Right Wing Charter Schools

In this article, rejected for publication by major educational journals, Bracey takes apart the Right's obsession with defunding public education. The full article can be found at:

valetc.com

Not only have charters failed to deliver the goods as promised, but their champions have often used a double standard to evaluate them. Charter advocates labeled public schools with low test scores as "failing schools." When charter schools display low test scores-- and they have, overwhelmingly--their advocates say they are working with difficult to educate students. The demographics of charters mitigate against high test scores, don'cha know. This is, of course, precisely the argument that school bashers reject as a pathetic excuse if it comes from the public schools. ("Charter Pupils Test Scores Low" read a December, 2002 headline in the Cincinnati Enquirer; "So often, the populations of community [charter] schools are students who have not had success in traditional school districts," said an Ohio Department of Education spokesperson in the article. "Substandard Charter Fail 17,000 Pupils" exclaimed an October, 2003 headline in the Detroit News. "We tend to draw more students from low-income groups" said an officer of the educational management organization that runs the worst performing schools.)

Charter school advocates have not been content to just skewer public schools, but have also registered dismay over other education reform efforts. In Charter Schools in Action,Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Greg Vanourek declared that despite "barrels of good intentions, reform efforts have yielded meager dividends." Finn once fumed, "The public school system as we know has proved that it cannot reform itself. It is an ossified government monopoly…." Hence, goes the illogic, charter schools must be better.