Districts such as Camden are mired in poverty, crime and bloated bureaucracies, and yet are the very districts where teachers are taking the most heat for students’ failures. I’ve actually spoken to teachers who work in some of the former Abbott districts. They’ve told tales of poor guidance from administrators who lack proper credentials, evaluations not being done, money not getting to the classrooms for supplies and textbooks, schools falling apart around them. But time and again, they all tell me the most crushing obstacle they face is the major role poverty plays not only on a child’s ability to learn, but on the parents’ ability to do their job. Poverty is a national crisis, but 'reform' politicians and investors haven't figured out a way to profit from it. Blaming teachers and privatizing public education is so much easier, and so much more cost-effective. While the companies involved in the UHA are non-profits, many in education reform across the state and country are not. And with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a Broad Academy graduate, declaring that the DOE is 'open for business', many for-profit companies are lining up for a piece of the pie. "[The Urban Hope Act] will allow private nonprofits, with proven experience in education, to build and manage up to four new ‘renaissance’ schools in Camden, Trenton and Newark. No state or public bond dollars will be used to build these schools. And they’ll get 5 percent less per-student state funding than regular district schools. Their promise is that they can do better with less." Wait a minute… How many public school districts in this state have not only ‘proven experience in education’, but damned good track records to boot? New Jersey has one of the best public education systems in the nation. But you won't find the best in terms of test scores and graduation rates in Camden. They're in wealthy suburbs where the quality of life is much better and unemployment rates are lower. With such an outstanding track record, one would think Acting Education Commissioner Cerf, also a Broad Academy grad, would enlist the help of these suburban superstars before turning to the private sector. And what ‘proven experience’ do these nonprofits have? What is their plan for dealing with all the baggage that poor students bring? Most likely it will involve a heavy dose of skimming from the top. After all, not every child in Camden lives in poverty. There are some solid middle class families with parents who take an active role in their children’s education. And those children are much less expensive to educate than those who have been damaged by abuse and neglect. "In districts that are clearly failing, it makes sense to experiment with charter schools, voucher programs and the Urban Hope Act. The new law is not perfect. Urban Hope schools will be exempt from the state’s bidding laws, a provision that seems unwise given the history of corruption in Camden." Why does this make sense? Where’s the proof that these initiatives will work? Twenty years of vouchers in Milwaukee have done no good. Rapid expansion of charter schools like New Orleans and Florida have done nothing but line the pockets of investors, while two major studies done in the past three years and backed in part by education 'reformer' Bill Gates, (CREDO and The Center for Reinventing Public Education) conclude the majority of charter schools do no better than public schools. It’s easy to manage crime and violent behavior in a private school: it’s called expulsion. It’s much harder to expel a student from a public school. School districts do whatever they can to keep kids in school because it's their job. But in a private/charter school, if you don’t toe the line, you’re out. Then what? Kids either end up like the street children of Brazil, or they end up being nails in the coffins of all those ‘failing’ public schools and ‘lousy’ teachers. Maybe that’s just what education ‘reformers’ want—that, and more no-bid contracts. Faits accomplis. |
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