282
Texas Took Over Its Largest School District, but Has Let Underperforming Charter Networks Expand
(www.propublica.org)
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
282 points (99.3% liked)
politics
19087 readers
5160 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Charter schools are just one of the newest ways conservatives have come up with to control education so only those they believe deserve it get good ones while simultaneously allowing for more religious education in the classroom and a way to reimpose segregation in schooling
It also lets businesses profit off of kids' education money while starving public schools of funding. Here in NY, charter schools take money from the public school fund. However, they are allowed to pick and choose which students they want and there is little to no oversight. So they reject any students with special needs (IEPs, 504 plans, etc) and take only students that they can teach for as little money as possible. Anything extra is profit for the business.
Public schools are left with a greater percentage of special needs students to help, but with less money to do it. Then, the charter schools point to the public schools as failing and push for more charter schools. More charter schools open and the public schools are left with less money. Repeat again and again as public funds are diverted to private businesses.
Don’t forget another way to funnel tax money to their friends!
To be fair, not all charter schools are conservative.
There's a group of charter schools in my area that cater to the extreme fringe of the left and are just as crazy:
Yes, their teachings, on paper, almost entirely align with the teachings of the left. But their overall methodology -- March in extreme lockstep, no dissention is tolerated, those who disagree are beneath you and therefore "the enemy", worship the "leaders" -- is just as dangerous to our children as the cult on the right.
The bigger issue I'm worried about, as someone else said below, is that these schools can all just cherry pick the best students out of the district to attend their schools (and therefore get all the funding that goes along with them), leaving the school with a higher percentage of underperforming and special needs students, but with even less resources, harming the ability of all of our public school students to get a quality education.
(EDIT: Some people seem to believe that my mention of the LGBTQ issue is some kind of attack on the LGBTQ community. It is not. I am merely saying that the staff has a very high percentage of LGTBQ members and the general demeanor and attitude of the school is that because they are, they are therefore above the community, rather than a part of it, to the point where they end up being an example of the exact "woke" stereotype they don't want to be labelled as. )
Im going to need some evidence that this place actually exists.
https://dianeravitch.net/2019/10/29/rhode-island-a-frightening-tour-of-an-achievement-first-charter-school/
I've had to deal with this school on a number of occasions. This article is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the day-to-day realities of the school.
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/education/2016/12/04/tough-love-and-high-marks-at-providence-charter/24416140007/
They don't allow pictures generally, but this article does show the lines on the ground in the first picture, and you can see the students standing accordingly. Several reports (look up achievement first criticism) validate that students can receive extreme discipline for even minor infractions including not being on that line. And they do show one of the signs that says "Team is more important than individual". Similar "motivational slogans" can be found throughout the school.
Neither of your articles prove what you said about LGBTQ people, but no matter what this school shouldn't exist.
There are some things you have to experience for yourself. It's not like they post on their website "Our extreme diversity has led us to a level of enlightenment that puts us above and beyond most normal human beings" or something. It's just one of those places where you walk in and spend about 15 minutes talking to them, and then you'll get it.
As someone on the left, the school presented by that article sounds like a laundry list of anti patterns that make schools ineffective education. Teachers should be leaders and partners in education, not arbitrary authorities punishing deviation from strict expectations. Kids should learn to respect people helping them to set and achieve their goals, not to fear authorities. Really, they should learn to question arbitrary exercises of authority.
They should learn how to think critically, solve problems, and work with their peers to do more than they could alone. Not just to test well.
Having a diverse set of teachers is neat, but doesn't make up for the other claims.
Yes the extreme far left, well known for their love of Obama
Charter schools, by definition, are conservative. Regardless of what they actually teach.