State legislators clash over the rights of charter schools
State legislators clash over the rights of charter schools
To state Sen. Owen Hill, the issue is simple. "We [should] treat all public school students equally within a district...
To state Sen. Owen Hill, the issue is simple.
"We [should] treat all public school students equally within a district," the Colorado Springs Republican says.
Hill, chair of the Senate Education Committee as his second four-year term begins, says that's not happening right now because charter schools don't always get an equal share of mill levy increases approved by school district voters.
The money from those taxes isn't divvied up automatically based on pupil counts. Instead, it's distributed based on contracts that charters agree to when approved by a school district. Some districts might give charters a large share of those funds; some may not give them any.
Hill is co-sponsoring Senate Bill 61 — similar to a bill of his that failed last session — trying to change that system. The bill would require school districts to distribute mill levies on a per-pupil basis, starting in the 2017-18 school year, to charters and traditional public schools.
Some exceptions exist. If a mill levy was passed to fund something that a charter doesn't offer (like school buses), the charter won't get the money. If a charter school was authorized by a school district other than the one it was located within, then the authorizing district would only owe it the per-pupil amount for kids who reside in its boundaries. Charter schools authorized by the state's Charter School Institute would be compensated by the Department of Education based on a calculation of mill levies collected by "the charter school's accounting district."
To Hill, the bill aims to correct an unfair situation. Currently, he says, "[Parents have] got this situation where they go to one school on one side of the street and that school receives $10,000 for that child, or if they go to the school on the other side of the street, the school board will basically say, 'Well, all you get is $2,500 if your child goes there.' So now we're picking winners and losers among our kids."
But Hill's view isn't shared by all legislators or education workers.
What Hill leaves out, they say, is that charters aren't equal in any other way — they don't follow the same rules or meet the same standards. So why, they say, should they be treated the same only when it comes to funding?
When Colorado legalized charters in 1993, it was hoped they would foster innovation, serve different needs and give options to families in struggling areas.
Many specialize. In Colorado Springs, for instance, two new charters were recently authorized: Landmark Community School, a sober high school, and the Colorado Military Academy, a military-style K-12.
Charters may not get all the district funds they desire, but they receive no less than 95 percent of state per-pupil funding, often get a portion of district funding, and can apply for a variety of federal and private funds.
Back in 2014, for instance, Philanthropy News Digest reported, "Denver-based DSST Public Schools [a system of charter schools] has announced a $7 million pledge from cable television entrepreneur John C. Malone and the Malone Family Foundation." The Walton Family Foundation announced last year that it would give $1 billion over the next five years to expand charters and school choice.
Charters are not forced to abide by all laws and standards that apply to traditional public schools. According to the Colorado Department of Education, charter schools are automatically granted waivers to 17 state laws. Among them are "local board duties concerning competitive bidding" and "local board powers — accepting gifts, donations and grants." Unlike traditional schools, charters are not required to hire licensed teachers nor must they follow many employment rules that apply to firing and paying teachers.
What's more, charters can ask the State Board of Education to waive other laws. Charters are eligible to have all but three sections of laws waived. What that means, says Sen. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs and a former high school music teacher, is that charters get a pass on many expensive requirements, but are free to raise money in ways that are difficult or impossible for traditional public schools.
"I would be more inclined to be supportive [of Senate Bill 61] if [charters] would adhere to all the same requirements that local public schools do," Merrifield says.
Another critic: the state's largest teachers' union, the Colorado Education Association. CEA President Kerrie Dallman has a litany of complaints about SB61. Chief among them: "We have a chronically underfunded system, and what Owen Hill's bill does is pull money out of classrooms in order to direct it to these charter schools. What we ought to be doing is talk about growing the pie."
The charter system in general also has its detractors. A statewide poll of 500 registered voters in January 2016 found that "voters overwhelmingly favor charter school reform proposals."
The GBA Strategies poll, performed for In the Public Interest and the Center for Popular Democracy, found, for instance, that 88 percent wanted to "require state officials to conduct regular audits of charter schools' finances to detect fraud, waste or abuse of public funds"; 76 percent wanted to "require charter schools to publicly disclose they are exempt from some state or school district laws including the law requiring public school teachers to be licensed to teach"; and 74 percent wanted to "require companies and organizations that manage charter schools to disclose outside funding including gifts, grants, and donations." The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Last summer, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Movement for Black Lives (which includes Black Lives Matter organizers) both came out against charter schools. The groups expressed concerns ranging from the privatization of the public school system to segregation based on perceived abilities, to lack of transparency and accountability. That's notable, because charters, remember, were originally seen as a better way to educate underserved communities.
Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 Superintendent Walt Cooper says his district has long had a great relationship with its charter, The Vanguard School, which is actually located just outside D-12's boundaries. D-12 authorized it agreeing that Vanguard would get a per-pupil portion of D-12's mill levies — but only for Vanguard students living within D-12's boundaries. Cooper says the agreement was fair, and it actually wouldn't change should SB61 pass (a key change from last year's version of the bill). But he opposed Hill's first bill, and he's not keen on SB61 either.
Cooper says he's a fan of local control, adding, "A one-size-fits-all approach does not work."
What's more, he says, there are differences between charters and traditional schools — and that's fine. But, he says, "Let's either all play by exactly the same rules ... or recognize [charters] for the fact that they are different and let's not try to make them the same."
Hill has a counter to the "charters are different" argument. School districts can apply for waivers to state laws too, he says.
That's true. Districts can apply for waivers for "innovation schools" with specific, approved plans. But they don't get automatic waivers, and aren't eligible for as many waivers as charters. Plus, Cooper says, the state board seems less inclined to grant waivers for traditional schools.
He recounts D-12's recent waiver application for its kindergarten program. Cooper says he worked with Vanguard, whose application for the same waiver was approved immediately, to produce his own application. But Cooper's proposal wasn't rubber-stamped. It took three months, three tries and appearing before the state board to get his application approved, with a three-year sunset.
"Basically, we copied their [Vanguard's] homework, and they got an A and we got a D," he says. "We were asking for exactly the same thing."
By J. Adrian Stanley
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Senator Warren to Join Call to Alter Sales of Distressed Loans
Senator Warren to Join Call to Alter Sales of Distressed Loans
Housing advocates have attracted a prominent ally in their push to change the federal government’s policy of selling...
Housing advocates have attracted a prominent ally in their push to change the federal government’s policy of selling distressed mortgages at a discount to private equity firms and hedge funds.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, will join other lawmakers, advocates and community activists on Wednesday in a Washington rally to oppose the loan sale program.
The senator is expected to call on the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the federal overseer of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to make it easier for nonprofit organizations to bid for the bundles of distressed mortgages put up for auction, people briefed on the matter said.
The sale of distressed mortgages by HUD and the government-sponsored mortgage finance firms is drawing growing criticism from housing advocates and lawyers in recent months. The critics are concerned that the private buyers of distressed mortgages are moving to quickly to put borrowers into foreclosure as opposed to modifying the loans as housing officials had hoped.
The investors are buying loans often at a 30 percent discount.
One of the biggest buyers of distressed mortgages is Lone Star Funds, a $60 billion private equity firm based in Dallas. The firm, which is also buying soured mortgages directly from banks, has raised billions of dollars from investors, including public pensions to invest in distressed home loans.
The private equity firm’s practices in dealing with delinquent borrowers was the subject of a front-page article in The New York Times this week.
The housing advocates said that, in addition to noon rally with elected officials, they intended to protest outside of Lone Star’s offices in Washington.
Source: New York Times
Freedom To Thrive: Criminalization, Policing, and Mass-Incarceration: Interview with Jennifer Epps-Addison - Audio
Freedom To Thrive: Criminalization, Policing, and Mass-Incarceration: Interview with Jennifer Epps-Addison - Audio
Listen to a discussion with Jennifer Epps-Addison about The Center for Popular Democracy's new report, Freedom To Thrive: Criminalization, Policing, and Mass-Incarceration.
Kansas City Social Justice Group Says Too Many Are Left Behind in Today’s Economic Growth
Kansas City Star - March 5, 2015, by Diane Stafford - When Andrew Kling dug into an economic research project, he was...
Kansas City Star - March 5, 2015, by Diane Stafford - When Andrew Kling dug into an economic research project, he was shocked to find there were more payday loan shops in Missouri than there were Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and Starbucks locations combined.
“In a time when Wall Street is reporting record profits, many low-income people are feeling the pain,” said Kling, communication manager for Communities Creating Opportunity.
His social justice organization, better known as CCO, held a rally Thursday in front of a small strip center at 63rd Street and Troost Avenue that houses a payday loan company and a fast-food restaurant.
“It’s an appropriate site for releasing our report,” he said.
CCO is seeking support for a “covenant for a moral economy” that among other things asks the Federal Reserve to pay attention to those at the bottom of the economic ladder when it considers raising interest rates this year.
Kling said CCO is concerned that the unemployed and underemployed are being victimized by predatory lending practices, and they’re getting no help because of “political gridlock” and employers that have kept “wages dangerously low.”
The Rev. Stan Runnels, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 11 East 40th St. in Kansas City and a CCO participant, said a moral economy would include “wages that cover the costs of raising a family, where everyone has access to affordable credit in their communities.”
The rally also was planned to focus on racial inequality in the Kansas City area, where unemployment among blacks is 12.6 percent, compared with 5 percent for whites.
Kling said CCO research also found that from 2000 to 2014, the median wage for workers in Kansas was basically flat and the median wage in Missouri declined 2.5 percent.
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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article12522674.html#storylink=cpy Source
Council Moves to Enhance Voter Registration Through City Agencies
Gotham Gazette - November 24, 2014, by Samar Khurshid - At a hearing Monday, the New York City Council's Committee on...
Gotham Gazette - November 24, 2014, by Samar Khurshid - At a hearing Monday, the New York City Council's Committee on Governmental Operations approved the latest drafts of two bills that enhance the responsibility of city agencies to conduct voter registration and a resolution calling for the State Legislature to pass similar legislation.
These measures are an attempt by the Council to improve the compliance of City agencies with Local Law 29, also known as the Pro-Voter Law, which was passed in 2000. The law requires 19 city agencies to handle voter registration applications for customers.
The new legislation is headed to the full Council for a vote on Tuesday and then, if passed as expected, to the desk of Mayor Bill de Blasio. The bills expand the mandate of the Pro-Voter law to seven additional agencies and create a standard for enforcing the law, including required semi-annual reports from participating agencies. Implementation of the existing law has proven to be a problem, with city agencies failing to uphold their responsibilities to offer registration forms to New Yorkers doing other business with the City.
The accompanying resolution calls upon the State Legislature to augment existing agency-assisted registration laws to include codes on registration forms that would help track agency performance and registration statistics.
Council Member Ben Kallos, chair of what he called the "good government committee," introduced Intro 493 A which expands scope of the Pro-Voter law and sets a deadline of December 1, 2015 for agencies to integrate their forms with voter registration.
The second bill, Intro 356 A, which establishes reporting requirements for the agencies, and the accompanying resolution, were introduced by Council Member Jumaane Williams.
"The last election was abysmal," Williams said of voter turnout in response to questions from Gotham Gazette. Stating that the city and state are falling behind in civic participation, he said, "This should be an issue that all parties - Republicans, Democrats, third parties - every party should be working to increase participation."
The push for increased voter registration began in July with Mayor de Blasio's Directive 1, which ordered agencies under the Pro-Voter law mandate to create plans for implementing the law. Then, in October, the City Council introduced the two new bills in response to a report released by a coalition of good government groups which showed the City's lax compliance with Local Law 29.
According to the report, 84 percent of clients at 14 of these agencies were not provided registration applications when they should have been. Additionally, only 2 out of 5 applicants with limited English proficiency were given translated applications, and agents were not trained in the application process.The report was compiled by the Pro-Voter Law Coalition, comprised of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, Citizens Union of the City of New York, and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). Their investigation was aided by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The report's importance is highlighted by the fact that over 30 percent of New Yorkers who were interviewed at the agencies were not registered to vote.
The de Blasio administration initially rejected the two bills over privacy concerns and on the grounds that they came too close on the heels of Directive 1 and wishing to see agencies given more time to comply. Taking those concerns into consideration, changes were made to Williams' bill on reporting mandates. Williams disagreed with the administration but eventually came around to ensure changes were made in the proposal which will protect applicants' information while still allowing the Board of Elections to track registration data from agencies.
"I'm expecting (the) resolution to have a serious impact in Albany," said Council Member Kallos to Gotham Gazette. "Whether it's the Assembly or the Senate, we can all agree that government works better when we measure what its doing and this will take a step towards that."
Representatives of the good government groups that authored the report also testified at the hearing. Steven Carbo, director of Voting Rights and Democracy Initiatives at CPD praised the proposals, asserting, "Likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of eligible voters were never given the opportunity to register to vote over the years, perpetuating regrettably low rates of voter registration in New York particularly among lower income, of color and immigrant citizens," he said.
Peggy Farber, legislative counsel for Citizens Union, called the proposals "meaningful steps to improve the pro-voter law, to codify the important work of the administration."
On Tuesday, the bills and the resolution will head to the full Council for a vote at the Stated Meeting, where they are very likely to pass.
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In $15's Wake, Fair Scheduling Gains Momentum
Worker movements have had tremendous success in blue cities and states in securing higher minimum wages and access to...
Worker movements have had tremendous success in blue cities and states in securing higher minimum wages and access to paid sick leave. Now those wins are blazing a trail for another critical policy for low-wage workers: the right to a fair workweek. After enacting a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave in recent years, two cities are now leading the way on granting workers the right to a sane and predictable schedule.
Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his support for legislation currently pending in the city council that would give Gotham’s fast-food workers the right to more predictable work hours. On Monday, the Seattle City Council passed a comprehensive fair workweek law that advocates hope can serve as a model for other cities.
These policy developments come at a time when many workers say that service-sector employers’ scheduling practices make it impossible for them to live their lives. On-call scheduling—in which workers can be told to report to work with little advance notice—make it hard for employees to schedule parenting, school, doctor visits, and much else. Scheduling software aimed solely at efficiency can lengthen or eliminate their shifts at the last minute. On top of that, the prevalent practice of “clopening”—where a worker has a closing shift followed just a few hours later by an opening shift—often leaves workers with little time to rest. Meanwhile, workers are on the hook for the costs of uncertainty, like a last-minute taxi ride to work or unexpected child-care costs.
In one nationwide survey, four out of five early-career adult workers said that their weekly hours fluctuated by an average of 87 percent compared with their usual hours; 45 percent of hourly workers who are parents said they have no input on their schedules.
Fair-scheduling advocates say it's time for employees to have more say in scheduling practices—and for employers to finally pay their workers for the costs that their flexible schedule imposes on employees (like those taxi rides and child care). They are also demanding that companies stop hiring more and more workers to maximize flexibility while cutting hours for existing workers.
In 2014, San Francisco became the first jurisdiction in the country to mandate fair-scheduling practices with its unprecedented “Retail Workers Bill of Rights.”
In 2014, San Francisco became the first jurisdiction in the country to mandate fair-scheduling practices with its unprecedented “Retail Workers Bill of Rights.” The new Seattle law will build on that by requiring that employers give workers two weeks advance notice on shift schedules—any changes made to schedules after that requires additional compensation for the worker, including half-time pay for any hours an employer cuts or cancels. Workers will have the right to request flexible scheduling without fear of retaliation.
Workers will also have protections against “clopening.” The proposed law would be the first in the country to require an employee’s consent for shifts that allow less than ten hours of rest, and to mandate that “clopening” workers get paid time and a half. Additionally, employers would be required to offer available hours to part-time workers before hiring additional workers. Companies that have been found to consistently under-schedule workers and make last-minute shift changes would be subject to fines.
“These are critical steps forward. If you don’t get that many hours, earning $15 only goes so far.”
On the opposite coast, the New York City legislation focuses on the 65,000 workers in the city’s fast-food industry. As such, it follows the pattern set by Fight for 15 organizers, who first convinced Governor Andrew Cuomo to convene a wage board for fast food last year, later to be followed by a general increase in the state minimum wage. “We are in a battle to restore dignity and decent living to retail and service workers in industries where that really has been badly eroded in recent years,” New York City Councilmember Brad Lander told the Prospect in an interview. “These are critical steps forward. If you don’t get that many hours, earning $15 only goes so far.”
As in the Seattle legislation, New York fast-food employers would be required to give workers two weeks advance notice on expected shifts, mandate additional compensation for last-minute changes to a worker’s schedule, and provide protections for workers who are “clopening.” However, as of now, the proposed policy gives employers a week of wiggle room after setting the schedule to make changes before locking it in.
The policy initiative is in the beginning stages, Lander stresses, and the city council may push for any number of changes, including broadening the law to include the entire service industry. As of now, the policy is aimed at the same group of fast-food employers that Cuomo’s wage board dealt with—chains with 30 or more locations nationwide. It’s those bigger chains that already utilize sophisticated scheduling software to minimize labor costs. They can use that same software, Lander says, to ensure that workers have a predictable and secure workweek.
To date, fair-scheduling laws have lagged behind wage hikes and paid sick-day ordinances in city halls and statehouses.
To date, fair-scheduling laws have lagged behind wage hikes and paid sick-day ordinances in city halls and statehouses. At the federal level, in 2014, Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the Schedules that Work Act, which protects hourly workers from scheduling abuses—though with Republican control of Congress, the bill hasn’t gone anywhere.
But fair workweek policies now appear primed to become the next front in the low-wage worker movement.
But fair workweek policies now appear primed to become the next front in the low-wage worker movement. In response to pressure from SEIU’s Local 32BJ, a powerful force along the Eastern seaboard, policy-makers in Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Jersey City may soon pass new rules that mandate 30-hour workweeks for service workers, like security guards and janitors, in large commercial and residential buildings. In November, voters in San Jose will decide on a ballot measure that would require companies with 35 or more workers to offer additional hours to part-timers before taking on new employees.
Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis are also considering fair-scheduling measures for retail and fast-food chains, though both efforts have run into heavy resistance from the business lobby. Workers and organizers are also pushing for a fair-scheduling law in Emeryville, a small city between Berkeley and Oakland that is a major retail-shopping destination for the east Bay Area.
“The momentum with the Fight for 15 has opened up this new space where policy-makers are starting to listen to the real needs that the country’s workforce has been talking about for a long time,” says Carrie Gleason, director of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fair Workweek Initiative, which is assisting with local fair-scheduling efforts. “This isn’t a new issue,” Gleason adds. But “the accelerated pace in which these types of work-hour policies have taken off is a demonstration of the moment we’re in.”
By Justin Miller
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Bill Would Offer State "Citizenship" to Immigrants in New York
Fox News Latino - June 16, 2014, by EFE - A group led by New York state Sen. Gustavo Rivera launched Monday a campaign...
Fox News Latino - June 16, 2014, by EFE - A group led by New York state Sen. Gustavo Rivera launched Monday a campaign that proposes awarding state "citizenship" to the estimated 2.7 million immigrants who live in the Empire State, regardless of their immigration status.
"We have failed with immigration reform nationally and what we want is to provide an opportunity for the almost 3 million people who live and contribute to the public treasury in our state to take part in its political, civic and economic life," Rivera told Efe Monday before introducing the bill.
Dubbed the New York Is Home Act, the bill contemplates granting citizenship to immigrants who can show they have lived in the state and paid their taxes for the past three years, and who promise to obey state laws, continue paying their taxes and agree to serve on a jury.
Immigrants who fulfill these requisites will receive a new document allowing students to pay in-state tuition and receive financial aid to attend state universities, be eligible for healthcare under Medicaid, obtain a driver's license, have the right to vote in local and state elections and even run for public office.
"We're starting out here in New York but the idea is to extend this movement across the country to other states like California, Illinois and Texas, and to treat our fellow workers, students and store owners as they deserve," Rivera said.
The campaign that kicked off Monday at Manhattan's Battery Park, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, has the backing of political and religious leaders of the region, along with the support of organizations like the Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road New York and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
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Home care workers rally in New Haven around terminated employee
Lara was joined by more than a dozen supporters Wednesday, organized by the Working Families Party, which has been...
Lara was joined by more than a dozen supporters Wednesday, organized by the Working Families Party, which has been advocating for a $15-an-hour wage, paid sick days and predictable schedules for this group of employees.
Management at Family Care VNA & Home Care at 495 Blake St., where Lara worked for more than three years in a 28-year career, called police to keep the protesters away from its office. The protesters continued to march on the sidewalk leading into the parking lot where the company is located.
After about an hour, Lindsay Farrell, state executive director for the Working Families Party, Julio Lopez of Make the Road, which is part of the Center for Popular Democracy, and Lara approached New Haven Officer Scott Durkin, who was standing outside the care agency’s office.
Durkin passed on a petition to management signed by more than 9,000 people asking that Family Care VNA & Home Care meet with Working Families to discuss workplace protections for its employees.
“I am here today because on Aug. 3 I got terminated for exercising ... freedom of speech. I was searching for a better workplace for my co-workers, for those who are afraid to speak, because this is their only source of income to maintain food on the table and a roof over their kids’ heads,” Lara said.
The longtime certified nursing assistant has been on panels with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLaura, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Thomas E. Perez, secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, talking about the conditions that CNAs face.
Lara said she never mentioned her employer, but spoke generally about the industry and the need for a pay upgrade, benefits and schedules they can count on.
“I believe that no human being should be treated like animals, because that is what they treated us like, paying us $10 an hour. We are a big asset to the company and if not physically fit ... how can we go out there and do our jobs?” Lara asked.
“What I am searching for is justice for me and so many other workers that do the same job as I do,” she said to the crowd.
Lara said this all began when she took off two days for emergency surgery for her gallbladder on Feb. 26. Her doctor recommended she stay out of work for two to three weeks.
A message seeking comment was left with Donna Simmons, a human resource specialist at Family Care.
Lara said she ended up back in the hospital because she returned to work too early. On May 22 and June 3, she had additional surgeries for an abscess on her breast for a total of eight days missed for health problems.
Lara said she put up with the $10-an-hour pay because “I like what I do and I enjoyed working with my patients and I didn’t want to leave them hanging.”
She said after the last surgery, her hours were cut from 54 hours a week to 14 hours, putting her behind on her rent and bills.
Lara said the firing not only hurt her financially, but “has taken away what I like and what I enjoy, which is working with people.” She said she is collecting unemployment compensation.
Lara said she feels that she was being punished for taking time off “to take care of my physical health.
She said when she was terminated, management alleged that she had used profanity in front of a client, but Lara said that was not true. She said they told her at that meeting Aug. 3 that she was being fired for “bashing the company.”
Lara said Lou Mangini, who works on constituent concerns in DeLauro’s New Haven office, has been in touch with her.
The letter from Working Families to Rita Krett, who is listed as the owner of the company, said Lara’s firing was “unacceptable and immoral.”
It promised to escalate its support of Lara and other workers if the company doesn’t improve conditions.
Show mothers you care with predictable work schedules
This past Mother's Day, I didn't want a fancy brunch. I didn't want flowers or a big box of chocolates. I want...
This past Mother's Day, I didn't want a fancy brunch. I didn't want flowers or a big box of chocolates. I want something that you won't find on any Hallmark card: a job with a predictable schedule.
For the past few years, unpredictable hours have been the single biggest obstacle to a real work-life balance for me and for thousands of other working moms across Oregon. That is why I'm fighting for a state bill that would start to stabilize hours and provide relief.
Read the full article here.
Escuelas charter en Nueva York requieren mayor escrutinio
Las escuelas independientes (charter) han proliferado en las últimas dos décadas con repetidas promesas de mejorar la...
Las escuelas independientes (charter) han proliferado en las últimas dos décadas con repetidas promesas de mejorar la calidad de la educación. Su ascenso ha sido tan rápido que hoy en día, el número de alumnos matriculados en muchas escuelas públicas está disminuyendo vertiginosamente, y se tiene previsto que en la próxima década algunos distritos pierdan hasta un tercio de sus estudiantes con relación a principios de siglo. Muchos distritos afectados por esta tendencia se están viendo forzados a despedir maestros, enfermeros y otro personal importante que apoya a los alumnos que quedan en las escuelas públicas.
La ley federal Every Student Succeeds, promulgada a fines del año pasado, no hará sino acelerar esta tendencia. Se proyecta que la ley aumentará al doble el gasto en escuelas charter durante la próxima década.
Sin embargo, a pesar de la explosión en ese sector, la supervisión se ha quedado atrás y, hoy en día, hay cada vez más motivos de preocupación. En un estado tras otro, las investigaciones han revelado mala administración, abusos y fraude descarado en las escuelas charter, incluso en aquellas elogiadas por sus buenos resultados. Una encuesta reciente de escuelas charter en todo el país realizada por el Center for Popular Democracy, descubrió que han despilfarrado la asombrosa cantidad de $216 millones desde 1994.
La ciudad de Nueva York no ha sido inmune al problema. En la extensa red de KIPP, por ejemplo, la escuela pagó casi $70,000 para llevar al personal en viajes de varios días al Caribe para fines presuntamente educativos, pero se detectaron pocas actividades de desarrollo profesional durante la estadía, según descubrió una auditoría en el año 2006.
En 2010, Joel Klein, secretario del Departamento de Educación, ordenó que la East New York Preparatory Charter School cerrara sus puertas después de que se reveló que la fundadora y directora de la escuela se había nombrado superintendente y se había dado un aumento de $60,000.
Muchas otras escuelas charter en toda la ciudad enfrentan preguntas sobre gastos cuestionables. El informe del CPD descubrió que muchas escuelas en la ciudad no documentaban sus gastos, no divulgaban casos de conflicto de intereses ni usaban licitaciones competitivas para asegurarse de comprar productos y servicios al mejor precio.
No se puede permitir que continúe esta situación, particularmente porque se tiene previsto que las escuelas charter aumenten exponencialmente en años próximos. El informe del CPD recomienda varias maneras de asegurar que los gastos de dichas escuelas se mantengan en regla, lo que incluye auditorías para detectar y evitar el fraude, y mecanismos para aumentar la transparencia de quienes operan escuelas charter.
Los encargados de dictar la política deben redoblar sus esfuerzos para promulgar medidas de supervisión incluso más estrictas y asegurar que todas las escuelas charter gasten su dinero sensatamente. A no ser que vigilemos este sector más estrechamente, en años próximos podrían desaparecer millones, perjudicando así a estudiantes y padres de familia en toda la ciudad.
By Kyle Serrette
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