The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Charter Schools?
Take a Look at Dayton

May 23, 2005

If anyone wonders what the large-scale effects of charter schools could be, all you have to do is take a look at Dayton, Ohio.

Dayton, a city of 166,000 people, has 40 charter schools. Twenty-six% of Dayton’s public school students are enrolled in charter schools–a higherpercentage than anywhere else in the country.

Dayton’s public schools have been among Ohio’s worst. Have the charter schools turned things around?

Not on your life. They’ve made things worse.

Test scores at these charter schools are even lower than at the public schools.

At the same time, they’ve sucked 41 million dollars–36% of its state aid–from the Dayton public schools, throwing the district into a financial crisis.

That’s right: they have 26% of Dayton’s students, but they’ve gotten 36% of the district’s state aid!

The Dayton experience is a perfect example–of how to destroy a public school district, while making a few people very rich.