Unlike many states, Massachusetts caps its number of charter schools, and last summer, the state Senate voted
not to lift that cap. Now, partners three of Boston's fanciest law firms are planning to sue to overturn the cap altogether, calling it a "civil rights" issue in
a long-established and deeply cynical ploy on the part of corporate education reformers. This concern for civil rights is about the right of some kids to attend privatized schools, but
not about the schools with a mission to serve all the kids:
Charter advocates “are very crafty in how they frame the issue, in that they say they’re promoting civil rights, but they’re really doing the opposite,” said Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union. “They’re harming the civil rights of the 95 percent of children who go to public schools.”
As EduShyster writes, students in many Boston public schools face
appalling conditions because of a lack of funding—but where's the white shoe law partner concern about that? No, these wealthy lawyers want to shift
more public school funding out of traditional public schools, which will then be labeled "failing" even though they've been failed by the state and the legal system.
Despite the relative strength of charter schools in Massachusetts as compared with the corruption-riddled charters of states like Ohio and Florida, the evidence is mixed even in Massachusetts, as Stephanie Simon details. On the one hand, many, but not all, Massachusetts charter schools have better test results than traditional public schools.
Yet a 2013 study found that Boston charters don’t boost high school graduation rates or pass rates on most Advanced Placement exams. Another study, released this year, found that students who graduate from traditional Boston public high schools are actually more likely than charter graduates to earn a college degree or another form of postsecondary credential within six years.
Many Boston charter schools also have high suspension and expulsion rates, with students frequently disciplined for perceived disrespect to adults or minor violations of the dress code. At one charter, nearly 60 percent of students received an out-of-school suspension during the 2012-13 year. Boston’s charter high schools tend to lose large numbers of students from year to year; it’s not uncommon for a class to shrink by 40 percent or more from ninth grade to graduation.
This is what Boston's top lawyers—and the incredibly well-funded, hedge funder-backed charter school lobby—are fighting to expand at the expense of underfunded traditional public schools. If these people care so much about kids, why aren't they fighting for all the kids by pushing for school funding increases, or anti-poverty measures that would ensure fewer kids come to school hungry?
Because they don't actually care so much about kids. Because what they really care about is undermining American public education and remaking it in the interests of corporate profit. It's disgusting.
