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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > March > 25 > Entry
Guest column: If charter schools go down, expect chaos
We’re being inundated by folks going to bat for charter schools, which would lose up to a third of their funding under Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed budget.
Here’s a take from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which has been a big backer of charter schools in the state and in Dayton. One interesting statistic the authors point to that I haven’t seen before is how many Dayton teachers and support personnel would be affected if the local charters go under.
Charters are a big business in Dayton.
From: Terry Ryan and Kathryn Mullen Upton:
It’s common knowledge that the current budget bill (H.B. 1) proposed by Gov. Ted Strickland would cut charter school funding to levels that would likely kill off a sizeable percentage of the state’s charters.
Ohio has more than 330 charters that serve more than 82,000 children. The sudden demise of 150, 200 or more schools would likely result in chaos for the children involved, their families, the teachers and administrators in the schools, and in the communities they serve.
First, let’s say H.B. 1 becomes effective this July, and the proposed funding cuts render financial viability for charter schools impossible for 50 percent of them in August.
This would mean roughly 41,000 children and their families statewide would suddenly be looking for new schools for the 2009-2010 school year. As most children in charters are in cities, the impact would be extreme in places like Dayton (6,200 charter students), Cleveland (10,000 charter students), Columbus (8,000 charter students) and Cincinnati (6,800 charter students).
In Dayton, if half of the 6,200 children in charters were tossed out of their schools, this would result in roughly 3,100 students looking for new schools. Many, if not all, would likely flood the Dayton Public Schools.
Imagine the challenge for Dayton, with a student enrollment of about 15,500 students, facing a sudden influx of more than 3,000 new students.
Simply registering and placing these students into classrooms would be a monumental challenge. A nearly 20 percent influx of new students would require the district to find classroom space for all these students. Teachers also would have to be identified and hired in a matter of a couple of weeks.
The district also would have to, among other things, figure out how to provide lunches to all these new students, and quickly arrange how to transport them around town to their new schools.
All this, remember, would be happening in a school district that has struggled mightily to educate the current group of kids under its charge. Consider that 75 percent of district students in Dayton last year attended a school rated “academic emergency” (an F) or “academic watch” (a D) by the state.
Second, there are about 4,500 teachers working statewide in Ohio’s charter schools.
In Dayton, there are roughly 465 teachers working in charters, and another 435 support staffers and administrators. These folks, and the thousands of other adults statewide who service charter schools, would be tossed into a brutal job market.
Some would end up in traditional district schools, but many would simply swell Ohio’s unemployment rate of 9.5 percent.
Third, closing Ohio’s charter schools en masse would further litter the state’s already blighted urban landscape.
In Dayton, the nicest and most modern buildings in neighborhoods like Dayton View are charter schools. Does Dayton, a city Forbes magazine recently rated as being the “fifth emptiest city” in America, really need more empty buildings, especially in its poorest neighborhoods?
Finally, abruptly closing hundreds of charter schools would involve so much extra work, the operations of the Ohio Department of Education, the state auditor’s office, and the attorney general’s office would likely grind to a halt.
They’d be overwhelmed trying to figure out things like tracking and confirming student records (for example, how many high school credits do various students actually have?); figuring out who is responsible for unemployment payments for laid-off teachers; and determining the status of millions of dollars in federal grants, federal special education dollars, and federal food program dollars for charter schools.
Additionally, there would surely be dozens, if not hundreds, of lawsuits filed by angry parents, disgruntled employees, upset landlords, and vendors. It would be a legal mess of massive proportions.
It is true that Ohio, and Dayton, still have too many academically underperforming charter schools. State lawmakers have dealt with this in recent years by putting into place an academic death penalty for the most chronically underperforming schools.
Two schools were forced to close in 2008 and 23 more are at risk of closure in 2009 because of poor academic performance. More can and should be done, however, and proposals to tighten up the academic performance requirements for charters should be supported.
But, seeking to go after a significant proportion of all charter schools (the good, bad and ugly alike) — by starving them of money — in one year would create serious problems for children, families, communities and the state.
At times like these, let’s hope that cooler heads will prevail and that the focus is on supporting those schools that work.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Economy, Education, Guest Columns, Ohio politics
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By Mary
March 25, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this
I stumbled over the 150,200 in the second paragraph. I am interpreting in context that it is meant to be 150 and 200 and not 150,200. This might cause other readers some confusion. The article is interesting, probably right, but focuses on the politics of fear. What is most important to me is parents and students will be coerced back into a public education monopoly they obviously think less desirable or did not find acceptable - so much for democratic freedoms and choices. That is the big issue.
By Davidss2
March 26, 2009 9:24 AM | Link to this
I love it. The same people telling us how successful charter schools would be (99% are failing to be excellent) are now telling us how awful everything would be if they quit draining money away from the kid of Ohio in the public schools. Who believes them? I treat it like an Obama press conference when they cry “Wolf!”.
By Cathy Bryan
March 26, 2009 10:46 AM | Link to this
If 75 percent of district students in Dayton last year attended a school rated “academic emergency” (an F) or “academic watch” (a D) by the state, why aren’t we discussing the closure of those failing schools? We pay the most for our worst schools. When you look at “value-added” testing, community schools out-perform their district counterparts. (Value-added testing tracks the progress of individual students.) Community schools are flooded each year with new students who have fallen behind at the districts and then the community schools have to bring them back to grade level. If charters aren’t working, why are parents choosing to leave the districts? We are in our 6th year of e-schooling and we are saving tax payers $3000/year/student. What’s the problem?
By Davidss2
March 26, 2009 11:12 AM | Link to this
Now we have the big push to keep stealing money from the public schools for the “experiments” in showing everybody how public schools should operate. But the charters haven’t been successful. The propaganda was that they would be WunderSchule and would show everyone how it should be done if only the dumb public school folk would listen to the religious and ultra conservative groups that hate public schools because the teachers have unions. Come on, be honest. BUT the charters haven’t been successful. There may be one in Cincy that was out of several with money mismanagement problems that got publicized and same for Dayton area. If part of the schools close, the students will find public schools better than they left. If all charters close, we’ll handle the students along with some parochial schools. As to why people keep leaving the public schools to try charters? It’s because they hear the propaganda that it’s not the kids, it is the school that is the problem. They go to the charter with undertrained, out of subject teachers, who often couldn’t get a job in public schools or are older retired from other jobs. They meet up with businesses trying to make money from the public’s school money. They meet up with the ineffective schools and end up bring their children back to public schools who test and find they are far behind after a couple years in the WunderSchule.
By Rich
March 26, 2009 11:38 AM | Link to this
While it’s hard to argue that the “worst case scenario” from Fordham couldn’t actually occur, haven’t we heard this same tune before? It wasn’t so many years ago that the decline in Catholic parochial schools was predicted to “flood” public schools with unwilling and unexpected students. That basically didn’t happen, even though THOSE numbers seemed equally undeniable. In any case, this argument that we can’t allow failing charter schools to go out of business is disturbingly similar to the rationale for bailing out AIG, huge banks and businesses like GM: “They’re TOO BIG to allow them to fail!” Well, if the rules say ya gotta perform or the public cash is cut off, let’s ENFORCE those rules, and get about the business of continuing reform and improvement of existing public schools. I’m also puzzled by Mary’s comment about “democratic freedoms” — what does this issue have to do with democracy, other than the fact that our representative form of government is used to MAKE CHOICES about what we’re going to use public money for? Being a democratic republic (which this country is) doesn’t imply anything about “choice” for schooling children with public money in private or semi-private settings. People have “choice” with their own money, not public money, in this context. In a time of shrinking revenues, choices must be made in all areas, including systems for delivering education to public school students; while some of these may be regrettable, they will also be unavoidable.
By Cathy Bryan
March 26, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this
to clarify my above comment: why aren’t we talking about closing failed DISTRICT schools? They cost more than community schools…why pay more for failure?
By Mary
March 26, 2009 4:07 PM | Link to this
Rich, I will try to clarify my thoughts regarding democratic freedoms in the context of eduction issues and choice. You brought up representative democracy which is ailing in our country from the get go at the local, state and federal levels. Some indicators are the “campaign finance reform issues”, over-reliance on the two party system, and books such as “Just how stupid are we?” (about the American voter), “All politics is loco”, and students and parents who vote, but do not know squat about civics. Many parents and students do not believe public schools to be safe, intellectual, focused or socially responsible. It becomes an invasion of private freedoms to hold them financially and legally hostage to a single system. One issue I have had to deal with as a parent (and student) is the public system is a wasteland particularly for high ability students who are coerced into a seat time and age oriented system that has little relevance to their learning anything new other than where or how to become social and intellectual imbeciles. To them, public education essentially amounts to being a victim of “habeas corpus”. To their parents it amounts also to more property taxes to support an inept system usually voted by a slim majority of generally ignorant or kept in the dark voters. I generally do not feel well represented by elected board members (who runs?), levy votes, state or U.S representatives who are usually annointed by party hacks and a burdensome campaign financial system financed by special interests - not by the public interest. If our democratic systems and education systems are failing, we need to still stand up for choices as a pathway to guard basic day to day freedoms including the pursuit of happiness. Many students are unhappy and underserved by public education. Most important, the public interest is also not being served by the traditional public education system where one size is supposed to fit all.
By Davidss2
March 26, 2009 6:21 PM | Link to this
To clarify: The public schools aren’t experiments that are on the public dime that failed. Remember the problems of the public schools are the students and parents more than the teachers and buildings. Remember: to clarify, the charter schools were to show how they could do much, much better on less money since they had less restrictions and requirements. E.g., they don’t educate special needs children and behavior problems. They send them back to, guess where!, the public schools.
By TRS
March 26, 2009 6:29 PM | Link to this
All public money is the people’s money and perhaps the representatives of this government should begin listen to people who desire a choice rather than being forced into failing systems. I would present a differing view as to why people go to charters and their success. In one of the schools Dann sought to shut down, we find kids who had parents in jail and/or they had been in trouble and this school was their last chance. While some of its goals had not been met several were. In comparing with public school, there were only two schools in the Dayton School System which had better results - one for gifted kids and the other for the arts and it takes an invitation to get into either one. For the past two decades, we have been told that public education would get it right. I know many teachers and don’t question their dedication or desire to do the right thing; but, I do question their desire to prop up an outdated bureaucracy. Many are at the point where we need more than words. Just like the auto industry of which came about in the early part of the 20th century, so too the educational system needs an overhaul.
By Christy
March 27, 2009 12:11 AM | Link to this
I’d like to know where Davidss2 is getting his information that 99% of charter schools are failing and that charters are run by religious and ultra conservative people who hate public schools?? I have 4 children who do online charter school and there is nothing religious about their school! We checked out several charter schools in the Dayton area and none of them were religion based. Now they do teach character, but that’s not religion!! They do expect more from their students behavior wise, but what is wrong with that?? The state may think that the solution to the city school systems is to shut down all the charter schools and force those kids back into the system so we can get their money!! Won’t work with our family. The state will either lose all of our money because we choose to homeschool or they’ll pay for all 4 of my children to attend private school!!! They won’t force me to do anything that I don’t think is right for my children!! It’s MY children, MY school and MY choice!!! If you want to be a part of a great rally about School choice there will be one at the Ohio Statehouse May 13th, 10:00 am-1:00 pm. Come out and let your voice be heard!!!
By max
March 27, 2009 5:36 AM | Link to this
How can DPS succeed when they are sent children who aren’t prepared for school, they don’t have food in their bellies - many don’t even know their alphabet in 1st grade….Those are things PARENTS are supposed to do…..and PARENTS are supposed to send their children to school - but many don’t. If you put some of those same children in another district, you’re going to get the same results…Our education system is the same for kids in the urban districts, poverty ridden, suburban, and rural areas. But the needs of those areas are different. Same as the needs are different for gifted children and spec ed children. This broad brush approach to education is what is FAILING!! Schools like ISUS are successful because they are meeting the needs of their students. DECA and Stivers are successful because there is parental support - many in DPS are failing because neither is happening. Until our government lets districts create schools that meet the needs of their students in whatever way that is, there are going to continue to be failure.
By Davidss2
March 27, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
Christy needs to take a reading course. I said the people pushing charter schools are the religious types and conservative types. They will do and say anything to smear the public schools. TRS: I’m sure some of the parents of Dayton school students have jail experience. That’s not an excuse for a special school with special funding and special lack of regulations to not be successful as they promised to be when lobbying the legislature to exist in Ohio. Dann was right on that about the schools.
By Lou schnorr
March 27, 2009 11:45 AM | Link to this
Ellen I sent in some statistics in a letter to the editor documenting the extremely high graduating rate among students in the private Schools. There was also info on the large percentage of those students who pursued a higher level of education. There is no logical reason to deny these schools some funding. The banishing of the private system would not only create havoc with the public ed. systems population but would set the school budget in a downward spiral.
By Mark
March 27, 2009 1:16 PM | Link to this
Teachers in public schools are used to the idea that citizens should be forced into making choices they may not otherwise make. In most of the traditional public school districts in this state, teachers are required to join the state teachers’ union (Ohio Education Association, or OEA in Ohio) which is governed by the NEA. These organizations boast about their huge membership numbers, but they only have huge rosters because teachers are forced to join in order to be employed. Is this democracy in action? So any traditional public educator has already swallowed the Kool-aide that there are some things where you simply aren’t permitted to have a choice. Davidss2 probably wishes we’d go back to the days when the government ran the telephone service. The incredible choices we consumers now have in regards to cell phone services must make his head spin. Also, Davidss2 is just shooting from the him when he says that charters “don’t educate special needs children and behavior problems.” Really? Many parents of special needs children turn to charters for help because the local publics can’t give them adequate service.
By TRS
March 27, 2009 3:59 PM | Link to this
FYI - turns out Dann was wrong about the one I referred to as the suit was not pursued. Among other things, it seems the state had sent them a letter honoring them about the same time they filed suit. However, what it did do is drive a good educator out of the business. I do believe Max hit it on the head - the preservation of the “one size fits all” just doesn’t work. Perhaps the biggest drawback to improvement, private or public, is governmental micromanagement….and of course, everyone seems to want even more of that.
By Davidss2
March 27, 2009 7:35 PM | Link to this
High graduation rates are easy when you can force your problem students back to the public schools instead of keeping them. Private schools pick who they allow in and pick who they keep. The shuffle out the riff raff before graduation time; voila, see what percent we graduate!!! Parochials have been known to do the same thing. Charters also play numbers games; they even keep students on their roles who have chosen to return to other schools/public schools so they keep collecting funding for them. The state’s computer system wasn’t good enough to catch that “oversight” on charters’ parts. The telephone example doesn’t work. People pay for their telephone choice; a phone isn’t a government responsibility to supply to you. Big difference.
By charter school teacher
March 27, 2009 8:05 PM | Link to this
<— works as a teacher in a charter school. I have to say all schools in Dayton have their faults, charters included. As a former Dayton Public School student, I know first hand the lack of excellent teaching. We can all talk until we are blue in the face. How about a solution to all of the problems? Any ideas?
By JohnD
March 28, 2009 1:07 AM | Link to this
My child is a special education student and the public school system failed him miserably and continues to do so. By having a choice and enrolling him in the e-school he has made huge improvements and is doing well. If my school is closed you can bet I will be filing a suit as I see this as a reasonable accomodation. Rather than sue the district I enrolled him and now you want to force him back into a school system rife with drugs, violence,and worse? The public school system has had decades to get it right and still fails children like my son. I love knowing that the politicians think they know what is better for my son than I do.
By Christy
March 28, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
Many people who are against charter schools think that we are taking money away from the local public school district.Traditional public schools are funded by both state and local taxation (like property taxes). When a students goes to a charter school, the local funding stays in the local school!! Charter schools are only funded by state money and have no access to local taxes. So my local DPS is getting my taxes and they don’t even teach my 4 children. There are more than 23,000 online charter school students throughout the state and over 80,000 that attend charter schools throughout the state. So that is over 100,000 students that schools are getting local funding for and they don’t have to provide any service or materials to!! So after doing some searching on the ODE website I find that the local funding per student in DPS is over $5000!!! That’s a little more than 40% of total funding the school would get if my children attended the local public school!! They are making money off of my choice to e-school!!
By TRS
March 28, 2009 12:42 PM | Link to this
So - whats your answer davidss - just let the kids keep on failing in the public schools? In the private sector, excuses may work for the short term but you are doing nothing more than repeating the same excuses we’ve heard for the past two decades + while at the same time providing absolutely no answers that are satisfactory. Charters were created because public education wasn’t getting the job done. So whats changed that would make someone like JohnD or Cathy change their opinion?
By Marianne
March 28, 2009 10:03 PM | Link to this
Davidss2, I work for a charter school organization. I’m a life long Dem - though not very happy with Ohio Dems at the moment. I worked for Obama campaign for 10 months - as many other charter school supporters. Many, teachers in charters are Teach for America alum - more so in other states bc Ohio is so hostile. TFA are wildly progressive - they see quality education as a social justice issue. Obama supports charters. This is NOT a Republican/Religious cause. Some kids can thrive in a large, traditional district, some can’t. It’s about meeting kids needs. I don’t understand why that is so threatening to you.
By Mary
March 29, 2009 8:22 AM | Link to this
Christy brings up some intersting financial issues I have brought up in various forums in the past regarding how the Post Secondary Enrollment Option (college classes for high school students). Parents and students are demonized for exercising these choices while their choices can actually make our education system more affordable. These parents and students actually benefit less than traditonal public school students and parents in terms of dollars spent on their programs of choice.
By Davidss2
March 29, 2009 9:36 AM | Link to this
First charters were created as a way of having their own schools they could control for their purposes by politicians, some groups like Fordham who want control, and some local folk who think they can do it better but don’t want the full set of rules of having their private or parochial school (think about the several expublic school teachers involved in starting many local charters—the principal who lost her license, e.g., for not reporting child abuse and actively covering it up). The parents are just pawns in the political power grabs, and some go along with it very well. It’s nice to twist words avoiding the real story such as implying ALL kids are failing in public schools. The parents who actively support their kids when at parochials simply need to actively support their kids in public school. They need to actively demand that administrations playing to not criticise some failing parents, because of political goals wanting their votes again, actually keep discipline and get rid of kids who won’t and their parents who won’t cooperate fully. Is Stivers failing? Is Deca failing? As I said above, it’s all been a political game since Reagan stood in front of parochial school people and promised to get funding for their religious-based schools.
By Mary
March 30, 2009 7:34 AM | Link to this
Davidss2, some of what you say might be correct, but I can assure you many of us are not religiously motivated on the education choice issue. I think some public school cultures actually push religion onto their students - pledge of allegiance, for starters, and most major school holidays cater to specific religious groups. Among many choosing to home school are gifted students, because the curriculum and staff in public schools do not seem capable of handling or willing to understand or support their educational needs. They are bored, bullied, and underchallenged. Traditional public school education is torture for many different types of students. We are a nation of individuals. That can either be our strength or our weakness. We can either embrace the differences or fear them.
By JohnD
April 11, 2009 2:08 AM | Link to this
It is odd that all around the country colleges are adding more and more e-schooling as a choice yet this is not good enough for younger students? And DavidS what do you say to those of us parents who did support our schools and try to hold them accountable only to have it thrown in our face? The public schools I have dealt with do not want parental involvement, they want parental compliance. And my school system can not even get over 40% of its special education students to be proficient in any subject year after year.
By EnviniloG
March 26, 2011 3:26 PM | Link to this
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