Why Local Public Schools Should Not Be Turned Over to Charter School Companies to Run

May 06

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Malloy, Stefan Pryor , , , 25 Comments

Late last week, Representative Gary Holder-Winfield of New Haven and most of the members of the General Assembly’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus held a press conference to speak out about Governor Malloy’s “education reform” legislation.

These legislators, some of the finest and most dedicated in the General Assembly, had important things to say about the “education reform” debate.

Despite what the “reformers” sent out in their blast emails, Representative Holder-Winfield made it very clear that the minority legislators were not endorsing Malloy’s version of the “education reform bill” or the governor’s “Commissioner’s Network” plan, but he did say that the minority legislators supported the proposal to allow the commissioner of education to take over a community’s school and give it to a charter school company to run.

Rick Green, the Hartford Courant columnist applauded the legislators saying “successful charter school models — such as Jumoke Academy in Hartford or the Achievement First schools in New Haven and Hartford — should be a part of Connecticut’s reform plan. To exclude these Connecticut-grown schools – as a current version of the school reform legislation would now do – throws out proven strategies merely because of unfounded union fears that they will lead to “privatized” public education.”

Green’s statement actually does the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus a tremendous disservice and his anti-union bias limits his understanding of the issue.  His conclusion is also incorrect.

The attitude many of us have about charter schools is not based on union concerns but on the fact that charter schools have proven that they cannot or will not provide educational services to every single child who walks through the door, which is something that district schools must do.

While Governor Malloy’s proposal to ban collective bargaining at Commissioner’s Network schools is appalling and inappropriate, the notion of turning a public district school over to a charter school company should be rejected because, despite what Mr. Green claims, Connecticut’s charter schools DO NOT have a proven track record when it comes to serving the broader community.

Charter schools may be a “successful” model for a sub-set of parents, who want their children to attend a certain type of program, and local legislators have every right to support those parents, but district schools must take every child who walks through the door; the facts make it extraordinarily clear that charter schools do not do that.

The following chart (some of which I’ve published before) indicates that schools cream off a select group of students – students who end up doing statistically better on standardized test scores.

In every category – and in nearly every case – Connecticut’s major charter schools have fewer poor children, fewer children who need special education services, fewer Latino students, fewer students who are not proficient in English and far fewer students who go home to households where English is not the spoken language.

The data comes from the 2009-2010 reports provided by the schools themselves to the State Department of Education.

District/School
% Minority Students
% Free/Reduced Lunch
% Special Education
% Latino
% ELL*
% Homes where English is not the primary language
Hartford Schools
93%
93%
12.7%
52%
17%
43%
AF-Hartford Academy
100%
68%
7.5%
10%
5%
5%
Jumoke Academy
100%
72%
2%
.4%
0
0%
New Haven Schools
87%
81%
10%
37%
12%
28%
AF- Amistad Academy
98%
66%
2.7%
35%
12%
12%
AF-Elm City Prep
99%
69%
4%
21%
9%
9%
Bridgeport Schools
91%
99%
12.4%
48%
13%
40%
AF-Bridgeport
99%
67%
8%
42%
6%
6%
Park City Prep
99%
57%
7%
36%
2.5%
2.5%
Bridge Academy
99%
78%
12.5%
30%
.4%
17%
District/School
% Minority Students
% Free/Reduced Lunch
% Special Education
% Latino
% ELL*
% Homes where English is not the primary language

 

As noted, these charter schools may be providing a successful educational experience to some students but they are definitely not serving the broader urban community.  To suggest that they are ready and able to take over any urban school and “turn it around” simply flies in the face of the fact that charter schools have done well because they don’t have to serve everyone who might walk through the door  – they only have to serve those that they recruit and retain.

While Connecticut’s minority legislators are absolutely right to be demanding that the state support successful educational models that provide all children with a quality education, Connecticut’s charter schools are simply not one of those models.

This part of the debate IS NOT about whether parents should or should not be able to choose a charter school;  it is about whether an entire district school should be turned over to a charter school management company.  The answer is no – where intervention is needed to turn around a district school it must be done in such a way as to ensure that all students benefit.

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  • guest

    Charter schools also reinforce and exacerbate racial and class isolation.
    The Finnish model, which was given a nod even by the Superintendents association of Connecticut–otherwise a totally co-opted corporate group–has aggressively sought to redress the effects of poverty by making schools in poorer areas stellar.  This goes beyond the limited palliative efforts of a settlement such as Sheff vs. O’Neill.  Thus, every public school in the racially and economically isolated areas–which are, not coincidentally, the “lowest performing” schools–should exceed even the magnet schools in facilities, teacher excellence and salaries, small class size, extracurricular and art programs, etc.  And if out-of-district, *equally* isolated, homogenous suburban students wish to go to what would become the state’s best schools, they could have a chance, space permitting, and reciprocal agreements in place.  At the moment, suburban white students have the most choices, and, once again, poorer children are subject to band-aid solutions, experiments in privatization, and other ideas that only harm them more.

  • Ongoingly

    Charters schools should be as they were originally intended to be (before grasping hedge-funders and ed-profiteers highjacked them); “lab schools” and places where you could innovate using varied educational philosophies. Like the charter I worked for in the late 90s that used the Bank Street approach to curriculum design and was a teacher-run consensus school. We were an intentionally small school, diverse socio-economically and ethnically with children from all over Fairfield County coming to us. We had the autonomy to create curriculum and class room pedagogy that suited the needs of our particular student body. We were not run as a corporation, subsidized, or politicized. What’s considered a “charter school” now is another animal completely.

    • guest

      Good thoughts.  As long as public schools remain public, and admit students without regard to immigrant status, native language, class, race, ability, etc., it can be a fine thing to have some smaller lab schools. 

  • Follow the Money

    Jon, as always, thank you for a clear and well constructed blog entry. This is the part that the public won’t see – the enrollment statistics are out there, buried in the state website, and very difficult to navigate. As far as these schools doing well, that’s a matter of perspective. Most do only as well as the district in which they reside, and sometimes even worse. In many cases, CMT or CAPT scores are not reported for them the way these scores are for every other district in the state. These, of course, are the very scores that this sham legislation would like to use to determine if a school is failing, or if a teacher should be fired and stripped of certification to teach.

    The bigger issue, of course, is the fact that these schools practice “creaming”, even though they say they do not. They also have a student body that is racially isolated, and does not reflect the makeup of the districts they are located in, as evidenced in your chart, above. This is the kind of information that the public needs to know and understand. Charters are being painted as the solution, the saving grace and they are far from it.

  • THREEFIFTHS2004

    The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus have sold there souls.
    As long as parents and teachers in general shall fall under the established
    rule, it is clear that politics and modes of government will educate and infect
    us all. They poison our minds, before we can resist, or so much as suspect their
    malignity. Like the barbarous directors of the Eastern seraglios, they deprive
    us of our vitality, and fit us for their despicable employment from the
    cradle.

    - William Godwin.

  • Linda174

    Hmmmm….With all of your stellar research, you’ve never touched upon the source of Connecticut’s concentrated racial isolation and poverty, that is the discriminatory housing and zoning practices that persist still to this day and are the reason for our separate and unequal populations in our state.  

    Jeff, I though all failure was due to the unionized public school teachers? So you agree that our achievement gap is an opportunity/zoning gap? Great…who knew you would agree with a public school teacher.

    Maybe you could spend more time focusing on the employees at your bank. There seem to be some employee/embezzlement issues that need your attention.

  • jonpelto

    Will respond to the last comment first.
    You said “now that you are a widely followed “journalist” do you feel it’s time to disclose your own personal conflicts of interest?  Any financial transactions between you and the teachers unions?”
    I am not compensated for my writing in any way what so ever.
    You then asked – “Or if not, how about the appearance of conflict based on any prior associations?  Any relationships that you may have when you were in the legislature?”
    ” I was elected to the legislature 28 years ago and served for 10 years.    When I left the legislature I left with one of the highest AFL-CIO Cope rating in the legislature and was endorsed by the AFT and CEA in each of my campaigns. 
     As a regular reader, you know that I consider myself a columnist and not a journalist – a fact I often point out – and  more than once I’ve made reference to Walter Conkrite’s quote  ”Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.  That said, I do try to hold myself to a standard in which I truly believe my opinions are based in fact.  However you’ll note that when picked up Connecticut media outlets, my writing always runs in the opinion section .

    And to the Commissioner’s conflict.  I am not a public official, paid with $180,000  is taxpayer funds, but if I had worked with the CEA or AFT for the eight years leading up to becoming commissioner I certainly would have exempted myself from any decision in which the CEA or AFT was a direct beneficiary.
    So I agree – I do hold the Commissioner of a very high standard, one I would hold myself to as well.

    • jonpelto

      Per the recruit and retention issue of students, I appreciate the information of the similarity between Worthington Hooker and Amistad and will certainly look into that.
      My initial post about the observation that Connecticut charter schools were “creaming” off select students was in January 2011.  Since then I’ve gotten literally dozens of emails from charter school parents claiming my comments were out of line because the open lottery system guaranteed that everyone had the same chance to get it. Assuming the parents were right I’ve amended my approach to suggest that there was some inherent bias in the selection process since it required parents to know about the lottery and go through the process as well as a related out-migration system in which students that didn’t fit the mold were sent back to the public school system.  There is a detailed study out of Massachusetts that shows that such a system does apparently exist there.

      And to my own experience, I am extraordinarily fortunate.  I grew up in Mansfield Connecticut, an outstanding school system that is somewhat of an anomaly because its students come overwhelming from parents who work for UConn, Eastern or are state employees.  The anomaly though is that it is relatively diverse – by suburban standards – but that is because the university attracts many international faculty and students.  Not only did I grow up here and went through elementary, middle, high school and college but I built a home here so my children would have the same access the Mansfield school system.

      Interestingly though, my oldest daughter chose to attend a CREC magnet school – the Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts – where she spent four years interacting with students from a far broader array of racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds so I’m especially aware of how urban schools can be set up to promote racial desegregation.

      I say that because even though she attended an inner-city magnet school, the powers the be decided that it was not racially balanced enough and completely changed its selection process two years through here four year experience.  I went from a system based primarily on talent and then used a lottery to select its student body to one in which it is now based almost exclusively on a lottery with talent auditions coming after the fact.

      So that means schools can and do dramatically change their recruitment system.  I’ve was told for well over a year that it was the lottery system that ensured charter schools are open to anyway.  You now say that Achievement First’s desire to serve everyone is limited by state laws and regulations.  Your lobbyists were able to get special legislation passed in 2010 allowing 30% of your staff to be un-certified by the Connecticut Department of Education (no other school is given that opportunity), why didn’t the charter schools also seek a legislative remedy to reverse the state’s harmful policies limiting AF’s ability to show that it was not creaming off students that were less poor, more likely to speak English, less likely to have special education needs and far less likely to go home to a household in which English was not the spoken language.  

      Certainly our of 10 schools, it would have been in AF’s interest to prove that your “success: is not due to the student body you select..

      As always, while I disagree with your premise and comments, I appreciate the time you take to make your views known.  I know you are not the only one who comes to this blog with a very different outlook and opinion and I appreciate it and hope the other readers do as well,

  • guest

    Exactly how does increased racial isolation at Amistad help Connecticut’s deplorable racial and class segregation?  I don’t know where others live and educate their children, but my children go to some of the lowest performing schools–the situation of which has deteriorated in recent years and with recent budgets.  The ECS funding that might have helped has never been there.
    I don’t care to hear your sanctimonious defense of Amistad and Stefan Pryor and other selfless yalies who can’t wait to help the children of Yale’s lowest-paid workers, if New Haven residents can even get jobs there (has the town/gown relationship ever been positive?).
    Although it is becoming a cliche, the model of Finland is hard to ignore because it is hardly possible anymore to tell the economic background of children who graduate from Finnish schools, they are all so well educated.  It is possible to offer an equal and excellent education to all, if a society is committed to this ideal–as well as to abolish racism and segregation.  The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave just don’t want to do it–it’s the Land of the Free Market and the Home of the Brave Bailout.

  • CT Dad

    Such hateful people should not involved in the eduction of children.  Period.

  • guest

    Oh, since it seems that you are a banker, why is it that failing banks get bailed out in such lavish terms by the taxpayer, but failing schools get punished, closed, its employees fired?

    • Linda174

      Employee embezzlement issues seem to be happening often at Webster Bank….maybe they need to be careful when hiring and supervising their own employees before advising public school teachers.

  • Linda174

    You are concerned where certain “progressives” live and raise their children. I don’t really like political labels, so I won’t apply one to you now. However, I am sure Mr. and Mrs. Klaus-Toll do not live in an impoverished community themselves. Your extreme generalizations of all public school teachers, all “liberals” and all who read and post on this blog shows your ignorance, hatred and extreme delusions of grandeur. Your post speaks for itself.

  • savage

    Wow, Jeff Klaus–you sure you’re not  lawyer? Or maybe a former member of the debate team? ‘Cause you’ve engaged in some classic deflection in your post here. Don’t want people focusing on the fact that your school’s population doesn’t accurately reflect the population of the surrounding community? Then accuse one of the 31 New Haven public elementary schools of being MORE exclusive than your school. Didn’t mom ever teach you that two wrongs don’t make a right? If what you’re saying about Washington Hooker is true, that’s despicable. But that doesn’t excuse any potential injustice in AF schools’ admission/retention practices.
     
    Where do you and Dacia live, Jeff? Do you have kids? Do they attend a racially and economically diverse school?
     
    If you’re interested, my own kids attend a very good public school system in the suburbs. I, myself, attended PS 206 in Queens, NY for much of my elementary education. One of the biggest concerns I have for my own children is the LACK of diversity in their school system. I have fond memories of my own early public school years. I had friends from Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico, China and Japan. I learned games and songs in other languages. I sampled foods from other countries when I ate over at their apartments, and vice versa. My childhood was immensely enriched by these experiences, and I regret that my own children are missing out on them. So much so that I’ve considered sending them to a magnet school where they’ll be able to experience more diversity. The faux ”making friends with China” bull that our superintendent is pushing (courtesy of education reformers such as yourself) just doesn’t cut it. You know, the penpals from China, yearly trips from Chinese teachers and administrators, reciprocal visits of our own faculty and students, etc. Please.
     
    Maybe the VIP’s, BOE members and  local politicians that you mention in your post have similar reasons for wanting their kids to attend Amistad? No, probably not.
     
    Deflect all you want by calling into question others’ motives, morals, etc. You will not succeed in pulling our attention away from the real motives behind the “education reformers” who are aching to get their greedy paws on the money intended for our kids.
     

  • guest

    Wow, you are sanctimonious.  “Life saving schools.”

    • Linda174

      Read all about the great Jeff Klaus here:

      Klaus’ manner can be “frustrating at times because he can be stubborn and single-minded”

      http://www.conntact.com/finance-and-economy/11091-citizen-of-the-year-jeffrey-klaus-a-helper-not-an-enabler.html

      • guest

        I think perhaps a candidate for sainthood.  Thinking over the history of ideas regarding education over the past 2,500 or so years, I don’t think even Plato, for example, in the myth of the cave, claimed that learning was life saving.  Life enhancing, maybe.
        But Jeff Klaus, typical of those who have newly discovered the poor and suffering–and unable to imagine that they might like self-determination and autonomy in their lives, wishes to promote his little life saving schools.  Well, the ship of state needs more than a measly lifeboat or two, and that is why public education must remain public, universal, and democratic.

  • Linda174

    According to you, which means nothing to me.

    Have you been so genuinely concerned about poverty your entire life or only since you have become acquainted with a charter company CEO?

    At least I have worked with and for children of all ages, disabilities, abilities, income levels, and of a variety of family structures my entire life.

    You pretend to care from your bank office, which is pathetic.

  • CONconn

    Jeff Klaus’ comment comparing teachers to slave owners is the single most disgusting comment made in this history of the “reform” movement. It reeks of last minute desperation the corporate education pirates must be feeling, knowing that it’s starting to look like Achievement First may not be seeing the cash grab of millions they were expecting. Given the incredible employee turnover rate and pitiful employee satisfaction level of those schools, it would be much more accurate to compare Dacia Toll to a slave owner. 

  • ConcernedTeacher

    To Jklaus –

    Tell me ‘o noble soul, if your ideas are your own and your convictions so strong, why did YOU not become a teacher and try to personally change the lives of the students in your community classrooms? What was it that prevented you from “walking the talk” and stepping into the role of a CT educator? Never too late for a career change you pompous blowhard.

    Everything is easy from the outside. But when you step into the classroom and actually make the effort to transform the lives of kids from all walks of life, things get a little real and a little too difficult. I charge that you see that difficulty and it’s better left to someone else, not you. But you certainly have no reserves in telling us (teachers) that we suck and are doing it all wrong.

    Those of us who have taken up the task of education went in fully aware that we would never become millionaires or even super-rich, such as other nameless career choices (guess who?!?), but we did so because of a passion, a desire to do good and pass along our fondness of a subject matter that we found so engaging. We step into our roles everyday knowing that coming our way is a plethora of baggage and obstacles to overcome. And yet we tread onward and ever hopeful that we can teach not only our content, but ethics (something your industry/bank seems to be lacking from what I hear), morals and the passion to succeed against the odds stacked against.

    There may be plenty of “arm chair liberal, wringing your hands and lamenting the conditions of poverty and unequal schooling” as you so put it, but not us teachers. We’ve got on the uniform, we’re playing the game best we can given the rules and other participants. Where’s YOUR uniform? Anyone can call the game from the outside, why don’t you get off the AF/charter school bench and come teach like the rest of us? And not some uncertified / peace corps.-esc TFA 2-year commitment B.S. – come get a REAL certificate, head into one of these communities you claim to be helping so much with your charters and “save lives”.

    YOU want to “walk the talk” now or do you want to stand by on the sidelines and continue to postulate you have ALL the answers with charter schools and the rest of us unionized teachers are still just trying to suck off the proverbial teat and could care less of our kids outcomes?

    • Linda174

      Just what we need…another pompous corporate reformer who loves to bloviate about a topic he knows nothing about. He sat in the back of a classroom at his second wife’s school and now he is an expert. Stick to banking….there seem to be many issues that need your attention, Klaus.

      • ConcernedTeacher

        arm chair democrats vs. monday morning quarterbacks

  • THREEFIFTHS2004

    If teacher unions are so bad how come charter school teachers have voted to join them.

    Teachers at Opportunity Charter School vote to join
    union
    by Elizabeth Green, at
    8:11 pm 

    http://gothamschools.org/2011/05/13/teachers-at-opportunity-charter-school-vote-to-join-union/

    And how come when  charter school teachers do join the union.They are face with this.

    After union bid, fired charter school teachers allege
    retaliationby Geoff Decker, at 1:22
    pm http://gothamschools.org/2011/07/12/after-union-bid-teachers-fired-by-a-charter-school-allege-retaliation/In fact I will be going to  Amistad Academy and Achievement First with union cards for the teachers.  

    • jonpelto

      And some charter school in ct have unions just not the corporate ones like achievement first. The original malloy bill even limited collective bargaining in any new charters to only certain issues.

      Sent from my BlackBerry please excuss typos

  • sharewhut

     Mr. Klaus,
    Your house fire analogy is appropriate, although perhaps a bit misdirected.
    Yes, the teachers and schools may be the firemen showing up late,and maybe under-equipped.
    But let’s look at what goes on before the fire.
    A frayed wire.
    A homeowner neglecting maintenance? A parent not taking time to read or otherwise take a role in their kid’s education.
    Or a homeowner keeping up on maintenance, preventing damage that can start the fire. A parent taking an active role in their kid’s education, learning about the magnet (and charter) schools. Taking time to fill out school choice forms. Sending the kids to the magnets and charters with a foundation for success to be built upon.
    As opposed to the teachers constantly fighting fires, teaching a kid how to speak & read English. Or making sure the kid even makes it to school. And has his breakfast and lunch. And sees the staff providing basic medical services.
    Much easier to win a garden club award when you’re not tied up fixing cracks in the basement. And it takes a lot less skill, too.