Florida’s charter school movement has grown into $400-million-a-year powerhouse backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians, but with little oversight.
That is the opening paragraph of this Miami Herlad article, whose title I borrowed for this post.
This has been a deliberate expansion over the past 15 years. As the article notes,
What started as an educational movement has turned into one of the region’s fastest-growing industries, backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians.
But while charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled, they continue to operate with little public oversight. Even when charter schools have been caught violating state laws, school districts have few tools to demand compliance.
Before I continue with the article, please note the key issue: little public oversight. Note also that the charter schools seem beyond the control of the local districts in which they operate. Then remember these two facts
1. The Obama administration demanding the lifting of any caps on charters as a condition for receiving Race to the Top funds, with no controls for oversight or quality being a part of that demand.
2. President Obama has made common cause with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a big advocate of the privatization of Florida's schools.
The Miami Herald is perhaps the major newspaper in the state of Florida.
This ariticle, which appeared yesterday, is the first of a series, with additional articles scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, with a description of each in a sidebar.
What the Herald found in Florida charter schools is not unique to that state. You will read of sweetheart deals, of landlords getting huge rents for providing space, and of this:
Many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools, The Miami Herald found. At least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sit on land whose owners are tied to management companies, property records show.
You will also read of charters whose boards including people with ties to the management companies or the landlords.
You will read of charters that charge strange fees, that cut services, all in pursuit of what are profits for their operators.
I am not going to go through the article in detail. You should read it. I hope you follow the additional articles in this series.
The Herald has focused on what what many have warned about too many - not all, but far too many - charter schools and their operators. They have little concerned for education the children assigned to them. They are seeking to profit from the public purse, and poor children, too often children of color, suffer as a result.
There are also charters that cherrypick their students, leaving the more difficult to educate in public schools whose budgets have been cut as funds have been shifted to charters. There are charters whose enrollment contains far fewer students of color than do the public schools in the same area.
A friend of mine, who is a notable observer of education, informed me of this and several other interesting articles, wondering if perhaps this kind of coverage represents some kind of turning of the tide on education. I think it is too early to draw such conclusions. But as one who thinks the medias coverage of the "reform" movement in education has been one-sided, and failed to inform legislators and the public of the problems with many of the "reforms" like charters, this Miami Herald story is quite welcome.