I’m checking out. The line is open. Diane Ravitch contributes a little news on the charter school front, in the form of a new study from the League of Women Voters in Florida:
The study shows that charter schools do not perform better than public schools; that charters are more segregated than public schools; that many charters funnel money to religious organizations; that a significant number of charters operate for profit; and that the charter industry has captured control of key seats in the legislature.
I presume the Walton-subsidized profs at Walton U. are at battle stations and will soon blast out a rebuttal.
Arkansas, though solidly in the thrall of the movement to explode the conventional school districts of America, has moved much more deliberately than Florida, it should be said in fairness. And flawed though it sometimes has been, Arkansas state oversight has been relatively strong. I’d also like to use the occasion to inject a kind word for Responsive Education Solutions, an operator or important managerial player in seven charter schools in Arkansas. Their general counsel, Chris Baumann, has been responsive to a fault on some recent FOI requests and even some questions about local school operations. Credit where due on the accountability ledger.