The Economist: A year ago New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, proposed to adjust a state cap on charter schools, the publicly funded but privately run schools that have become a locus of innovation and controversy in American education. Ms Hochul’s plan was not ambitious, but it would have allowed dozens of new charter … Continue reading Charter schools do things that all Democrats say they support →

Wall Street Journal: This has been the year for school choice—from vouchers, to homeschooling, to pod schools with parents who use education savings accounts. The winners include charter schools, as union-run K-12 schools lost hundreds of thousands of students during Covid-19 who haven’t returned. Yes they do. The trend holds for states of all sizes … Continue reading Charter Schools Keep Winning Students From Union Schools →

Amelia Ferrell Knisely: A new charter school in West Virginia gives students the opportunity to jump-start a degree in nursing before they graduate from high school, saving them thousands of dollars in college tuition costs. Win Academy, the state’s first charter school housed within a community college, is an accelerated degree program that allows juniors … Continue reading Charter school offering free nursing courses for high school students up and running →

Johnson, Alison H., McGee, Josh, B., Wolf, Patrick J., May, Jay F., Maloney, Larry, D. Based on CREDO’s findings, we estimate that charter school students across nine cities perform 2.4 points (0.06 standard deviations, or SD) higher on the eighth grade reading NAEP exam and 1.3 points higher (0.03 SD) on the math exam, compared … Continue reading Charter School Productivity in Nine Cities →

Wall Street Journal: More than 100,000 students attend Ohio’s charter schools, which are especially important for the state’s inner-city students. Out of 26 cities measured, Cleveland students posted the biggest drop in National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores last year compared to 2019. Cleveland also has its own school voucher program, and one common-sense … Continue reading The Buckeye State makes vouchers universal and boosts charter schools. →

Center for Research on Education Outcomes: Our third installment: This study examines the academic progress of students enrolled in charter schools compared with the progress of students enrolled in traditional public schools (TPS). How charter school students learned over time Fifteen years of student performance can provide insights into how schools, school operators, K–12 academic … Continue reading National Charter School Study III →

Educate: Producer DJ Cashmere spent seven years teaching Black and brown students at a Noble Street charter high school in Chicago. At the time, Noble followed a popular model called “no excuses.” Its schools required strict discipline but promised low-income students a better shot at college. After DJ left the classroom to become a journalist, … Continue reading No Excuses: Race & Reckoning at a Chicago Charter School →

Wall Street Journal: It’s no secret that Randi Weingarten opposes co-locating charter schools in buildings that have a district public school. But the president of the American Federation of Teachers sits on the board of University Prep Charter Schools—a charter run by the local teachers union. On Wednesday New York’s Department of Education approved University … Continue reading The American Federation of Teachers chief has a double standard on locating charter schools. →

Glenn Reynolds: Can graft and racial politics save public schools? Just maybe. Let me explain. Public schools face an exodus of students. Even before COVID, parents were pulling their kids out of failing (and often unsafe) public schools in favor of private schools that cost more money but offered better and safer educations. Other parents … Continue reading Albany’s war on charter schools is a war on kids →

Wall Street Journal: In her debate during last year’s race for Governor, Democrat Kathy Hochul answered “yes” when asked if she supported lifting New York’s cap on charter schools. Last week she followed through with a proposal that would allow more charters to open, mostly in New York City. But she’ll have to spend political … Continue reading Charter Schools, Teacher Unions and Politics: New York Edition →

Kaleem Caire: Thank you CapTimes for printing my OpEd. Interestingly, in a conversation with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction yesterday, state officials told us that we are legally obligated to count our students who are enrolled and present on the day of the pupil count (tomorrow, Friday). This is state law. They also told … Continue reading Why is One City Charter School Facing Legacy Madison Media Blowback? →

Scott Girard: For the full 2022-23 school year, an independent charter school like One City receives $9,264 per student from the state that the student’s resident school district would otherwise receive. The state counts students twice each school year: the third Friday of September and the second Friday of January. If a student is enrolled … Continue reading Commentary on Taxpayer Funded K-12 Education: Madison’s $597.9M budget $23k/student! vs Tiny One City Charter School →

Jay Caspian Kang: There’s a thoroughly unsympathetic but deeply felt crisis that hits the grown children of upwardly mobile immigrants. These second-generation strivers—who are largely assimilated, educated in the U.S., and often ostensibly liberal—have children of their own, and, when faced with the more lax customs of their neighbors, start to wonder if their parents, … Continue reading The success of Yu Ming Charter School shows how our usual ways of thinking about diversity and equity in American schools are becoming outmoded. →

Sarah Karp: Urban Prep is the city’s only all-male charter school operator, once celebrated nationally for getting all its seniors, who are almost all Black, into college year after year. It currently has two CPS campuses, one in Englewood and one in Bronzeville, with about 380 students. CPS budgeted $8 million for Urban Prep this … Continue reading Lauded all-boys charter school faces Chicago Public Schools takeover →

Philip Hackney: Instead of the community controlling major educational decisions, charter management organizations control those decisions. Still, allowing parents to seek the form of education they deem right for their children may increase voice in part. Additionally, valid democratic authorities across the country have chosen to provide some education through charter vehicles. Given the strong … Continue reading Public Good Through Charter Schools? →

Chris Rickert: A state-authorized public charter school in Madison initially refused to work with police after a student found a gun in a school employee’s backpack, according to a recently released police report, and the employee refused to answer questions about the incident. Police ultimately closed their investigation of the June 1 incident involving Milestone Democratic … Continue reading Madison public charter school mostly mum on gun found in employee’s backpack →

Tunku Varadarajan: If you’re looking for proof that teachers unions don’t care about the interests of schoolchildren, you can find it in the impoverished Bronx neighborhood of Soundview. A school building on Beach Avenue has been shuttered for almost a decade, and the United Federation of Teachers is suing to keep it closed. On Aug. … Continue reading Build a Charter School, Get Sued by the Teachers Union →

Pettier vs Charter Day School: The majority misses the whole purpose of the development of charter schools…. It is essentially dismissive of what charter schools might have to contribute, prejudging them as miscreants that must be brought to heel….  The very idea of a different model of schooling has drawn the ire of the public … Continue reading Charter school climate: “It doesn’t even mention that there is a dissent” →

Will Flanders: Last month, the Biden Administration announced new regulations on the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP). The CSP is designed to offer a funding source for charter schools to expand access for students to high-quality school options, as well as to help schools fund facilities. The regulations are ostensibly designed to create better oversight. … Continue reading Biden Administration Proposes increased Charter School Regulatory Spaghetti →

Chester Finn It’s no secret that Denver’s latest school board is wreaking havoc on the suite of bold education reforms that the Mile High City was known for over the past two decades. Parker Baxter and Alan Gottlieb recount the sorrowful saga at some length in the latest issue of Education Next. As they write: Denver Public Schools’ … Continue reading Notes on Denver’s charter school climate →

Elizabeth Beyer: A contract, inked in February with the UW System, greenlit Caire’s 33-year dream of growing One City Schools from early childhood education and elementary to include students through grade 12, roughly a decade after the Madison School Board rejected a similar proposal for a charter school overseen by the Madison School District that … Continue reading One City Charter Schools continues to fundraise and grow (Monona) →

Wisconsin State Journal Commentary Two other seats on the board are mostly uncontested. Nichelle Nichols, a former Madison School District administrator whom we’ve endorsed in the past for School Board, will do a fine job filling Seat 5.  For Seat 4, incumbent Ali Muldrow is the only name on the ballot, with conservative agitator David Blaska making a … Continue reading “She’s not a fan of charter schools outside the control of the district” (achievement…..) →

Barry Adams: Almost all of the lessons at the Kickapoo Valley Forest School are held outdoors, even on days when the temperature plunges well below freezing. The nature-based curriculum is central for the 4K and kindergarten students and their teachers, who have had lunch outside all but four days since the first day of school … Continue reading Watch now: A charter school with all-day outdoor education in the middle of winter →

Michael Bloomberg: American public education is broken. Since the pandemic began, students have experienced severe learning loss because schools remained closed in 2020—and even in 2021 when vaccinations were available to teachers and it was clear schools could reopen safely. Many schools also failed to administer remote learning adequately. Before the pandemic, about two-thirds of … Continue reading Why I’m Backing Charter Schools: The public school system is failing. My philanthropy will give $750 million to a proven alternative. →

Erica Pandey: Charter schools picked off hundreds of thousands of public school students across the U.S. during the pandemic, according to a new analysis from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Why it matters: The pandemic has weakened America’s public education system, as Zoom classes, teacher fatigue and student disengagement take their toll. And that hobbled system … Continue reading Charter School Enrollment Growth (Wisconsin up 13%) →

Katie Lobosco: A small provision tucked into a massive federal budget proposal put forth by the House Appropriations Committee would cut money for charter schools by $40 million and could potentially limit many charter schools from receiving federal funds altogether.  The National Alliance for Public Charters Schools is calling the cut “particularly egregious” and said … Continue reading House Democrats call for cutting federal funding for charter schools →

Libby Sobic: Rocketship Public Schools in Milwaukee is a network of two campuses around the City of Milwaukee that are serving more than 700 K4-5th grade students. Rocketship embraces their students and families to ensure that they are supported in and beyond the classroom. For Ms. Oliver and her daughter, a six-year-old with special needs, … Continue reading Commentary on Rocketship Charter Schools in Milwaukee →

WUWM: Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is set to lose 2,000 students and at least $4 million next year, as charter school network Milwaukee College Prep (MCP) cuts ties with the district. MPS has contracts with 15 independent charter schools, including the four MCP locations. The charter schools are independently-run but publicly-funded, and are accountable to … Continue reading A charter school leaves the traditional taxpayer supported public district →

Daniel Willis: The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will send $15.3 billion in assistance to California’s K-12 schools, the biggest of three relief pieces of legislation that Congress passed in less than a year to combat the pandemic and the recession. This latest bill will bring an estimated total funding of $26.4 billion … Continue reading Find out how much California school districts and charter schools will get in Covid relief →

Greg Ashman: As yet, it remains to be seen exactly what President Biden has in store for America’s network of charter schools. Following the Democratic Party primaries, the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce called for accountability for charter schools and a ban on federal funding of for-profit charters—approximately 12 percent of the total. Increasing accountability does not … Continue reading Why Is Biden Trying to Punish Charter Schools for Their Success? →

Jonathan Chait: In the dozen years since Barack Obama undertook the most dramatic education reform in half a century — prodding local governments to measure how they serve their poorest students and to create alternatives, especially charter schools, for those who lack decent neighborhood options — two unexpected things have happened. The first is that … Continue reading Charter schools deliver extraordinary results, but their political support among Democrats has collapsed. What will Biden do? →

Matthew Cash: A recent study completed by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty shows school districts across the state saw a dramatic decline in fall enrollment as educators navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Fall enrollment numbers collected in October shows districts saw an average of 2.67% decline in enrollment. For districts that started the school year … Continue reading Closer look at fall enrollment shows decrease in public schools, increase in charter schools →

Alan Borsuk: As a second, less tangible factor, some of the charter schools get very good academic results. For example, Milwaukee Excellence Charter School, one of the schools receiving a reduced renewal Dec. 17, had the highest score of any Milwaukee school on the statewide school report card in 2018. In 2019, it had the second highest score in MPS. (This year, there were no report … Continue reading It’s hard to see how Milwaukee Public Schools benefits from hostility toward its own charter schools →

Catherine Candisky: A new report found many Ohio students attending charter schools had larger gains on achievement tests, better attendance and fewer disciplinary incidents compared to their peers enrolled in traditional public schools. Black, low achieving, and urban students at the tax-funded, privately operated and tuition-free schools benefitted most, according to the analysis by Ohio State political … Continue reading Students at Ohio charter schools show greater academic gains, report finds →

Scott Girard: The leadership of the Madison charter school signed the lease Aug. 28 after a search for new space, and D’Abell recalled the busy weekend of preparing the building while also communicating with parents about where the year would begin. “We didn’t know where we were going to be,” D’Abell said during a recent … Continue reading Expanding One City charter school moves into new south Madison space →

Stephanie Shields: As the pandemic continues presenting changes and challenges for schools across the country, a charter school district in El Paso sees a jump in enrollment. Dr. Joe E. Gonzales, the superintendent of the Burnham Wood Charter School District, said a large portion of new enrollment at his schools is driven by families looking … Continue reading Charter school district sees rise in enrollment while a local public school district sees a drop →

Dan McGowan: When Mayor Jorge Elorza raised concerns last year about a charter school organization’s expansion plan in Providence, he had a very practical reason. He was in charge of a school system with 24,000 students, and he feared that the district would not be able to absorb the financial hit if too many students … Continue reading Why Mayor Elorza changed his tune on charter schools in Providence →

David Griffith & Michael J. Petrilli: A decade ago, the charter-school movement was moving from strength to strength. As student enrollment surged and new schools opened in cities across the country, America’s first black president provided much-needed political cover from teachers’ union attacks. Yet today, with public support fading and enrollment stalling nationwide — and with Democratic … Continue reading The Case for Urban Charter Schooling →

Paul E. Peterson and M. Danish Shakeel: Public charter schools were once viewed as a nonpartisan compromise between vouchers for private schools and no choice at all. Not now. In its 2020 national platform, the Democratic Party calls for “stringent guardrails to ensure charter schools are good stewards” and says federal funding for charters must … Continue reading The Charter School Advantage A new study shows African-Americans and children from poorer backgrounds outpace their peers in traditional district schools. →

Paul E. Peterson and M. Danish Shakeel: Public charter schools were once viewed as a nonpartisan compromise between vouchers for private schools and no choice at all. Not now. In its 2020 national platform, the Democratic Party calls for “stringent guardrails to ensure charter schools are good stewards” and says federal funding for charters must … Continue reading The Charter School Advantage A new study shows African-Americans and children from poorer backgrounds outpace their peers in traditional district schools. →

Mike Antonucci: Students of civics might think the California state budget is crafted by the elected representatives of the citizenry, who debate and amend proposals working their way through various committees, ultimately leading to a spending plan with majority support and the signature of the governor. All that happens, of course, but no budget makes … Continue reading K-12 Tax, Referendum & spending climate: California’s state budget has big benefits for a Teacher unions, stifles charter schools and funds phantom students →

Thomas Sowell: For decades, there has been widespread anxiety over how, when or whether the educational test score gap between white and non-white youngsters could be closed. But that gap has already been closed by the Success Academy charter school network in New York City. Their predominantly black and Hispanic students already pass tests in … Continue reading Charter Schools’ Enemies Block Black Success →

Libby Sobic: So what’s a charter school and what kind of options do parents have access to? Charter schools are public schools with significantly less red tape than their traditional public school peers. Wisconsin has several types with the most common type of charter school is a school authorized by the school district. “Instrumentality” charter … Continue reading “If you believe in charter schools, then it’s time to start asking why Wisconsin doesn’t have more.” →

Holly Meyer: Meanwhile, earlier this month, Cooper said he asked Nashville school leaders to figure out how they could carve up to $100 million out of the district’s budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.  The school board’s denial of charter school applications is also in keeping with its overall trend in … Continue reading Metro Nashville school board denies five charter school applications →

Aaron Withe and Jeff Kropf: In a time of national emergency, when our leaders need to be thinking outside the box and giving struggling families more choices rather than fewer, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown instead decided to pay back political favors by shutting down online charter schools. On paper, online charter schools that allow students … Continue reading Gov. Brown and the Oregon Teachers Union shut down online charter schools →

Chris Stewart: Public schools in New Mexico aren’t funding students equitably, so says the U.S. Department Education who accuse the state’s leaders of “diverting [$63 million] in federal Impact Aid grants” intended to help school districts that are disadvantaged by their low tax bases.  The feds found that New Mexico wasn’t passing the “equity test,” … Continue reading K-12 “Equity Spending Test”; Difference in spending between public or charter school cannot exceed 25%…. (Madison exceeds that) →

Stephanie Wang: Faced with low academic results at online schools across the country, supporters often defend virtual education because it provides a haven for struggling students. But a new study in Indiana found that students fell further behind after transferring to virtual charter schools. The findings suggest that online schools post low outcomes not simply because the … Continue reading Indiana virtual charter schools linked to a decline in student test scores, a new study shows →

Billy Binion: This isn’t the first time that AOC has inadvertently made the case for school choice. At an October rally for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), she shared that her family left the Bronx for a house in Westchester county, so that she could attend a higher-quality school. “My family made a really … Continue reading Civics & K-12 Opportunity: AOC Admits She Got Her Goddaughter Into a Bronx Charter School →

Jon Levine: Good for me, but not for thee. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez managed to get her goddaughter into a Bronx charter school, according to a Facebook Live video she recorded in 2017 — before she was a public figure. “This area’s like a lot of where my family is from,” AOC says as she strolls … Continue reading The AOC Tapes: Rep says she got goddaughter into Bronx charter school →

Patrick Wall: Newark’s largest charter school networks give students a big bump in their test scores, while other charter schools are far less effective at boosting scores, a new study finds. Students who enrolled at schools run by the city’s two largest charter operators — KIPP and Uncommon Schools — saw large and lasting gains … Continue reading Study: Newark’s large charter school networks give students a big boost. Other charters, not so much. →

Greg Richmond: Richmond: Madison is a university town. It is highly educated and pretty solidly middle class. Why does it need One City? Caire: Madison has been harboring an achievement gap, that they knew about, since they first learned about it in 1965. Back then, there was a 27-point difference between black and white students … Continue reading Why does a highly-educated university town (Madison) need a charter school? →

William Flanders & Jim Bender: Recently, the Network for Public Education (NPE) released a report that attempts to put another arrow in the quiver of charter opponents. This study ostensibly investigates the extent to which federal funds have gone to charter schools that closed their doors, or never opened to begin with that had previously … Continue reading The glaring errors in NPE’s new anti-charter school report →

Scott Girard: A team of reviewers for the school’s charter found it “fails to meet expectations” in seven criteria, “meets expectations” in 29 and “exceeds expectations” in two. The fails to meet expectations criteria include being below the enrollment required by the current contract, 120. This year the school has 97 students enrolled. In the … Continue reading Commentary on a Madison style (non independent) charter school: Badger Rock →

Erica L. Green and Eliza Shapiro The night before Democratic presidential candidates took to a debate stage here last week, black and Latino charter school parents and supporters gathered in a bland hotel conference room nearby to make signs they hoped would get the politicians’ attention. “Charter schools = self-determination,” one sign read. “Black Democrats want charters!” … Continue reading Minority Voters Chafe as Democratic Candidates Abandon Charter Schools →

David Osborne: When Sen. Elizabeth Warren released her education plan, she trotted out a familiar charge against charter schools: that they “strain the resources of school districts.” To fight this supposed scourge, she promised to end federal financial support for new charter schools. And she’s not an outlier among the Democratic presidential hopefuls. Her fellow … Continue reading The Big Lie About Charter Schools →

Joe Henderson: Charters and private schools are here to stay in Florida, and that’s just the way it is. That’s not a bad thing. But the rules that apply to public schools sometimes don’t apply to the other schools. State Sen. Linda Stewart, an Orlando Democrat, wants to change that. She filed SB 632 that … Continue reading Make private, public, and charter schools play by the same rules →

Cory Doctorow: Tomorrow, Toronto’s City Council will hold a key vote on Sidewalk Labs’s plan to privatize much of the city’s lakeshore in the name of creating a “smart city” owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Today, the Globe and Mail published a summary of Sidewalk Labs’s leaked “yellow book”, a 2016 document that lays … Continue reading Leaked document reveals that Sidewalk Labs’ Toronto plans for private taxation, private roads, charter schools, corporate cops and judges, and punishment for people who choose privacy →

Wall Street Journal: Is the success of charter schools an illusion? Critics claim charters merely skim the best students, whose parents care enough to apply, while pushing out troublemakers. So it’s worth noting a new study showing that often test scores improve for all students when charters increase their market share. The Thomas B. Fordham … Continue reading Charter Schools Ace Another Test →

David Griffith: Plenty of studies have compared the progress of students in charter schools versus traditional public schools. And more than a dozen have examined the “competitive effects” of charters on neighboring district schools. Yet, to our knowledge, no prior study has directly addressed the trillion-dollar question—that is, whether overall achievement increases as the “market … Continue reading QUALITY CHOICES Rising Tide: Charter School Market Share and Student Achievement →

Robert Pondisco: Collectively, charter schools educate 3.2 million children in 7,000 schools in 43 states and the District of Columbia. None are more polarizing than New York City’s network of about 50 Success Academy schools, which serve 17,000 students—94% of whom are from minority backgrounds—under their visionary and lightning-rod leader, Eva Moskowitz. Most are less … Continue reading The Secret of a Charter School’s Success? Parents →

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction approved 11 awards totaling more than $7 million in federal funds to plan, open, or expand charter schools in the state. The department received 21 grant applications, requesting a total of $13.9 million. “Charter schools are one way for educators to innovate and engage … Continue reading $800,000 fedeRal taxpayer planning Funds for another independent madison charter school →

Wall Street Journal: The paper’s authors, three professors of economics or education policy, explain what happened after Massachusetts raised its charter cap in 2010. The state set rules encouraging successful charter schools—deemed “proven providers”—to seed new campuses. Most follow a “no excuses” framework, with high expectations and a low tolerance for misbehavior. After the cap … Continue reading Do Charter Schools Replicate? →

Center on Reinventing Public Education: Districts must no longer pay to educate students who transfer to publicly funded charter schools but they must still pay costs that can’t be adjusted immediately as school enrollment changes. Since 2017 critics in California and nationwide have claimed charter school growth undermines school district finances and forces cuts in … Continue reading Do Charter Schools Cause Fiscal Distress in School Districts? →

Wall Street Journal, via a kind reader: One critique of charter schools is that while a few energetic principals show success, it’s impossible to replicate. Not so, says a new study of Boston’s charters, which doubled from 16 schools to 32 in four years, even as they maintained their effectiveness. This is great news, especially … Continue reading Do Charter Schools Replicate? →

Mark Bucher: California teachers unions were the biggest donor to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s election campaign last year, giving him $1.2 million taken from teachers’ paychecks in the form of union dues. Now they’re looking for a return on investment with a legislative package that would cripple the growth of their charter school competitors. Assembly Bills … Continue reading Teachers unions look for return on Newsom investment with anti-charter school bills →

Tom Moran: The New Jersey Education Association just revived its call for a freeze on the growth of charter schools, a declaration of war from a muscular union that spends more on lobbying and campaigns than any other special interest group in the state, by far. So, this is a serious threat, especially in Newark, … Continue reading Murphy’s troubling failure to defend charter school success →

Ashley Jochim and Lesley Lavery: For nearly two decades teachers unions and charter schools have formed an “us vs. them” narrative that pits one against the other. Unionization efforts by charter school teachers could scramble that narrative. With this report we set out to understand trends in charter school unionization, document teachers’ motivations for unionizing, … Continue reading An Unlikely Bargain: Why Charter School Teachers Unionize and What Happens When They Do →

Molly Beck: He said in the Milwaukee program especially, enrollment freezes in private voucher schools would disproportionately affect children of color living in low-income households. “Most of our families don’t have the kind of income where they would have realistic choices,” he said at the time. Under Evers’ proposal, voucher schools also would be banned … Continue reading Wisconsin Governor Evers seeks to freeze voucher school enrollment and suspend charter school expansion →

Jay Matthews: I like much about United Teachers Los Angeles. The union had good reasons to strike for better working conditions in its district of 600,000-plus students. Teacher unions in general have benefited our country. Many of my favorite teachers were members, as was my mother.

Chris Rickert: According to emails released to the State Journal under the state’s open records law, Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham on Sept. 10 asked her chief of staff, Ricardo Jara, and other front-office officials whether Arbor was “worth trying to stop? Or change somehow? If so, how?” Cheatham expressed the district’s opposition to the school in … Continue reading UW rejects application for independent Madison charter school →

Patrick J. Wolf Larry D. Maloney Jay F. May Corey A. DeAngelis: One might assume that policymakers moved swiftly to remedy the injustice of charter school funding inequity revealed in the 2005 report. Sadly, that was not the case. We re-examined the charter school funding gap using data from 2006-07 and adding seven more states … Continue reading Charter School Funding: Inequity in the City →

Mike Antonucci: The Acero charter school network and the Chicago Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract early Sunday, bringing to an end a four-day teacher strike. It was the first strike of charter school employees in U.S. history. This singular event garnered a great deal of press coverage. Several narratives were … Continue reading The Unwritten Story of Chicago’s Charter School Teacher Strike: Unions See Walkouts as Survival Tool →

Sophia Bollag: When former charter school executive Marshall Tuck called Assemblyman Tony Thurmond to concede over the weekend, it marked another defeat for charter-school advocates in California. Thurmond was elected California’s top education official in the wave that led more liberal-leaning voters to cast ballots. Although both are Democrats, Thurmond had the party’s endorsement. He … Continue reading Charter school backers spent millions on statewide California races in 2018. They still lost twice. →

Rachel Cohen: The California charter school lobby is testing its influence in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, turning an election for a somewhat obscure statewide position into a notably expensive battle. More than $50 million has flown into the contest between two Democrats for a nonpartisan office with little statutory power. For perspective, … Continue reading How the Charter School Wars Turned an Obscure Race Into California’s Second Most Expensive Election →

Bruce Vail: Public school teachers in Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly in late August to authorize a strike over stalled contract negotiations, but the issues really energizing the union membership go far beyond a new contract. Instead, say union leaders and rank-and-file members, the teachers are growing increasingly alarmed at a small clique of billionaires that … Continue reading What Spurred a 98% Strike Vote by LA Teachers? Plutocrats Pushing Charter Schools →

James Shuls: ow would you respond if you stumbled across a headline that asked, “How much do farmers markets cost Walmart?” It’s a ridiculous question. It presupposes that the customer belongs to Walmart; that any time the individual chooses to buy cucumbers from a local grower or salsa from an aspiring entrepreneur, he or she … Continue reading Do Charter Schools Take Districts’ Money? Only If You Think Children, and the Funding That Comes With Them, Are District Property →

Albert Cheng, Michael B. Henderson, Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West: Education’s political landscape has shifted dramatically over the past year. To the consternation of most school-district officials, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos used the bully pulpit to promote charter schools, vouchers, and tax credits for private-school scholarships. To the distress of teachers unions, … Continue reading Public Support Climbs for Teacher Pay, School Expenditures, Charter Schools, and Universal Vouchers →

Ildi Laczko-Kerr and Eileen Sigmund: Contrary to the common myth that charters skim the “cream of the crop” from school districts, the average student who transferred to a charter school over the summer in 2015 from a district school performed below the state average on AzMERIT in both math and English language arts. At the … Continue reading Myth Busted: Public Charter Schools Do Not “Cream” District Students →

Citizen Stewart: I mention that routine because last week I felt like a victim of Sandburg’s non-wrath when Twitter’s anti-school reform voices suggested school reformers were wearing facial egg because “King” LeBron James’ celebrated new school opened in Akron, Ohio as a “traditional” public school rather than a charter. Frankly, I didn’t get the joke. … Continue reading Let’s talk about King LeBron’s Wink-Wink ‘totally-not-a-charter-school’ Charter School →

Anne Chapman, Betsy Mueller and Rob Henken: Because enrollment is the primary driver of Wisconsin’s system of funding K-12 schools, a shrinking student population is one of the foremost financial challenges MPS faces. In a 2012 analysis of MPS’ fiscal condition,3 we noted that one of the strategies MPS had adopted to help stabilize its … Continue reading Understanding the Complexities of Charter School Financing in Milwaukee →

Wilson Criscione: “I wasn’t challenged at all,” Thompson, 15, tells the Inlander. After hearing his friends rave about Innovation High School, a Spokane charter school connected to PRIDE Prep Middle School, he asked his mom, Crystal Benvenuti, if he could try to get in. After spending months on the waitlist, Thompson recently found out he’ll … Continue reading Why nearly 1,000 families are clamoring to get into Spokane’s charter schools →

Susan Pendergrass & Nora Kern: Improving the quality of public education in our nation’s cities is a top priority for civic leaders. Beyond its impact on property values, the availability of safe, high-quality schools can have a substantial effect on the quality of life in urban neighborhoods, much like grocery stores, parks, and jobs that … Continue reading A Closer Look at Wait Lists in Urban Public Charter Schools →

Lisa Snell: Los Angeles Unified School District has lost 245,000 students over the last 15 years. Officials frequently claim charter schools are taking students and causing LAUSD’s budget crisis in the process. But a new report shows the district’s spending, including its hiring of more administrators as enrollment drops, is to blame. A new Reason … Continue reading LAUSD’s Fiscal Crisis Can’t be Blamed on Charter Schools or Declining Enrollment →

Darrow Montgomery: That’s a D.C. charter school administrator’s assessment of TenSquare, one of the city’s most connected, lucrative, and controversial charter consulting companies. And true to his word, he was talking anonymously. Not many people feel comfortable discussing TenSquare publicly. Even in education circles, most people have never heard of TenSquare, a national for-profit consulting … Continue reading Behind the Consulting Firm Raking In Millions From D.C. Charter Schools →

: A new book on charter schools and segregation, whose senior editor, Iris Rotberg, I first worked with in 1970 on the War on Poverty, has reminded me how tribally divided the policy research field has become. The book is worth reading as a step toward a still-needed non-tribal discussion of schooling for democracy. Choosing … Continue reading Charter Schools, Segregation, and Anxiety About Social Cohesion →

T Keung Hui and Ann Doss Helms: Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte are home to many charter schools, but a new national report says those three areas are filled with places where lower-income families don’t have access to these non-traditional public schools. A new report from the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute says there are hundreds … Continue reading Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte need more charter schools in poor areas, report says →

MDHR: Today, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) announced it has reached collaborative agreements with 10 Minnesota public school districts and charter schools to reduce the disparities in suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities and students of color and two school districts received charges of discrimination for educational discrimination. The school districts … Continue reading Minnesota Department of Human Rights reaches agreements with ten school districts, charter schools to reduce disparities in suspensions for students with disabilities, students of color, charges filed against 2 districts →

Max Larkin: Keri Rodrigues is one of those people. She’s an education activist who supported Question 2 in 2016. Now, she runs Massachusetts Parents United — an advocacy group supported in part by the pro-charter Walton Foundation. She has two sons who have tried and failed to get seats in a charter school. “Watching your … Continue reading Highest Court In Mass. Finds Cap On Charter Schools Constitutional →

Peter Cook: As I noted earlier this week, a group of anti-reform activists in Colorado recently passed an amendment to the state Democratic Party platform opposing the Colorado chapter of Democrats for Education Reform and calling on the organization drop “Democrats” from its name.1 Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time DFER has been attacked by … Continue reading Charter Schools Are Not A “Republican” Thing History shows Democrats have supported charters from the very beginning →

Via a kind email: What Does One City Offer? A Tuition-Free Public Charter School Full Day 4K and Kindergarten w/Joyful Children and Adults A Deep Commitment to School Readiness and Closing Gaps Strong Reading, Writing, Math and STEM Program Project-Based, Student Centered Learning Model Healthy Meals prepared by our Chef: Breakfast, Lunch and Snack Beautiful … Continue reading A New Tuition-Free Public Charter School, For Greater Madison’s Children →

Valarie Honeycutt Spears: People who want to open public charter schools in Kentucky have written Republican House Speaker David Osborne and Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell, urging them to reconsider a decision not to create a funding mechanism for public charter schools. Time is running out because state legislators return to Frankfort Friday to begin … Continue reading They want to open Kentucky charter schools, but only if the legislature changes its mind →

Annysa Johnson: Fuller’s co-location proposal was taken up by the school board’s Charter School Review Panel on Feb. 27, according to a notice provided Friday by MPS’ Office of Board Governance. He declined to provide a copy of his proposal, and the district has yet to make it available in response to an open records … Continue reading Howard Fuller withdraws proposal to locate charter school at Milwaukee North Division →

Ashley Bateman: Charters have a “spillover” effect on nearby traditional government schools, and the closer the proximity to a charter school, the greater the positive effect on the students in the nearby schools, Sarah A. Cordes, assistant professor of policy, organizational, and leadership studies at Temple University, reports in “Charters and the Common Good: The … Continue reading Charter Schools Have Positive Impact on Nearby Schools, Study Finds →

Molly Hensley-Clancy: Five years ago, the debate over charter schools loomed over the Democratic Party, pitting some of the party’s most prominent members and biggest donors against teachers unions. But those days could be over. Opponents of charter schools and school choice believe the next two years could be a “tipping point” for their cause: … Continue reading Teachers Unions Think 2020 Is When They Will Defeat The Charter School Democrats →

Via a kind email: Dear Friends. Last night, we learned that our application to establish One City Senior Preschool as a public charter school serving children in 4 year-old and 5 year-old kindergarten was approved by the University of Wisconsin System. We are very excited! This action will enable us to offer a high quality, … Continue reading University of Wisconsin System Approves One City’s Charter School Application →

Corey DeAngelis: The evidence is in. And it’s great news for kids in charter schools. A just-released study by my colleagues at the University of Arkansas and me finds that, overall, public charter schools across eight major U.S. cities are 35 percent more cost-effective and produce a 53 percent higher return-on-investment (ROI) than residentially assigned … Continue reading U.S. Charter Schools Produce a Bigger Bang with Fewer Bucks →

Public Charters: In 2010, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (National Alliance) collected data to determine the teachers’ union status of every charter school nationwide. Prior to the release of the 2010 report, the number of unionized charter schools was largely unknown. In 2009-10, the National Alliance reported that roughly 12 percent of charter … Continue reading Unionized Charter Schools 2016-17 →

Karen Rivedal: Independent charter schools are free to attend and open to all students, but Madison has never had any. Bennett’s office, opened in April 2016 within the UW System by state statute, has the ability to bypass local school boards and authorize charter schools in Madison and Milwaukee. Bennett said he liked the idea … Continue reading Madison to see up to two independent charter schools open in fall 2018 →

Robin Lake, Trey Cobb, Roohi Sharma, Alice Opalka: Why Is Charter Growth Slowing? Lessons From the Bay Area Since 2013, charter school growth has slowed significantly across the country, and the trend is similar in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, the 2016-2017 school year marked the first time in at least 10 years … Continue reading The Slowdown in Bay Area Charter School Growth: Causes and Solutions →