Vouchers have never been very popular with a majority of Democrats. But charter schools? Plenty of Democrats, voters and politicians alike, have supported them with the same enthusiasm as Republicans. President Obama, Vice President Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan were big charter boosters, creating policies which led to an increase in the number and distribution of the schools around the country. Presidential hopeful and former Newark, New Jersey, mayor Cory Booker has long been a vocal charter advocate. And they weren’t alone. Many Democrats in local, state and national office either actively supported the spread of charters or quietly accepted their presence, and Democratic voters followed suit.
That’s changing. Democratic candidates who give full-throated endorsements to charter schools are becoming an endangered species. Biden is shifting away from his support of charters. Booker tries to avoid the subject. Democrats across the political landscape are emphasizing increasing teacher salaries, boosting funding for Title 1 and putting more money into school infrastructure. Charters, many of them are saying, are siphoning money away from the schools which educate the vast majority of our children.
Democratic voters are moving in the same direction.
That could spell trouble for the charter school movement, which has counted on bipartisan agreement that our public schools are a mess and we need an infusion of new schools and new approaches — read, charter schools — to give children, especially poor and minority children, a better chance at a quality education. If one side of the political aisle representing half the country’s population no longer supports charters, the schools’ future becomes shaky.
But charter schools and the whole privatization/”education reform” movement have a secret weapon which helps them survive the ebbs and flows of politics. Money. Lots of money. Hundreds of millions of dollars a year are spent by members of the one percent to promote charter schools and demonize traditional public schools. The effort rivals the billions the Koch brothers and their allies spend to push their self-serving version of libertarianism.
The Billionaire Boys Club. That’s what critics often call the ultra-rich charter supporters, who are Democrats as well as Republicans.
Because of the well funded public relations efforts charters have enjoyed, they have been able to rely on their manufactured reputation instead of actual accomplishments to maintain their popularity. In unbiased studies, charters come out looking a little better or a little worse than district schools depending on the emphasis of a given study. Overall, it’s pretty much a wash. But the glowing praise they receive from deep-pocketed boosters and the organizations they support has helped bolster the myth that charters are the superior option.
Recently, one member of the Billionaire Boys Club, Nick Hanauer, defected.
He writes about the reasons for his change of heart in an article in The Atlantic. I don’t often say this, but the article is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why the notion that improving schools will take care of society’s ills is wrongheaded, even destructive.
Hanauer spent millions of dollars and years of effort promoting the idea that improving our district schools and supplementing them with charter schools was the way to address problems of poverty and income equality.
“But after decades of organizing and giving,” he writes, “I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that I was wrong.”
“[I]ncome inequality has exploded not because of our country’s educational failings but despite its educational progress. Make no mistake: Education is an unalloyed good. We should advocate for more of it, so long as it’s of high quality. But the longer we pretend that education is the answer to economic inequality, the harder it will be to escape our new Gilded Age.”
Among the country’s largest family foundations, Hanauer writes, a majority talk about education as one of the fundamental issues they must address.
“Only one mentions anything about the plight of working people,” wrote Hanauer, “economic inequality, or wages.”
And when he talks with his wealthy friends about income inequality and the personal and societal problems accompanying it, “[they] push back with something about the woeful state of our public schools.”
Hanauer is only one guy. His defection won’t change much by itself. But recently Bill Gates, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on educational innovations, most of which have been failures, has made similar statements, that we have to address the root causes of poverty and inequality rather than expecting our schools to carry the burden.
If this becomes a trend among the other members of the Billionaire Boys Club, charter schools will find themselves with fewer rich cheerleaders to help them maintain their inflated reputation.
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2019.
The biggest political issues many of us see are income inequality, middle class / working class income stagnation, the sky-rocketing cost of American higher education, and the deteriorating quality of publicly funded / affordable K-12 programs.
Which of the so-called Democratic presidential nominee candidates has viable ideas to address any of this, David? Elizabeth Warren wants to forgive existing student loan debt. Not a solution. Kamala Harris wants to criticize Joe Biden for collaborating with segregationists. Not a solution. Everyone wants to talk about identity politics and reproductive issues. Not a solution to the ECONOMIC challenges facing people working for a living while raising and educating children in this country.
You say Democrats are trending away from charters. Also not a solution: eliminating educational alternatives rather than putting in place regulations and policies that will improve them is about as poor a solution as the ludicrous JUST HAND DISTRICTS LIKE TUSD A LOT MORE MONEY!! non-solution regularly promoted here.
You and your pals should get back to us when you have some policy ideas that have even the remotest chance of improving the quality of non-plutocratic educations and lives in this country.
Competition in Arizona’s education marketplace is just brutal. With over 550 charter schools and any number of districts which have increased their quality every single year in response to competition, a school has to be on their game.
No other state in the nation has done what Arizona has done- increase competitive choices and allowed competitive response to happen long enough to solidly change the quality of education. It’s called critical mass.
And, it is only going to get better and better. Just look at Arizona’s juvenile crime rates. Despite our massive influx of new juveniles that have not been yet civilized, we still have violent juvenile crime rates far below what our demographics would predict.
And, as you have mentioned David, school choice among charters is less than half of all our school choice. Over 200,000 Arizona students switching schools over the course of a year and much of that is a student picking one district school instead of another. In most other states, it is a crime to allow a member of the public into a district school- not Arizona.
The best is yet to come. At some point in the next 15 years, the public education caterpillar is going to metamorphose into a butterfly. A school system which has advanced students 15 SAT points per year and in which minority students are more than 70 SAT points behind and getting further behind every year is going to leap to 60 SAT points of productivity per year and for the first time allow every door of opportunity to be open to over 80% of all minority students- without affirmative action.
Washington Post Headline:
” West Virginia teachers union says it will sue over charter school bill”
Arizona ranks first in the nation in charter school choice. West Virginia, dead last. Zero charters.
The West Virginia teachers union is suing over a bill allowing three charter schools.
Compare: Arizona spends $8,000 per student. West Virginia, $15,000 (NEA rankings and estimates)
Compare Arizona and West Virginia 8th grade math scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress..
First by education of parents and then by demographic:
Parents Arizona West Virginia
Did not finish high school 265 259
Graduated high school 269 262
Some education after high school 285 274
Graduated college 296 282
Arizona ranges from 60% of a school year ahead of West Virginia to 150% ahead.
Now by demographic:
Demographic Arizona West Virginia
White 296 274
Black 272 254
Hispanic 269 NA
Asian/Pacific Islander 316 NA
Arizona is two academic years ahead of West Virginia in each demographic of Whites and Blacks.
Allowing public education at charter and private schools is the easiest way to improve outcomes for student. Also saves money.
Arizona’s $8,000 per student vs West Virginia at $15,000 is a huge problem. Money didn’t improve results for West Virginia, it permanently trapped them at a low level of performance. This is a horrendous defeat for children in West Virginia.
A catastrophic defeat considering the terrible economic damage from taxing to no good end. Since 2000, West Virginia added 31,000 jobs. Arizona? Over 700,000 jobs.
The public education monopoly exposed for what it is.
John Huppenthal, Peter Sucker and Stretch are, more than likely, all the same dude. Good job assfuck. Dominate a comment thread and give many conservative fuckwits head, and this is what will happen. Assholery. Every time. SAD.
How much money should we send you?