Jeff Bryant reports in Buzz Flash on the advent of charter schools in West Virginia. Specifically, Bryant reports on the nefarious dealings of for-profit charter operators, including one Ohio operator who may soon run nearly half of the charter schools in West Virginia.
Here’s more:
Nevertheless, out of seven charter schools that have applied to open in West Virginia, where charter schools had not been allowed to open until 2021, five of the proposed schools would be operated as for-profit entities, and of those five, three would be operated by Accel.
Of course, Accel doesn’t exactly have a track record of running great schools:
But based on Ohio’s A-F grading system, Accel Schools in the Cleveland area, where the management company has its highest density of schools, has no schools with A or B ratings from the 2018-2019 school year, the last one measured due to the pandemic. There are three C-rated schools, including Broadway Academy. Eleven others are D- and F-rated schools.
There’s a pretty strong indication that charter schools - especially those run for-profit - won’t do much to help West Virginia students. In fact, it seems likely they’ll cause harm:
A 2017 report from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that students who attend for-profit charter schools have weaker growth in math than they would have in a district public school
There’s more in Bryant’s reporting about the tangled web of profiteering from the public money invested in for-profit charter schools. The bottom line for West Virginia is that their new charter school law won’t improve academic outcomes but will boost the profit margin for some shady financial operators.
Tennessee Groups Push for School Funding Boost
Groups from Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga are calling on Gov. Bill Lee to use the current round of BEP funding reform to actually boost overall funding for the state’s schools:
Currently, Tennessee ranks 46th nationally in education spending. Sadly, we spend more to incarcerate adults than we do to educate our children. If Tennessee is serious about improving the education of our children and the future of all Tennesseans, then we must ensure that the education framework we create now reflects education components that are inclusive of the needs of all children across the state.
Tennessee experienced a $2 billion surplus last fiscal year. Imagine what progress we could make if we were to substantially increase the dollars available for our schools. The time is now to ensure that we increase education funding in an effective way that goes beyond simply re-allocating dollars.