In 1961, communist East Germany faced a crisis. The West had stiffened its spine against communism. The East Germans (and their Russian handlers) faced a dire threat across the nation’s open borders. So they built a fence and, through the middle of the divided capitol in Berlin, a big wall, reinforced with barbed wire, mines, dogs and machine guns.
Not to keep western invaders out, of course; it was to keep East Germans, Czechs and Poles in. It wasn’t NATO tanks they were worried about; it was the immense efflux of the Eastern bloc’s most motivated, talented, useful people across the border to freedom.
Public schools, especially (but far from exclusively) in the major cities, are failing. Graduation rates in Saint Paul are under 50%; it’s far worse among black and hispanic students. And the parents of those students are responding by leaving the districts. Due to Minnesota’s school choice rules, parents can sent their kids to other public districts, to private schools, or to charter schools. Over an eighth of Saint Paul parents have decamped from the public system; it’s “worse” in Minneapolis.
And like the East Germans, the Minnesota education establishment knows that it needs to stanch the bleeding before it bleeds completely dry.
The left – especially the big institutional left, the DFL, and its handlers, the teachers union – hate charter schools. The schools are generally non-union, of course. Beyond that, due to the 1991 law that established the charter system, the state money that would go to the student at a public school follows the student to the charter school.
In the MN2020 hit piece on charter schools yesterday (subtitled “An Examination of Charter School Finances”, John Fitzgerald wrote:
Unlike private schools, charter schools are funded by taxpayer dollars. While traditional public schools get roughly $9,500 per-student from the state, charter schools get $10,500 for each student from the state. State officials say charter schools deserve more taxpayer money because they can’t ask local taxpayers for additional taxes to operate their schools or for bonds to build school buildings the way traditional districts can.
Fitzgerald breezes past this like it’s immaterial – presumably (I’ll put words in his mouth) to leave the reader with the impression that charter schools are over-funded compared to the public schools.
But local bonding funding more than makes up the purported differences in spending:
Statewide – $9,063 per student
During the 2008-09 school year, Minnesota school districts will receive an average of $9,063 per student in general education revenue from state and local sources.
State funding per student will average of $8,182.
Referenda revenue per student will average $881.
Minneapolis (District 1.2) – $11,692 per student
During the 2008-09 school year, Minneapolis will receive $11,692 per student in general education revenue from state and local sources, compared with a statewide average of $9,063.
State funding is $10,797 per student, compared to a statewide average of $8,182.
Referenda revenue total $895 per student, compared to a state average of $881.
St. Paul (District 625) – $10,809 per student
During the 2008-09 school year, St. Paul will receive $10,809 per student in general education revenue from state and local sources, compared with a statewide average of $9,063.
State funding is $10,039 per student, compared to a statewide average of $8,182.
Referenda revenue totals $770 per student, compared to a state average of $881.
Remember to add 8% – the government inflation rate – to these numbers, which are from last year.
And then remember that charter schools need to pay for a whole lot of things – rent, for starters – out of their per-student allotment that the public schools largely don’t.Fitzgerald next moves on to “accountability”.
A major component of the 1991 charter school legislation allows the taxpayer dollars to follow the student: if a student leaves a traditional school and enrolls in a charter school, the per-student money leaves the public system and is allocated to the charter school.
Although charter schools receive taxpayer funds, they are not subject to the same checks and balances taxpayers have the right to expect. Traditional schools are governed by elected school boards. Taxpayers who disagree with the way their money is being spent need only go to the school board meeting and voice their concern. Ultimately, voters can exercise their rights and vote school board members off the body.
I’ve spent a solid day trying to figure out how to even address the myopia in this statement.
“They need only to go voice their concern?” To whom? To the very body that is causing the problem. Who, especially in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, were put into office by local party machines and the teachers unions whose entire goal is to maintain the status quo.
And it’s true; the taxpayer can “exercise their rights” to mount a big election campaign (at the appointed time in the election cycle), put their lives on hold, raise millions of dollars, and butt heads with the most entrenched establishment anywhere in Minnesota politics. And, pretty much inevitably, fail.
As, indeed, people who are revolted by the way taxpayers money is being spent in the Cities today are failing, and even falling behind; the one Republican member of the Saint Paul school board (indeed, the sole elected Republican anywhere in Saint Paul) is leaving.
So what’s the alternative?
Go to a private school (with its attendant costs). Or go to a school in another district (which is good if you can manage the transportation to and from the district; transportation funds do not follow the student, which is fine unless you are the one of the families most affected by the attempt to gut charter schoos, the working poor in the city. And which, let’s not forget, is a function of the “Open Enrollment” law that will be the Educational-Industrial Complex’ next target when they kill off charter schools)…
…or go to a charter school. Where, if you don’t like how things are being run, you can express your dissatisfaction by leaving. By depriving the school of your kid’s share of the state money.
You can’t get more accountable than that – if by “accountable” you mean “to parents”.
Oh, and there’s one other way:
There is no such remedy for taxpayers concerned about the financial dealings fo charter schools. Their boards are not publically elected and taxpayers have no say in how their money is spent.
This is, of course, balderdash. Many charter schools have boards, elected from among the school’s sponsors, staff and, lest we forget, parents. These boards are immediately responsible to the school’s parents about everything, immediately.
And for those that don’t? As Fitzgerald’s report itself notes, the Minnesota Department of Education itself administers the financial affairs of charter schools!
I mentioned this to a couple of different supporters of the current public school system. “But taxpayers as a whole don’t get a say in how their tax money is spent at a charter school!”
I reeled with responses:
Your input as a voter ends at your district! If you’re a voter in Marshall, your disgust with how your tax money is being spent in Minneapolis will fall on deaf electoral ears, except…via the Minnesota Department of Education. Same as with charter schools!
Charter schools aren’t the only bodies that accept public money without publicly-elected boards; every non-profit that accept tax dollars has a board that is privately elected. Do I get a say in how, say, Minnesota Public Radio spends my tax dollars? Do I get a vote on their board, just because they’re spending my money? Hell, I don’t even get a vote for pledging to them! No, my only say on MPR’s funding – or the funding of any non-profit that accepts tax dollars – is the same as the Marshall voters’ say over Minneapolis’ school spending, or over John Fitzgerald’s say over my kids’ charter school’s spending; via the legislature, which controls the Department of Education. Which is frustratingly indirect, although not nearly so indirect as, say, being a conservative trying to change the composition of the Saint Paul School Board.
“But MPR isn’t a school!” True. But Fitzgerald’s article wasn’t about “education”, per se; you’ll find only the most oblique references to the actual business schools conduct, “educating” kids, anywhere in the article. It’s about financial governance, compliance and accountability with taxpayer money. And none of those differs in any but the most picayune details between charter schools and, say, a social service non-profit with a state contract (which also have spotty records), or an HMO (which are non-profits in Minnesota, and have even dicier records). And if you want to bring the fact that a charter is a school into the mix, then it’s patently misleading to compare charters’ performance at financial management with public schools (not that any of them can manage money; they don’t have to follow the same rules), to say nothing of the differences in educational service and achievement that are the justification for charter schools in the first place.
There’s a reason for that, naturally.
But while Fitzgerald’s piece didn’t touch on education, it did talk a lot about financial management.
More on that on Monday.
UPDATE: I had to re-do this post; MN2020’s code interacts badly with a “feature” in WordPress that made it basically impossible to fix it without copying the whole thing into Notepad to scrub the invisible formatting and re-pasteing it into WordPress.
So the comments are lost. Sorry about that.
That’s cool, I’ll ask my question again. You give money to MPR? Voluntarily?
Nope.
“Taxpayers who disagree with the way their money is being spent need only go to the school board meeting and voice their concern.”
*blink…blink*
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa(coff, coff)hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Oh, God; that was good.
Yeah, you can go down there. But you’ll have to wait your turn behind the feral mob from Socialist Alternative that came to trash ROTC and demand the removal of Old Glory from textbooks; and behind OutFrontMN who is angry that the
history of teh gay“Out for Equity” program is barely scraping by with the measly $150K + budget it gets to teach the kiddies that sodomy is a perfectly normal activity and safe (as long as they use the condoms that are available in the hall and cafeteria); and behind the local rep from the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers which wants to know why the public is sitting there at all.By the time the board gets through with all those critical agenda items, you might get 30 seconds to voice your concerns…of course the board members will have retired for the evening, but the janitor is very accomodating.
As a charter school parent, I see first hand the impact of a well run charter school. My second grader learned things this year I wasn’t taught until 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. She was excited about school and learning.
The reason for that is the school focuses on teaching actual subject matter- reading, math, core knowledge, etc. There is very little, if any, “fluff” that bloats the school day. They also expect excellence from their teachers and are not afraid to replace bad teachers who are not performing.
Results? An excellent teaching staff where parents are overall very satisfied.
I’m all for weeding out the bad eggs and prosecuting those who embezzled from the charter schools. But don’t just limit it to the Charter Schools. Apply the standards to the public schools as well. But of course that will never happen as long as the teachers unions are allowed to wield their power. How about instead the unions whining and moaning about a little competition, if they have a superior product, PROVE IT!!
Sorry for the run-on, just got a little passionate about the issue.
I think your complaints about teachers ‘hating’ charter schools is balderdash. The union probably does, teachers, I doubt it.
However, Charter schools, especially inner-city Charter schools are not performing well. There are certainly incidents of good performance, but Charters have been rife with corruption and underperformance.
While much of what you’ve commented on regarding the ability to influence the school and ‘vote with your feet’, I agree with, the fact is Charter schools have not been a cure, probably precisely because the issue isn’t how the money is spent, it’s how the system is crippled. Letting people who (in some cases) have little oversight, use public funds is a recipe for theft, corruption, and deceipt – as has been amply shown.
Peev, you “think” up a lot of bat-shit crazy stuff.
Now run along back to your little Penisblog.
As a Charter School parent, I see first hand the results of the quality education my child receives. My child learned more in 2nd grade than I was taught as a kid in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades for some subjects. Her school is a well run and well managed school. The teachers are excellent. If they aren’t, they can be replaced (unlike the public schools due to union dominance).
I’m all for holding Charter schools to a higher standard, but apply those same standards to the public schools as well.
The teachers unions don’t like charter schools because they know they can’t compete. Or if they believe they can provide a superior product, let them prove it and stop whining about those who want to make our educational system the best in world.
Sorry for the duplicate post. I thought I got timed out and lost my original post.
“My child learned more in 2nd grade than I was taught as a kid in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades for some subjects.”
Hmmm. I think my kid goes to the same school as yours. 2nd grade too!
One of mine, after basically getting a “0.0” average in her freshman year, went over to a charter, and absolutely blossomed. It was night and day, and – I can’t stress this enough – was largely due to the fact that the charter was a non-factory, self-paced, non-traditional school (that nonetheless expected lots from the kids).
I can’t imagine what things would be like if we were still at Central, on the “bright, but…” track. Ugh.
Horrifying.
Re Swiftee’s point on:
“Taxpayers who disagree with the way their money is being spent need only go to the school board meeting and voice their concern.”
If going to school board meetings could reform the way the public schools are run, it would not be allowed. If running for the school board could result in the system be reformed it would not be allowed.
Taking your kid out of a failing school system does threaten the system, so it must be stopped.
I went through public school (Wayzata) on the “bright but…” track. It took years to recover.
They had a heckuva football team, tho. And a covered hockey rink!
The public schools and education in general is an area where the MNGOP and the Republicans nationally are squandering an opportunity to serve the poor, minorities and other groups not traditionally interested in voting for the GOP. Every parent wants their child to receive the best in terms of competent teachers, safe buildings and an up-to-date curriculum that is long on the hard sciences, math and communication skills training that prepares the kids for the future, and short on multi/culti soft science courses that build phony self-esteem at the expense of any sense of real accomplishment or acquired knowledge. When President Obama cancelled vouchers in D.C. (only to grandfather in the current recipients when news got out that some of Sasha and Melia’s classmates at Sidwell Friends would be sentenced to the world of metal detectors and incompetence that is called a school in D.C.) to placate his teacher union base, the GOP should have started a rally on behalf of the poor who are totally screwed by the public schools. The Klan themselves couldn’t have done a better job than the Democrats have of ensuring most minorities are trapped in the worst schools, beset with violence and unfireable, incompetent teachers. Unfortunately, many in the GOP are more interested in getting elected than actually governing and schools are one area where (to paraphrase PJ O’Rourke) it’s one thing to tear down the s**thouse and another to install indoor plumbing. I doubt anyone (maybe other than Swiftee) in the GOP has the energy or cares to wade into the swamp and bring real change to the lives of children who are on the other side of the wall guarded by Democrats manning the machine guns to cut down any who might want to escape.
I like the idea of the rally; I think that the GOP would be stupid not to hold an event for charter school parents who are worried about the legislature’s activities; that’s an AWFUL lot of inner city parents affected.
President Obama cancelled vouchers in D.C.
That wasn’t Obama. That was Nancy Pelosi. Don’t forget that the new Democrat overlords want a very small aristocracy and a huuuge dependent class. That fits in nicely with the Obamacorn agenda, of course.
I remember vivdly how they accused Reagan of wanting to “dumb down” the population. That was projection at it’s most blatant. The Left know that an educated, successful proletariat does not willingly accept the servitude that their political philosophy requires.
They prefer people like Peev.
Yes, Kermit, these people aren’t commies. They want only to run the lives of the working and middle classes and poor people. If you have enough money you will be able to send your kid to private achool, get them into an elite college, get better health care, drive an SUV that gets 6 MPG. If you aren’t wealthy, your kid will go to public school, you will drive a Yugo (unless they make you take public transport), and you’ll be waiting in line at free clinic with all the other proles to get your ‘free’ healthcare.
Liberalism ain’t about social justice. It’s about elitism.
Pen,
I think your complaints about teachers ‘hating’ charter schools is balderdash. The union probably does, teachers, I doubt it.
Imprecise, perhaps; I superimpose the teachers with their union.
If the teacher support the institution that is actively trying to kill charters, are they complicit?
However, Charter schools, especially inner-city Charter schools are not performing well.
By what measure?
The most recent study I’ve seen (and written about) said that test performance is about the same as in public schools, maybe a tiny shave higher. Which doesn’t seem all that spectacular, except that while charter schools can get underperforming kids “off the books” by shunting them off to ALC, charter schools can not. Furthermore, charters often get the kids (like mine) who for whatever reason crater in the public schools, and need to be academically rebuilt, as it were.
And with all that, they’re about even.
There are certainly incidents of good performance, but Charters have been rife with corruption and underperformance.
Don’t believe the media hype. There’ve been some very bad apples in the charter movement, and some amazing successes, but for the most part charters – even in the inner cities – largely just plain do their job and do it well.
And I’d love to see a fair, head-to-head comparison of public and charter systems’ performance, academic AND fiscal AND ethical. I think charters will look even better.
While much of what you’ve commented on regarding the ability to influence the school and ‘vote with your feet’, I agree with, the fact is Charter schools have not been a cure, probably precisely because the issue isn’t how the money is spent, it’s how the system is crippled.
I agree, but perhaps not for the reason you think.
letting people who (in some cases) have little oversight, use public funds is a recipe for theft, corruption, and deceipt – as has been amply shown.
Well, it’s been shown, but hardly “amply”.
And there is oversight; the MDE watches charters pretty closely (which is why you hear about the charters that don’t do well).
Honestly – don’t believe everything you hear in the media – or especially from MN2020.
Mitch,
Thanks for the reply.
I certainly can’t quote you the source, but it was something pretty broadly reported a couple of years back that especially in St. Paul there was a chain/series of Charters under management that were bilking the state.
Further, I have read in far more than one source that Charters are performing below general educational schools ON AVERAGE. Claiming it’s the medias fault I find awfully hollow. My daughter attended a charter for a year, it was supposedly one of the better, the educational standards were no better – the cirriculum was, but not the standards.
The issue, and please stop selling me short, I have a fine grasp of the situation too – is that we are simply passing students along because we’ve forced BOTH general public and publc charter to teach to essentially the least common denominator. As well, we’ve (through NCLB) also started focusing on fact based cirriculum rather than problem solving skills. My brother is a PhD (in Genetics) Teacher/Prof at a private HS in Baton Rouge teaching biology, chemistry and remedial basic science. I consider his opinion pretty learned as he’s quite involved in teacher discussions/student performance evaluaitons. His opinion (which I accept) is that on testing standards US students do fairly well up until 8th grade. However, in HS they fall dramatically far behind our peer-group nations, including btw, private HS students. His postulate (and others) is an over-focus on fact-based learning, and to an extent, a go-along to get-along approach among faculty and parents, except for the vicarious “drive your kids to get 40000 college credit, study 40 hours a day” crowd which is a miniscule percent. Even they, in his opinion, do not solve problems well, but rather can recite facts well.
So, between spending more than we can afford ‘mainlining’ profoundly disabled kids, abusing resources to monitor mildly ADHD/ADD kids (having one, I’m somewhat familiar), and getting told to simply ensure the students (all students) pass basic skills, we’re failing to teach to the capability of the students. That’s not public funding which is at fault, it’s a series of idiotic court case losses, and a whimsicle public casting about for solutions without even looking at the questions. Charter schools don’t fix anything other than focus the cirriculum on some facts over others (imho). They still are constrained by rules and behaviors that ensure mediocrity (at best). Competiton is ok, to a point, but if you’re only competing on a relative scale, teaching to a useless standard, than you’re merely beating the bad horses in a walk, not a run. I am FOR choice – but we need MUCH better basic choices.
Pen,
Since I’ve had both my kids in charters, I follow this pretty closely.
I certainly can’t quote you the source, but it was something pretty broadly reported a couple of years back that especially in St. Paul there was a chain/series of Charters under management that were bilking the state.
There was one in Saint Paul about five years ago that closed due to epic mismanagement, and another one about two years ago.
There are others that are not well managed, obviously – “Heart of the Earth”, I think, has an director alleged to have embezzled a ton of money.
More on this in an upcoming post.
Further, I have read in far more than one source that Charters are performing below general educational schools ON AVERAGE. Claiming it’s the medias fault I find awfully hollow.
Not sure I claimed it was the media’s “fault”, although the media aren’t asking a couple of fairly key questions as re these stories:
– who’s providing them the info,
– what does the info mean.
As I’ve noted in a number of posts – charters and public schools are basically in a statistical tie; charters perform a tiny hair below publics on the various NCLB-related assessments. Which sounds bad, until you realize, as I’ve noted, that public schools can shunt underperforming kids off to ALCs, or to Special Ed, or just plain out of the system (have you seen the drop out rate lately?)
Charter schools have no such options. And, as I noted, parents often try charters after their kids splatter in traditional public schools (as was the case with both of mine).
The issue, and please stop selling me short, I have a fine grasp of the situation too – is that we are simply passing students along because we’ve forced BOTH general public and publc charter to teach to essentially the least common denominator.
You’ll look in vain for me to defend
– NCLB and the “Teaching” style it’s given us
– the “sit your ass in the chair and learn what we tell yo
when we tell you to learn it” model of education
So, between spending more than we can afford ‘mainlining’ profoundly disabled kids, abusing resources to monitor mildly ADHD/ADD kids (having one, I’m somewhat familiar), and getting told to simply ensure the students (all students) pass basic skills, we’re failing to teach to the capability of the students.
No argument. I agree. Also, diagnosing “being and acting like a boy” as a special ed condition (which costs a lot, naturally).
That’s not public funding which is at fault, it’s a series of idiotic court case losses, and a whimsicle public casting about for solutions without even looking at the questions.
I don’t disagree yet.
Charter schools don’t fix anything other than focus the cirriculum on some facts over others (imho). They still are constrained by rules and behaviors that ensure mediocrity (at best). Competiton is ok, to a point, but if you’re only competing on a relative scale, teaching to a useless standard, than you’re merely beating the bad horses in a walk, not a run. I am FOR choice – but we need MUCH better basic choices.
I think you accurately describe a lot of charters, the ones that try to do basically what the public schools do only more of it.
There are quite a few charters that do things very differently that get different results. The one my kids were in is VERY different, and the results (at least for one of them) were spectactular. IT’s a long story and goes into stuff that stays in my family, but not all charters are created equal.
Lessee…the teachers elect the union leaders, but the obvious hate of the NEA and AFT for alternative forms of education has nothing to do with the views of the teachers as a whole?
Baloney, to put it mildly.
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