L.A. Charter Schools for the Mayor’s Cronies

Aug 31, 2009

On Tuesday, August 25, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to turn more than 250 schools – including 50 new campuses – to charter companies and “other operators.” Last year, eleven L.A. schools were taken over by Green Dot, a charter company in partnership with the Mayor Villaraigosa.

Board members claim that this move will help elevate the quality of education by “creating competition” between schools.

Competition? Brand-new, multi-million dollar schools, built with public money, are turned over to private companies, while public schools are kept in crowded older ones and starved for funds. Charter schools are encouraged to be non-union and allowed to hire teachers with less education, training and qualification – so they can pay them less! Charter schools are not mandated to administer standardized tests as public schools are, nor to match other requirements set by the schools.

By the measure of test scores, charter schools, including those run by Green Dot, have proved no better, and often worse than public schools.

L.A. politicians are not alone – their biggest sponsor sits in the White House. For months now, President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been publicly threatening to deny federal funds to California and other states that don’t ease regulations on charter schools!

No, charters have nothing to do with “quality” education. They are nothing but a huge gift to private businesses!