Understanding Government

The Chicago Math & Science Academy is a charter school that, since it opened in 2004, has received 80 percent of its operating expenses from Chicago taxpayers. Much of the other 20 percent comes from federal and state grants. But the school says it’s a private institution, the Chicago Tribune’s Joel Hood reports, because it has freedom over policy and personnel that traditional public schools don’t have. Chicago Math & Science may be making this argument so their teachers have a harder time unionizing. Regardless of the motivation, though, the idea that charter schools are not part of the government is preposterous. (more…)

Charter schools are a central part of education reforms championed by Education Sec. Arne Duncan, the former head of Chicago Public Schools. But there is a troubling trend in Chicago charters — they keep kicking kids out. (more…)

Arne Duncan

Here’s where the local and state government budget crisis impacts the Obama administration agenda. The education budget crisis in Chicago has hindered the city’s development of its charter schools, reports Sarah Karp at the Chicago News Cooperative. Due to shrinking local tax revenue and a $12 billion state budget deficit, the Chicago Public Schools have made $15 million in cuts for their charter schools. Currently, 40,000 students attend these schools, which are mainly funded by public dollars. The cuts mean that charters will have to rely more on private donors. Already, turnover is high at charters as teachers typically work longer and for less pay than their public school counterparts.

Many of these charter schools were opened by now Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. (more…)

The Washington Post’s Nick Anderson relays a report that black students are concentrated in charter schools:

Seven out of 10 black charter school students are on campuses with extremely few white students, according to a new study of enrollment trends that shows the independent public schools are less racially diverse than their traditional counterparts.

The findings from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, which are being released Thursday, reflect the proliferation of charter schools in the District of Columbia and other major cities with struggling school systems and high minority populations.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of of state, local, and now federal money being re-routed from traditional public schools to charter schools: there are studies that students in charter schools don’t do better on standardized tests than students in the public schools that they left. However, the conclusions of this report don’t really bolster the case against charter schools. Absent charters, minority students in school districts like Washington, D.C. would go to neighborhood schools with just as high levels of non-white students. If anything, the proliferation of charters has made the problems of urban school districts a visible policy issue again.

News stories are sometimes built around a fabricated conflict but this New York Times’ headline “Opposition to Education Grant Program Emerges as Deadline Looms” is simply inaccurate. Sam Dillion reports that the deadline is today for states to apply for federal education grant money, under the Race to the Top program. The $4.2 billion program (which Ned praises today in Free Agency and I’m ambivalent about) demands states adopt some of the Obama administration’s favorite education policies like more charter schools and evaluating teachers based on student test scores.

Dillon reports that states are taking a stand against this federal intervention — but, in fact, a state singular is opposed to the grant program. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas — an on-again, off-again secessionist — says his state won’t participate. Otherwise (more…)