News James Niemeier writes in “State's funding formula is unfair to charter schools” that the state needs to increase funding to charter schools because they do not receive enough money.  Charter schools receive $0.60 per student for every dollar of tax payer money that a public school student receives.

Let's examine this.

First: We need to remember that charter schools are not public schools. They are private schools. Under no circumstances at all is the state obligated to fund a private school. State taxes do not fund Imaculatta Academy. Nor do they fund St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute. Or the Nardin Academy. They are all private. So are charter schools.

That, right here, ends the argument. Technically it does. However, I shall press on.

Second: Charter schools were promoted by private interest groups that want to make a profit off of education. They came into vogue with President (sic &sick) George W Bush's signature law (actually one of several, but I digress.) No Child Left Behind. (Actually untested. All this useless mandated testing comes from that law which research has shown to be based on flawed practices.) If a school did not perform well on flawed tests, the school could be taken over by a private interest and they maintain control over the school as long as they show “adequate yearly progress” on flawed tests.

Third: Charter schools, like private schools, can pick and choose (they call it a “lottery”) who they want. Students can be accepted into the school via a “lottery” but if they have discipline problems or other issues they can be expelled and put back into the public school system.

Now, I work in a public school. If we have a “problem child” we are responsible to find a way to help them succeed/pass/whatever you want to call it. Charter schools get to dump off such children into the public school system WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. Read that last sentence again. Slowly and carefully. And they can replace the student with a better performing applicant.

In reality, every student that is expelled from a charter school should be counted against it as a failure. Every student that drops out of public school counts against it as a failure. Let's make the rules even for all. One rule – equally applied – to all parties. Fair and square. Given the monied interests behind the charter school movement, this is not going to happen.

Charter schools are notorious for skimming the best and the brightest out of the public school system and leaving the lower performing students behind. This drops the public schools test scores down and leads to further privatization. It's a self-feeding downward spiral.

Now, if charter schools are so great, which I have every reason to doubt that they are, they should be mandated to take the “bottom feeders” out of the public schools. The students at greatest risk of failure, dropping out, etc. The students that need 1 to 1 aides in order to function. They read at a 4^th grade level in 11^th grade. (No lie – I had that happen. The student figured out how to beat the system and made a mistake that a reading specialist caught. They did not like having their schedule changed so that they could receive remedial services.) The students that need AIS (Academic Intervention Services) to pass core classes.  That have to take Regents exams 2 and 3 times to pass.  The very students that they don't want. But then again, those are the very students that they need to prove their point – that they are a viable educational option and perform better than public schools.

Fourth: He complains that charter schools receive no money for facilities. He needs to go to Rochester and look at some of those public schools. Or New York City. The stories of moldy buildings, mildew, ceiling tiles that have caved in from leaky roofs, lavatories that don't work,  water fountains that aren't, heating that might work in wintertime, and no AC in summer. Then there are the rats, mice, and cockroaches (and other insects) that crawl around the school in daytime. He needs to get out of his bubble and look at the reality of public schooling and see what inner city schools have to deal with and then cut his complaining about the publicly built school that the organization that he is representing bought for a song. Those of us that are familiar with the South Buffalo Charter School remember it a s Public School #29. Yes. It was a public school that was closed back in 1977, turned into a police station, before being totally closed and sold to the SBCS for less than what it was worth.

Now, next Tuesday is Charter School Action Day in Albany. Mr Niemeier is taking a group of students to Albany to lobby for better funding. Imagine that. A private school lobbying the government for more money. That's just rich.

My question is – who's paying for this trip? Is this coming out of school funds (which would be better spent on the students in classrooms, on textbooks, teachers, library materials, computers and other technology) or is this being paid for by a private donor?

If he's complaining about a lack of funds, is this the best way to spend what limited money the school has?

Furthermore, I have to deal with a publicly elected school board. What public representation and control do parents have over the South Buffalo Charter School? None? Then it is a private school and should be receiving no public money. Either the entire board is elected by the parents that send their children to the school (and he gets the joy of dealing with parents) or it is a private school with no accountability to the public?  Beyond some toke government oversight.  And I do mean token.

There are a host of problems with charter schools. Read the writings of Diane Ravitch for starters. She was one of the authors of that incredibly fallacious report under President (sick) Reagan, A Nation at Risk. The only risk we were under was violation of the constitution, which he did quite well, and fiscal irresponsibility. (What else would you call someone that tripled the federal deficit in 8 years?) That's the start of the Reagan problems. I digress though.

Furthermore, go to Public School Shakedown, hosted by The Progressive magazine. It digs deeper into the charter school scam and how the public school system is under attack from corporate interests that are intent on making money off of schools and students.

Rather than wasting his time on this article and taking students away from precious educational time (standardized tests start in 2 months and we all know what that means- stress and anxiety!) he should be spending his time going to private donors that support charter schools – like Carl PaladiNO and his cronies. Bill and Melinda Gates have plenty of money that they are giving away. He has a better chance of getting money from them, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and other capitalists than getting blood from that stone that is Albany.

So, pack your bags for Washington, Wall Street, and wherever you can find charter school supporters. Leave our taxes out of your private school.