Before Trump gave his speech on education at a charter school in Cleveland, Ohio, he had a photo op talking with an African American student to show how much he cares about those What-the-hell-do-you-have-to-lose? folks. Then in the speech he talked up the value of school choice, including charter schools, as a way to increase student performance, especially among poor and disadvantaged students. Problem is, the charter where he spoke, Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy, isn’t exactly a model of educational excellence.

Bad school choice, Donald.

The for-profit charter is currently owned by Pansophic Learning, founded by Ron Packard. Packard is the man who co-founded and was the CEO of K12 Inc., the notoriously bad, privately traded corporation which runs a string of low performing online schools in a number of states. Now he’s buying up a bunch of brick-and-mortar charters, mainly in Ohio, which is known to have some of the most corrupt and low-performing charter schools in the country. He bought a number of schools from White Hat Management, which has received almost as much bad press as K12 Inc. for its poor schools and profit-centered management, and some from another charter network. The school where Trump spoke got a D for its Performance Index on Ohio’s 2014-15 school report card, which is “a composite of scores across multiple grades and subjects that Ohio uses to summarize results.” It did even worse in the value-added category, which measures how individual students’ achievement grew over the school year. There, it got an F. You could say, “Well, that’s just Cleveland,” but the Cleveland Municipal schools got a C grade from the state.

Anyone who reads my posts know I don’t put a great deal of stock in comparing schools by their achievement scores, which are more an indicator of the schools’ zip code than their educational quality. But Trump apparently thinks charters, along with private school vouchers, are the answers to improving school performance.  He might have looked around for a better school to make his case.

This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2016.

12 replies on “About That Charter School Trump Visited In Ohio”

  1. Did Trump recommend only that specific school? Man you are so full of hatred for Republicans and school choice it is pitiful. Why don’t you run for office and see how many votes you get?

    What is the basis of all that hatred? Are you a public school teacher that thinks you are underpaid?

    I was in a position that did not pay me what I thought I was worth, so I opened my own business. Gone was all the hatred and loathing of others. You might try it.

    Put some skin in the game and see if you can resolve these issues, rather than turning into an angry old man. Life is too short.

  2. More & more I think it’s possible Trump is trolling the whole RW world. He seems to be showing the worst of them and maybe it is by design. Is it possible he is holding a big ol media mirror up but the wingers just don’t get see how their ‘values’ are being exposed? That he is also taking their $ and pumping up his own businesses with it is just icing on the cake of just desserts.

  3. Blue State Fail,

    Its not any one issue, any one position, or any one proposal that concerns me about Trump. If you look at him holistically, he consistently shows bad judgement, lack of being educated, and lacking in character and empathy. I’m not saying vote for HRC. I’m saying simply look at the candidate holistically. Will they have the temperament and skills to be President?

    In this specific instant he chose to trumpet the benefits of charters schools, but the school he chose was a poor example. This shows his lack of proper preparation. If he screws up the little stuff, what would he do with the big stuff? (and as President, its all big stuff)

  5. Debra Holt,

    First: “I’m not saying vote for HRC.”

    Second: Trump has shown bad judgement on a number of key issues. 3 marriages: Hello. No sharing his tax returns: Hello. Non-profit charity: Hello. Making a generalization that all Generals have been “reduced to rubble”: Hello. The list is long.

    Defend Trump’s bad judgement(s). You don’t do that by point out HRCs bad judgements.

  7. Debra Holt,

    “Trump was never in a position (elected or appointed) where the security of the nation and lives were at risk. ” Isn’t that the whole point?

    He is now in a position to be elected, and given his judgement and track record he is most definitely a risk to our nation and the lives of those that defend it if he gets elected.

    Don’t take my word for it:
    Take the word of his many fellow conservatives who will NOT be voting for him.
    Take the word of the people who will be taking his orders in the military who fear his leadership.
    Take the word of those who understand the pressure of having the finger on nuclear weapons.
    Take the word of the countless people who have dealt with his questionable business practices.

  8. Debra Holt,

    FYI: Im not trying to convince you to change your mind. You have obviously already drunk the Trump Koolaide and have no objectively in the discussion. I May certainly fall on the other side of the spectrum relative to HRC.

    But facts are facts.

    It now comes down to service to our country and character. Trump has shown neither in his life.

    FYI: Kicking someone who’s down with Pneumonia shows your character.

  9. We don’t know she is down. How typical of you to make it about my character. I would have kicked her long before she contracted pneumonia. She and Bill have been around too long. Obama rode a “wave of change” theme into office. This time it’s coming back around.

  10. Debra Holt,

    You are the one that posted the politico link. That is specifically kicking someone while they are down.
    She’s got pneumonia – shocking thats she’s actually human and gets sick, ISNT IT!? But to make political points from it lacks character. Hell, even Trump hasn’t make mention of it!

    And you still are trying to make this about HRC. READ MY FIRST POST!: “I’m not saying vote for HRC.”

    Trump make a big gaffe going to a painfully underachieving school to trumpet how its a shining example of charter schools are a better way to education our kids. This is a perfect example of the many many many gaffes he’s made in his campaign.

  12. I’m not sure what you two are arguing about. Hillary has allergies and is a habitual liar. Bernie Sanders should have been the Democrat candidate but the party abused him and we are stuck with Hillary. We really would have been better off debating capitalism vs socialism. Once and for all.

    Instead we have crony capitalism with the Clinton Foundation. Cancel each other’s votes out. I don’t want her either.

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