A story from ProPublica came across my desktop today, For-Profit Schools Reward Students for Referrals and Facebook Endorsements. It’s about a for-profit charter school in Florida where students get a $25 gift card for every new student they find for the school.

Such incentives are rampant among for-profit operators of public alternative high schools like North Nicholas, which serves students at risk of dropping out. These schools market aggressively to attract new students, especially during weeks when the state is tallying enrollment for funding purposes. They often turn their students into promoters, dangling rewards for plugs on social media, student referrals or online reviews, a ProPublica-USA Today investigation found. Some also offer valuable perks simply for enrolling.

It reminded me of a story Ann-Pedersen told in 2013 on the cable access program she and I used to put together, Education: The Rest of the Story (It’s a three minute video if you want to watch). As her son was walking out of his Tucson Unified middle school toward the end of the school year, he was handed a flier promising him $100 if he enrolled in the new charter, Rising School.

Tucson’s Rising School currently has about 80 students. So far as I can tell, it no longer offers students $100 to enroll, but it does offer them $100 if they have perfect attendance for the first hundred days of school. I don’t suppose it’s a coincidence that enrollment during the first hundred days is what determines schools’ state funding.

And whether the money goes to students for enrolling or for having perfect attendance, that $100 comes out of the state’s funding for the school.

I don’t know if this kind of thing is common in Arizona, but like so many questionable charter school practices, it looks like it’s perfectly legit.

This article appears in Oct 5-11, 2017.

5 replies on “Some Charter Schools Pay Students To Enroll, Or Get Their Friends To Enroll”

  1. And then there is this:

    “I believe it is an oversight to attack BASIS, where children are not required to pass prerequisite exams to enroll, similar to those found in the Tucson Unified School District.

    Having had direct experience working at both Rincon High School and University High School, I prefer that all children be provided with a rigorous curriculum and with the services and supports needed to succeed, rather than substandard and sub-par systems that deny students of what I believe is a free and appropriate education.”

    http://tucson.com/opinion/local/rose-hamway-basis-does-right-by-special-education-students/article_2d327ff5-4b01-5424-acdc-cc6edf28a3ee.html

    Doing what TUSD can’t seem to get done.

  2. Since Charters don’t have the benefit of the monopoly power of tax payer supported public schools, I guess they have to try harder. As any marketer knows, getting trial is not hard, but it doesn’t pay out if triers don’t become loyalists. So the real question is do they get better grades than they deserve to get them to stay ?

  3. Many programs opt to forego traditional advertising, and instead provide incentives to everyday people who help spread the word about excellent programs.

    This marketing strategy is a more efficient way of money use, especially for those on a limited budget — instead of spending millions on a Superbowl ad — incentives based advertising reaches the audience that is more likely to use the services.

    P.S. Public School Districts use portions of their budget (from state funds) to pay for Individuals who promote their School District — they are called Media Relations Specialists (or something similar).

    Public School Districts also lock themselves into contracts with vendors that result in $5 reams of paper, rather than paying $1 from a non-approved vendor during Back-to-School Sales.

    Finally, Public School Districts *do* have the option of expelling students, and choosing who they accept — for example, students must take admission tests for entering TUSD’s University High.

    Yes, we should be mindful about losing services for the poorest of the poor due to lack of proper funding; we should also be mindful that we should be reviewing spending practices to assure they the best. We should not be afraid of trying new marketing strategies that benefit stakeholders.

    Incentive spending is not the problem. Let us identify the real problem, and find real solutions:

    Let us educate our children, and teach them about attitude, creativity, vision, and courage. This will improve young minds.

    #OurTucson #OurChildren #OurFuture #InvestInOurFuture

  4. bsinn, Where do you think the money comes from for Charter Schools.? Typical Republican, too stupid to comprehend that the Tax Payer who owns property is indirectly paying for Charter Schools. But then maybe you are just one of tRump’s Russian Commie Hackers trying to thrown fuel on the fire. If you ignorant conservatives would get your heads out of Faux Snooze’s azz maybe you would realize that you know very little information about a lot of situations and problems.

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