March 9, 2016
Wall Street Journal
CER’s Jeanne Allen talks to Mary Kissel on Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal about John King’s nomination for Education Secretary, as the Senate HELP committee voted 16-6 in favor of his nomination today.
Today was the second hearing on John King’s nomination. A recap of the first hearing is here, where Senator Tim Scott pressed King on DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program. King’s nomination awaits a full vote from the Senate.
by John Cassidy
The New Yorker
March 7, 2016
One of the most intriguing moments in Sunday night’s Democratic debate came when CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Hillary Clinton, “Do you think unions protect bad teachers?” In the Democratic Party, few subjects are as incendiary as education. On one side of the issue are the reformers, such as Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, who support charter schools, regular testing, and changing labor contracts to make it easier to fire underperforming teachers. On the other side are the defenders of public schools, such as Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, who are seeking to impose limits on the charter movement, modify testing requirements, and stand up for teachers.
In Arkansas in the nineteen-eighties, Hillary Clinton backed education reform, particularly the use of testing to improve standards. In 1992, when her husband was running for President, she received the now-famous “Letter to Hillary Clinton,” from Marc Tucker, the president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which advocated a national curriculum, extensive testing, and an education system in which “most of the federal, state, district and union rules and regulations” that prevented big changes “are swept away.”
Bill Clinton’s Administration supported legislation that incorporated some of Tucker’s ideas, and it also encouraged the growth of charter schools, which were then a new idea. In her 1996 book, “It Takes a Village,” Clinton wrote, “I favor promoting choice among public schools, much as the President’s Charter Schools Initiative encourages.” In 1998, she said, “The President believes, as I do, that charter schools are a way of bringing teachers and parents and communities together.”
Back then, Hillary Clinton also supported changing rules in order to make it easier for principals and school districts to get rid of problem teachers. In her 2000 Senate run, during a debate with her Republican opponent, Rick Lazio, she said, “I think we ought to streamline the due-process standards so that teachers that don’t measure up would no longer be in the classroom.”
Some of Clinton’s wealthy backers are still big supporters of the education-reform agenda, which the Obama Administration has also pursued aggressively. (Last year, it asked Congress for a fifty-per-cent increase in funding for charters.) But as Cooper pointed out during Sunday night’s debate, Clinton has received the endorsement of two of the biggest teachers’ unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, which are far less enthusiastic about charters and changes to work rules. Does this mean Clinton has modified her views on schools?
Listening to her answer Cooper’s question about whether unions protect bad teachers, it was hard to tell. “It really pains me,” she said, to see teachers scapegoated when governments have failed to support their work. “So just to follow up,” Cooper said, “you don’t believe unions protect bad teachers?” Clinton replied, “You know what—I have told my friends at the top of both unions, we’ve got take a look at this because it is one of the most common criticisms. We need to eliminate the criticism. You know, teachers do so much good. They are often working under [the] most difficult circumstances. So anything that could be changed, I want them to look at it. I will be a good partner to make sure that whatever I can do as President, I will do to support the teachers of our country.”
Based on this response, it appears that Clinton does still want to tackle the issue of teacher tenure, but she also wants to support teachers, many of whom are vehemently opposed to seeing their contracts altered. It would have been illuminating if Cooper had pursued this line of questioning and asked Clinton whether she still supports continuing to expand the number of charter schools. Last November, at a town-hall meeting in South Carolina, shortly after she picked up the support of the teachers’ unions, she voiced a line commonly associated with critics of charters. After acknowledging that for thirty years she had “supported the idea of charter schools,” she said, “Most charter schools—I don’t want to say every one—but most charter schools, they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids. Or, if they do, they don’t keep them. And so the public schools are often in a no-win situation, because they do, thankfully, take everybody, and then they don’t get the resources or the help and support that they need to be able to take care of every child’s education.”
Coming from someone they had long regarded as a political ally, these comments enraged many people in the charter movement. “That is absolutely false,” Jeanne Allen, the founder of the Center for Education Reform, told the Washington Post. “She sounds like an aloof, élite candidate from a bygone era, before ed reform was a reality.”
Vol. 18, No. 10
DC IS NUMBER ONE. For the past 20 years the Center’s Charter School Laws Across The States Ranking & Scorecard has employed proven analysis to rank the nation’s charter school laws by whether and how they do what they set out to — create the conditions for massive opportunities for students and fam
ilies to choose among diverse schooling options. DC has been number 1 and we are pleased that this year, our colleagues at the National Alliance have similarly recognized the superiority of a law which has a highly independent authorizer that is not micromanaged by state and local education agencies (though they try), provides for a high number of charters to open, funds its schools at over 95% plus facilities support, and as a result has transformed a city. This should be the model…
While DC has a charter board, it is not a commission in the vein that other states are pondering. Speaking of which…
KENTUCKY & CHARTERS. Kentucky moves a step closer to having charter schools with lawmakers in both the House and Senate submitting bills. Legislation filed allows for a charter pilot program with only two schools allowed per year in two counties, Jefferson and Fayette. It also creates a charter school commission to approve and oversee schools. The Bluegrass State has tried for a charter law numerous times, so while it is good news that Kentucky is this much closer to charter schools, putting a law in place that mimics some of the nation’s best charter school laws would have the potential to do more for more children.
MAKING SCHOLARSHIPS AS IMPACTFUL AS CHARTERS. The
DC Opportunity Scholarship Program has been helping very low-income students for over a decade, with outstanding results. So why wouldn’t John B. King, Jr., Education Secretary nominee, be in support of using $35 million in carry-over funds to help 4,000 more students access an education that will set them up for success? That’s what Senator Tim Scott pondered at King’s hearing two weeks ago. King’s second hearing regarding his Education Secretary nomination takes place tomorrow, March 9.
UNION’S MISPLACED AGENDA. Hillary Clinton, backed by both the AFT and NEA, danced around Anderson Cooper’s question during Sunday’s Democratic debate about whether unions protect bad teachers. She said “a lot of people have been blaming and scapegoating teachers because they don’t want to put money into the school system.” When you take away the spin from the status quo however, 67 percent of teachers are interested in workforce reforms according to AAE’s latest survey. Union endorsements explain Hil’s backflip on charter schools, which she alternatively supported in 1998, saying charter schools were a good way of “bringing teachers, parents and communities together.” One of the union’s latest misguided attacks on charter schools is in Michigan, where AFT President Randi Weingarten is blaming the alternative public schools for Detroit’s financial and academic woes.
At SXSW? Is innovation, freedom, flexibility and opportunity at the heart of the hundreds of panels and discussions going on? If not, now’s your chance to redirect the SXSW agenda to capture the critical intersection of ed tech in ed reform. Without looser school boundaries and rules, education innovation cannot thrive. Without consumer choice, there’s ultimately no buy-in. To read up on or refresh your mind on what it’s all about, read Ted Kolderie’s book The Split Screen Strategy: How to Turn Education Into a Self-Improving System.
COMING SOON. Time for a reboot – CER introduces EDREFORM TEN-POINT-O. Because every effort we undertake for kids must start at 10.
Charter school, voucher bills filed
by Allison Ross
Courier-Journal
March 2, 2013
As widely expected, Republican legislators in both the Kentucky House and Senate have submitted bills just before the filing deadlines to try to bring charter schools to the commonwealth.
In addition, Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Burlington, has filed a bill that would create a school voucher-like program allowing special needs students to redirect per-pupil public school funding to pay for private schools or private tutoring.
Efforts to bring vouchers and charter schools to the Bluegrass State have been going on for years, but with a new Republican governor that has championed charter schools and vouchers and a House that could be moving closer to Republican control, the chances seem greater compared to recent years that such legislation could pass.
Tuesday was the last day for House members to file bills this session, and Thursday is the last day for Senate members to do so.
The charter school bill filed Tuesday by Sen. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, is similar to those he’s filed in previous years.
The bill, SB 253, would essentially create a five-year pilot charter school program in Jefferson and Fayette counties, with a maximum of two charter schools allowed to open per year in each county. It would create a “Kentucky Public Charter School Commission,” which would have members appointed by the governor and could approve charter applications and provide oversight.
Click here to continue reading.
Vol. 18, No. 9
MAKE SUPER TUESDAY COUNT. Whether or not you have voted yet, make your sure the ballot you cast is an informed decision. A vote for expanded educational opportunities is a vote for a great nation. Get educated about what’s at stake, what’s reality and what’s just rhetoric. And with November just around the corner, we will be continuing to help you make sense of the plans that every contender – from president to governor to state lawmaker – has to address improved education. For starters, here’s how to spot a truly reform-minded candidate. Meanwhile, whether today is your day to vote or not, just remember your vote matters. Don’t sit home in the future because you like or don’t like the result today. As we should’ve all learned in grade school, our peace and prosperity requires us all to get informed, get active and get involved!
ESTABLISHMENT NEVER GIVES UP. Baltimore charter schools battling for equity were met with tired tactics from the local BLOB, with the filing of a (drumroll…) countersuit that threatens a speedy and much-needed resolution to their case, critically underscoring the importance of passing crucial new legislation on independent authorizers.
SURVEY SAYS… Thoughts from the parents of 1,000,000 children sitting on charter school waitlists around the nation were apparently omitted from the results of a new poll that looks to “reign in” (yes, like horses) the schools. No surprise here— the poll, conducted by two AFT affiliates (see: ‘status quo’), disproportionately condemned charters, relying on just a handful of incidents of fraud in schools.
OPPONENTS OUT IN FORCE… The same group with the bogus poll has been busy trying to fight reforms that help kids, with a report out on state takeovers alleging Louisiana’s Recovery School District caused students and communities harm. However, the reality is quite the opposite, with graduation rates rising by nearly 20 percentage points. Thankfully, these “reports” are usually always recognized by the media as biased, but that begs the question of why they’re even getting ink in the first place…
SUB-STANDARD RESEARCH. Education professors’ comparison of charter schools to subprime mortgages is wildly inaccurate and wildly sub-par. Here’s why.
KING’S OPPORTUNITY. Choice champion and SC US Senator Tim Scott questioned Education Secretary nominee John King about expanding DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, which has been helping very low-income children in the nation’s capital for over a decade, as DC children and parents watched on during his hearing last week. “For us not to take a look at this would be a shame,” Scott said to King. We’ve got the video here. The committee will next consider King’s nomination on March 9.
Ky. Gov. Matt Bevin vows to make charters reality
by Ben Jackey
WLKY
February 26, 2016
Charter schools 101
The debate over charter schools has become the biggest question in Kentucky education.
A charter is an independently managed public school operating under a charter, or contract, with a governmental entity or a school board.
The idea is that these schools get to make their own decisions and some state restrictions are lifted to help improve outcomes for struggling students. The answer to whether charter schools work depends on which researcher is asked.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin vows to make charters a reality in Kentucky.
Jefferson County Public Schools lag near the bottom of school districts across the commonwealth.
“My question for Dr. (Donna) Hargens is, ‘Why not try one?’” Kentucky Education Secretary Hal Heiner said.
When asked, Jefferson County Public Schools superintendent Donna Hargens refused to respond to what she called “speculation,” but said she believes school decisions are best left to public school boards. Proponents argue charters offer choice, but Hargens contends that with 18 magnet schools and 52 magnet and optional programs, JCPS has plenty of options.
“Jefferson County Public Schools offers choices that some people don’t even realize that they have. So, I think the thing that attracts people is the ability to choose. What’s going to be the best fit for my son or daughter?” Hargens said.
“What gets in the way is why we don’t put the children and their needs first. Instead, the adults are first, and I see that so often. It’s like, ‘Don’t move my cheese. I like it just the way it is.’” Heiner said.
Why are the two sides so divided?
Two studies, out of Stanford called CREDO are a prime example of why supporters and opponents on charter schools are so divided.
A CREDO report in 2009 concluded charter students are “not faring as well as their traditional public school counterparts.”
The next CREDO report in 2013 said charters showed “slow and steady progress in the performance of the charter sector.”
There’s also a financial accountability debate.
Located in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Indianapolis, the Tindley Accelerated Schools are examples used by charter school proponents across the country.
The four schools bearing the Tindley name are about 95 percent African-American.
Two perform above state reading averages, two just below.
This month, Tindley schools also became examples pointed to by opponents of charter schools.
The CEO resigned amid criticism about spending on luxury hotels, gym memberships and first class airfare, while the school asked for an $8 million loan.
The Indianapolis mayor’s office oversees 33 charters, including the Tindley schools.
“There were internal controls and other significant deficiencies and material weaknesses that have shown up in their audits and we’ve been documenting schools and to correct them for several years now, and we have seen significant improvement,” Indianapolis Innovation Director Kristin Hines said.
“Would you consider Charters in Indianapolis by and large a success?” WLKY reporter Ben Jackey asked.
“Absolutely,” Hines said.
Time is of the essence
“If we haven’t figured it out, I think we ought to ask, ‘Has anybody figured it out?’ Is there some outside organization that we can bring in that has a different model?” Jefferson County Board of Education chairman David Jones said.
JCPS and Kentucky school districts have the option to bring a charter organization in to run a school. There wouldn’t be an actual charter contract and the district would manage the organization. Many in the education world consider it charter light and has never been used in Kentucky.
Jones made a monumental move late last year by asking JCPS to look at this option for JCPS priority schools. Jones believes actual charter schools would take too long to be successful in a large district like JCPS. He said whatever the district decides, time is of the essence.
“Louisville can’t wait for Kentucky and we can’t wait for the United States to get this right,” Jones said.
Kentucky is one of just seven states that has not passed charter legislation.
DC Families Ask Federal Officials To Release Scholarship Funds
February 25, 2016
WASHINGTON DC – As members of the US Senate HELP Committee were preparing for the confirmation hearing of Dr. John B. King, Jr. for US Education Secretary, Washington, DC students and parents were pressing Senate officials to help reauthorize the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP) to see that unspent funds are released and to remove the uncertainty of the successful program’s continuation.
Their visit to Capitol Hill would result in an important exchange between US Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Acting Secretary King during his hearing that makes clear that this issue will be front and center during King’s remaining time in office.
“What can we do to move the administration, and you as perhaps the new Secretary, in the direction of using that $35 million to fund more scholarships?” asked Scott.
In response, King answered that the carryover funds were a safeguard against the program not being continued: “We think the carryover funds should be maintained to ensure that the currently enrolled students, if new appropriations are not made, have the opportunity to complete their education.”
Yet, as Scott would add, “it would be a shame not to take advantage of a program that is working so well.”
“Why do we have to come here every year and ask ‘please can you keep this program open’ when it’s responsible for keeping our kids in school?” asked a parent whose two children have gone through school as a result of the OSP. The families told staff members of both Senator Alexander and Senator Murray’s office that the program is responsible for keeping them in DC, and keeping their kids safe, as well.
The DC OSP has been an educational lifeline for nearly 6,400 low-income DC children since 2004-2005. More than 90 percent of DC OSP students graduate, and 90 percent go on to enroll in college.
“Not only can we not afford for this program to die, we must expand it to allow more students in need to experience what it’s like to be a success in school and lead productive lives. John King’s own experience shows the power of school choice and families who commit to a child’s education,” said Jeanne Allen, founder and president emeritus of The Center for Education Reform, who accompanied parents to Capitol Hill.
The current DC OSP has been on life support annually due to opposition from the Obama Administration. Advocates have argued that the reauthorization bill, HR 10, the Scholarships for Results and Opportunity Act of 2015, and full funding for the DC OSP should be included in the FY 2017 base appropriations bill for Financial Services and General Government.
To learn more about the DC OSP or arrange an interview with DC OSP families or CER Founder and President Emeritus Jeanne Allen, please call Michelle Tigani at (202) 750-0016.
Related News: VIDEO: Vetting the Next Secretary of Education, Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal Live
Today at the Senate HELP Committee hearing on the nomination of Dr. John B. King Jr. for US Education Secretary, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), an ardent supporter of school choice, asked King about expanding DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP), as DC students and families watched.
Here’s the exchange between King and Scott:
SCOTT: One area that we may have to agree to disagree on is the DC OSP. I know there are parents and students in the audience who have a very passionate position, as I do, on the importance of the DC OSP.
Especially when you look at your commitment to equity and excellence, and the fact that we have a classic example here in Washington DC of a process and a program that has produced numbers and success in a way that’s inconsistent with other schools.
I believe the graduation rate of DC OSP students is around 90%. Other schools in DC are around 62%, some going as low as 38%. The cost per pupil for the DC OSP is somewhere around $9,000-12,000, and for other DC schools it’s over $18,000. So you get about a 50% better graduation rate, and 88% of those students go on to a two-year or four-year college experience.
It seems to me that the administration, and you as Secretary, should take a second look at that program, and look for ways to integrate it and to use to carry over money of $35 million dollars to fund more scholarships. And quite frankly this is not just my perspective but a bipartisan perspective. You look at the support of Senators like Ron Johnson (R-WI) as well as Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) who all have the same opinion of the DC OSP.
What can we do to move the administration, and you as perhaps the new Secretary, in the direction of using that $35 million dollars to fund more scholarships?
What we have an opportunity to do is to take the $35 million dollars to use for more scholarships so that we see more kids — 97% of these kids are either African American or Latinos — we see more kids succeeding at high levels, especially when you think about the fact that 60% of these kids are receiving SNAP benefits and yet they are out-performing their peers throughout the DC area, and, perhaps, throughout the country.
KING: As we talked about, and I very much respect your position, our view is that the number of slots in the DC voucher program should be based on annual appropriations to the extent that there are open slots within the annual appropriation, those would be filled.
We think the carryover funds should be maintained to ensure that the currently enrolled students, if new appropriations are not made, have the opportunity to complete their education in the schools where they’re now enrolled.
Again I respect that we have a difference of opinion on that. I think we share an urgency around equity and excellence. I do not personally believe that vouchers are a scaleable solution to the equity and excellence challenge, and prefer the route of public school choice, but certainly respect your position on it.
SCOTT: I’ll just close with this Mr. Chariman. I certainly think that your success on charters schools is undeniable and thank goodness that you’ve taken that track. I think when you look at the DC OSP and the 10 year period of time we’ve seen 6,000 students come across and 95 or 93% of those kids graduate, that it would be a shame for us not to take advantage of a system or program that is working so well that we have so many kids that would’ve been denied access to higher education now being involved in higher education, succeeding in higher education. That changes their entire family system. For us not to take a second look at this would be a shame.
We are proud & thankful @SenatorTimScott recognized DC OSP parents and students in the audience and pressed King about the importance of this school choice program.
This exchange shows why we need to continue to put the pressure on lawmakers to ensure this program continues and expands to help even more low-income students in DC succeed.
Click here to ask Congress to act now and support the DC OSP!
Vol. 18, No. 8
WILL KING SAVE OPPORTUNITY? When Acting Secretary of Education John King goes up for his Senate hearing this Thursday in Washington, DC at 2 pm by the Senate HELP Committee many will be watching to see if he will acknowledge the failure of th
e US Department of Education to disburse over $30 million in federal funds held over from Congressional appropriations that should have gone to fund more scholarships for poor kids stuck in failing schools. Congress has the ability to force this issue and to reauthorize an expanded program for an additional five years. In addition to needing a new Secretary of Education who values the importance of Parent Power, scholarships can continue if you make your voices heard. By filling out this form, you’ll ask congressional leaders to include HR 10, the Scholarships for Results and Opportunity Act of 2015, and full funding for the DC OSP in the FY 2017 base appropriations bill for Financial Services and General Government.
BUFFALO’S BILL? Buffalo, NY public schools pay only 70 percent of the bill for public schools students in their community who choose to attend charter schools, a fact that has Buffalo parents, educators and advocates rallying in support of fairly funding charter schools. Sporting t-shirts with the slogan “charter school kids are not worth less,” these parents are fighting to gain attention for the fact that charter schools are public schools, are providing a critical option, and already do better for kids despite fewer resources than their traditional public school counterparts. Some of the parents who convened today are plaintiffs in a pending lawsuit, Brown vs. New York, brought on by frustrated parents regarding charter school funding in the Empire State. Sadly, they are not alone. Nationwide, funding varies state by state, with some of the highest ranking charter laws paying as much as 90 percent but most paying on average 36 percent fewer dollars than district schools.
CHOICES FOR THE CORNHUSKER STATE. Working with Educate Nebraska (an organization dedicated to improving K-12 education), law
makers and community groups like the Bryant Center (a community organization in Omaha, NE providing activities and programs for at risk youth and seniors), CER Founder Jeanne Allen launched the Center’s efforts there this week in supporting a diverse array of organizations in their pursuit of greater opportunities for children, including a much-needed charter school law. Parents in the state are becoming visibly frustrated with their lack of power, as evidenced by their Parent Power ranking of #49. Nebraska is one of the last states in the country without any meaningful choices outside of their districts.
PHILLY MUST FOLLOW THE LAW. Rebuffing Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission (SRC) in ignoring the letter of the law governing the state’s charter school law, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that the SRC’s actions are unconstitutional and it will no longer be above the law. Since the General Assembly permitted the SRC discretion in approving and managing charter schools, it has created artificial enrollment caps for charter schools to curtail charter growth. Just last year, despite nearly 30,000 students on charter wait lists, the SRC denied 87 percent of charter school applicants, including an all-girls counterpart to one of the most successful charter schools in Philly, Boys’ Latin.
TRUMP TACTICS IN BOSTON? In their ongoing effort to disparage charter schools for being successful, a tactic that is well-oiled by a certain presidential candi
date whenever the competition gets too close and popular for comfort, Boston city officials continue to lob insults at charter schools hoping to change public opinion and avoid a legislative fiat in favor of lifting the cap on important schooling opportunities for kids. For example, Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson last week blamed charter schools for the “inadequate funding of Boston City Schools,” even while Boston public schools continue to fail so many children that 34,000 are waiting for slots to open. Take action now to ask lawmakers to expand education options.
Charter Schools Have Succeeded in Saving Public Education From Further Failure
When four education professors author a report about a change in public education governance that actually turns the incentives and power structure from top down control to bottom up accountability, it’s unlikely to result in anything but misrepresentations and confusion. That’s precisely what occurred in the report covered by Business Insider on January 6, one that attempts to discredit the movement that Time Magazine once called a grassroots revolution by comparing it to the mortgage crisis. The authors believe and say as much in their report that parents of students in charter schools – some 2.5 million of them – actually don’t freely make choices. These “we know best” academics infer that poor people, in particular, are not capable of doing so given their poverty or low income status (Note: 60% of all charters have a mean of 60% or more children of color and as many have a mean of more than 60% at risk, but they are not all poor, minority schools.) They clearly have never met a charter parent – or perhaps any low income parent – who despite their challenges know their children better than anyone else about what works for their child’s education.
The education academics’ inference -wrongly – is that we charter schools give a choice to people who are not qualified, much in the same way that the sub-prime housing bust was a result of giving mortgages to people who could not afford to put money down, on houses whose values were inflated. In that case, if housing prices went up, the buyer would win. If not, the taxpayer would lose – and lose they did.
In charter schools, parents make a decision to take their child from, or not enroll them, in the assigned public school. They are in the same financial position as every other parent who the government supports by funding specific traditional public school systems. If they make a choice because they believe it will be better, and they are right, their kids succeed. If they are wrong, they have the right to transfer back. The taxpayer does not lose. In fact, the taxpayer gains because the 90% of charters opened that succeed by all measure help fuel better education, better jobs and thus a better economy.
After almost 25 years of charter schooling in this nation, a movement involving some 6,800 schools, serving 2.5 million students and involving more than 4 million adults, one would think that even marginal education professors might take the time to learn first hand and read the hundreds of studies done which validate that these schools have succeeded in not only stabilizing public education but saving it from further failure.
-Jeanne Allen, Founder and President Emeritus of The Center for Education Reform