Considering that thirty years ago charter schools didn’t even exist, it’s crucial to examine the effect the privatization movement has on the public education landscape. With Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump backing the movement, public education is at a major crossroads.
Diverting resources from America’s public schools isn’t the answer to the education crisis.
Under a state-sponsored voucher system, public funds are used to either directly fund or subsidize religious and private school education for students. Each year, $1 billion is redirected to private schools for voucher and tax credit programs, according to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
The root problem with educational management organizations is that they serve the market interest as an entity, rather than the needs of the child. Some of these are for-profit firms, which use taxpayer dollars to run schools like businesses. As with any business, the goal is to maximize profit.
“You can’t make a profit and get good results,” James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center said in and article published by Slate.
Hope Academy, a charter school in west Detroit, has been one of the lowest performing schools in Michigan for the past two decades. In 2013, it ranked in the lowest percentile, the absolute worst for academic performance . Still, its charter was renewed two years later.
Hope Academy is just one of many poorly performing charter schools fighting for renewal. However, by not closing failing charter schools, we fail to hold the government, educators and Education Management Organizations accountable.
In the debate over where to allocate funds, many people
argue charter schools outperform traditional public schools. This claim, however, is unsupported by facts.. A 2013 Stanford University CREDO study showed charter school students’ performance was better in reading and slightly worse in math. Yet, overall, performance varied significantly state to state.
Despite the need for major public education reform, not all public schools and teachers are failing the system. Actually, many are already high performing, and many more could be with the help of taxpayer dollars. Recent research has found that when schools have more money, they can provide students with better educations.
School facilities are the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending, yet there is no national data source on K-12 public school infrastructure.
Remember the dilapidated library from your high school days? Or the overcrowded classroom?
It’s no surprise that public schools are in dire need of resources. A 2015 poll by the U.S. Green Building Council showed that 92 percent of Americans believe the quality of public school buildings should be improved. However, distribution of resources is a major obstacle.
When public funds are redirected to privatized institutions, public education loses critical resources for library renovations or classroom expansion. The pattern is clear.
When the education system lacks accountability and funding shifts away from public education, private interests trump the wellbeing of children.
Unfortunately, as in the case of Hope Academy, students are the ones who bear the brunt of the loss.
Alaina DiLaura is a 20-year-old international studies and mass communication sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.