Thousands Rally to Support Charter Schools
The turnout for Wednesday’s “Stand for School Equality” rally was impressive — more than 15,000 students, parents and teachers gathered in Cadman Plaza and marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, calling for measures to address the inequality in NYC’s public school system. Ostensibly a fight against unequal schools, the purpose of Wednesday’s rally would more accurately be described…
The turnout for Wednesday’s “Stand for School Equality” rally was impressive — more than 15,000 students, parents and teachers gathered in Cadman Plaza and marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, calling for measures to address the inequality in NYC’s public school system.
Ostensibly a fight against unequal schools, the purpose of Wednesday’s rally would more accurately be described as promoting charter schools.
New York City is home to the largest school district in the country; more than 1.1 million students attend public education institutions throughout the five boroughs, according to the Department of Education. But the city’s schools are also some of the nation’s most divided along race and class lines.
A 2014 study conducted by UCLA researchers reported that only 20 percent of NYC’s school zones were considered diverse, an extremely low percentage for such a diverse metropolitan area.
Families For Excellent Schools, the charter school umbrella organization that drove Wednesday’s rally, released their own report in August finding a divided school system that tracks affluent white students to the top 141 schools and poorer minority students to 850 underperforming schools, where 70 percent of attendees fail to meet academic standards.
Only one in five Black or Hispanic students in the city can read or write at grade level, according to the white paper, and more than 200,000 Black and Hispanic students did not meet academic standards on this year’s state exams.
“I have two boys in charter school and wanted to support the cause,” rally attendee Denise Sargeant told Brownstoner on the Brooklyn Bridge. “[I] wanted to promote good education, good schools and teachers, more training for teachers, and parent involvement.”
In a press conference held on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday, protestors asked Mayor Bill de Blasio to end education inequality and take immediate steps to provide families of color with good schools. The most frequent solution put forward to address the problem? Supporting charter schools.
“We are talking about thousands of parents, thousands of children, who just want a better future. Who just want opportunity to simply be possible,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in a noticeably pro-charter-school speech in front of City Hall.
Massive rally underway in downtown Brooklyn supporting charter schools. Singer #JenniferHudson headlining. pic.twitter.com/c2cDlDYfXW — Fox5NY (@fox5ny) October 7, 2015
Charter school rally in Cadman Plaza Park brought thousands of kids. Theme is #dontsteal possible. #Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/EiPatRgRJe
— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) October 7, 2015
“You have been marching, you have been chanting…we are listening!!” – @rubendiazjr #DontStealPossible pic.twitter.com/s2mXaeCCPB
— Families4ExcSchools (@Fam4ExcSchools) October 7, 2015
[Photo: Barbara Eldredge]
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Gothamist does a much better job at discussing equity in education here: http://gothamist.com/tags/nycteachertalks/1
Another point this author missed is that charter schools can not be used as a tool to redress widespread segregation in an urban school district like NYC. Research has shown that unfettered school choice has led to increased segregation in cities like NYC.
The author of this article didn’t do her homework about the astro-turf group Families for Excellent Schools.
The title of her article should read, “Thousands forced to attend a rally in support of the privatization of schools.”
Why no mention of the genuine criticism public school parents have of local and state government redirecting resources towards privatization rather than into decreasing class size or providing more support for English Language Learners and kids with special needs? Our neighborhood public schools have sometimes 10 times the numbers of English Language Learners and kids with special needs.
Why no mention of the absurd suspension rates for students in charter schools – including high number os suspensions for Kindergartners? In my neighborhood, one charter suspended over 10% of it’s kindergarten class in one year while no other elementary school in the district had any suspensions.
Why no mention of the ridiculously high numbers of empty seats in most of the charter schools – including Success Academies? Students drop out of charters – sometimes 30% of a class by 3rd grade, and aren’t replaced.
It really bugs me when people don’t do their homework and repeat the ridiculously gamed statistics the “education reform” movement puts forward. There’s a real impact to privatization and the policies they support are disastrous for the most at risk kids across NYC.
In the most simple terms, most people understand the dangers inherent in privatizing health care, water, and prisons. But articles like this make it seem like the astro-turf groups that are privatizing education are just doing it for the kids. PLEASE research this subject more carefully.
source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/06/04/why-hedge-funds-love-charter-schools/
Wow. That explains a great deal.
As a result of this change to the tax code, banks and equity funds that invest in charter schools in underserved areas can take advantage of a very generous tax credit. They are permitted to combine this tax credit with other tax breaks while they also collect interest on any money they lend out. According to one analyst, the credit allows them to double the money they invested in seven years. Another interesting side note is that foreign investors who put a minimum of $500,000 in charter school companies are eligible to purchase immigration visas for themselves and family members under a federal program called EB-5.
The tax credit may also explain why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg partnered with the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, to promote charter schools; donated a half a million dollars worth of stock to organizations that distribute charter school funding; and opened his own foundation, Startup: Education, to build new charter school
Why is the turnout “impressive”? Attendance was essentially mandatory for charter school students–who were also asked to miss school for the event. And the irony of calling this a rally about “inequality” is really rich. Numerous studies have shown that charter schools actually promote segregation. . . .
Try taking a look at parent participation in lower performing schools… Slim to none. That is the problem to address — not new schools. Everybody wants an easy fix.