Post a comment"Giving parents the power to act as a check and balance on the board is a good idea. After all, it is their kids who are the ultimate customers of the charter schools. As such, the parents should be free to give some input, raise questions, and ensure school funds are properly spent."
Would this mean that parents have the right to decide their children's breakfast menu?
The original charter school law was flawed. First sign of that was when lawmakers involved with it, such as Dwight Evans and Vince Fumo immediately founded their own charters. Evans benefitted also from another law he sponsored, Act 46, that enabled the state takeover of Philadelphia. He then recommended a company owned by one of his contributors for a contract as education manager. See, there was never really a "local school district" in Philly to monitor the charter schools. Half the SRC members are appointed by the governor. There is too much involvement between politicians and school managers. That is the formula for corruption. I hope this new law has some teeth for stopping all that.
The state will do a better job? It was the state that had the responsibility to provide oversight of Agora. It was the state that issued Agora's charter. There was no local distric involved. No one is holding PDE responsible for having failed miserably in its responsibility to monitor Agora and the other cyber charters. PDE is as responsible for what happened to Agora as anyone, but no one is asking them the important questions.
The State also had the responsability to question behaviors and they did not....they turned their heads as well. The corruption runs deep !
charter schools were formed so that politicians and well connected people could start stealing from the local school district and taxpayers. as we have seen, this has already accured. when tax dollars are involved and the people involved are caught, all punishment should be doubled. leave the cookies in the jar for the children.
let's get it straight, there is a small percentage of charters that are in question. most charters are greatly outperforming district schools. so district apologists, many of whom got up early to spew their anti-reform venom, like to make this a bigger deal than it is. it is also interesting that a newspaper in chapter 11 bankruptcy would opine on fiscal mismanagement anywhere else. we spend $3.2 bil a year in philadelphia for public education, most of it for horribly failing schools full of lazy teachers and useless administrators. the small portion that goes to charter schools has been the best return on educational investment funding that we've seen for quite some time. let's not reduce options or even limit them. expand choice for all children. contrary to the protests of those living off decades of failure, it's working more children than ever before.
let's get it straight, there is a small percentage of charters that are in question. most charters are greatly outperforming district schools. so district apologists, many of whom got up early to spew their anti-reform venom, like to make this a bigger deal than it is. it is also interesting that a newspaper in chapter 11 bankruptcy would opine on fiscal mismanagement anywhere else. we spend $3.2 bil a year in philadelphia for public education, most of it for horribly failing schools full of lazy teachers and useless administrators. the small portion that goes to charter schools has been the best return on educational investment funding that we've seen for quite some time. let's not reduce options or even limit them. expand choice for all children. contrary to the protests of those living off decades of failure, it's working more children than ever before.
Pointguard..you are way off point ! It's not anti-reform venom, its the truth. The truth in this case is a very big deal. Tax payer money being stolen to fill pockets while stealing opportunities from the children of this state..its very BIG DEAL. This isn't about district vs charter its about right and wrong. What has been allowed to go on under these current law is wrong and it needs to be fixed.
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