“It looks like a ‘witch-hunt’ against charter schools,” said senator Lois Tochtrop (D) Colorado, about yesterdays audit request of Colorado charter schools filed by Rep. Merrifield (D), Rep. Judy Solano (D), Sen. Bob Bacon (D), and Sen. Evie Hudak(D).
The proposed audit of the academic performance and governance of each and every one of Colorado’s 170+ charter schools, was also supposed to evaluate charters fiscal impact on school districts.
Fortunately a bi-partisan coalition voted against the audit in a 5-2 vote.
Charter schools are held accountable at many levels, including their district (or state authorizer), the Colorado Department of Education and their own school board. An audit of this nature would have been an unnecessary cost to taxpayers during an already difficult budget year for the state.
This request to the Legislative Audit Committee came on the heels of unrelated state audit results of Cesar Chavez Charter Network (Pueblo, CO), that reflected too many students were permitted extra time on last year’ s state standardized assessment. The charter school responded that this happened during previous school leadership which is no longer employed by the school. No other issues were reported.
Rep. Merrifield has made no secret of his disdain toward the Cesar Chavez Network and charter schools in general. He made news in 2006 with an email to a colleague saying that “charterizers, voucherizers, and privatizers have a place in hell and they deserve it."
The Colorado League of Charter Schools (CLCS) issued a statement in response to yesterday's audit request, saying:
“The League is not opposed to legitimate review of the policies and practices in place across Colorado's charter sector, but this attempt was not the right way to do it. Notably, we have been trying to meet with Rep. Merrifield about this since October.”
Republican lawmakers called the audit request "a punitive overreaction to the failings of one charter school."
“Colorado’s charter schools continue to provide an excellent educational opportunity for our children,” Rep. Lambert said. “I applaud the Audit Committee’s decision to reject Rep. Merrifield’s proposal in his continued attempts to discredit these particular institutions.”
State Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, who is serving as a temporary member on the Legislative Audit Committee this week, agreed with Lambert’s statement.
“This request was way over the top,” he said. “It was a misguided attempt to unfairly target and discredit Colorado's charter schools and deprive parents of their right to public school choice.”
Since Representative Merrifield has made it clear that he is unlikely to support any charter school friendly bills, if they so were dipped in chocolate, it is likely that education bills bearing his name will continue to be met with suspicion by charter supporters.
For more information:
Education 101: What is a charter school?
Education 101: Are charter schools public schools?
Info 101: What is a charter school authorizer?
Info 101: Comprehensive national directory of charter schools
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Karin Piper is the author and speaker of Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing 2009), which boasts more than 30 chapters of must-know information and a complete school research guide for parents seeking charter schools.
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Comments
We had a charter school here in San Francisco that had the following problems:
-- Two of its students died by falling into a ravine on an unsupervised school wilderness outing, due to clear negligence by the school.
-- Its finances were a shambles; teachers' paychecks were bouncing.
-- It was graduating students with far fewer than the required credits.
-- Its test scores were rock-bottom.
-- The president of its board, a local lawyer, intimidated would-be whistleblowers into silence by threatening to sue them.
When the school board moved to revoke the charter for these small issues, the charter (Urban Pioneer) hired a PR guy who also used the term "witch hunt," and compared our school board to the Taliban. You can confirm all of this in the mainstream media via Google.
The charter advocates view any attempt to hold them accountable as a "witch hunt," I guess! I have a feeling this comes from the charter schools PR handbook. Karin, how can you defend this sleaze in good cons
Caroline,
Not sure what "sleaze" you are referring to?
The audit request was over the top.
So Caroline as you saying when a traditional public school as a problem -- ie an inappropriate teacher/student relationship -- we should spend millions of tax dollars to audit all public schools to see if the same thing is happening elsewhere? Or do we trust that it was an isolated incident and that appropriate checks and balances are in place. Charters, like other public schools are held accountable to many entities -- actually more. To throw out the baby with the bathwater at taxpayers expense because of one bad apple doesn't make sense.
We had a charter school here in San Francisco that had the following problems:
-- Two of its students died by falling into a ravine on an unsupervised school wilderness outing, due to clear negligence by the school.
-- Its finances were a shambles; teachers' paychecks were bouncing.
-- It was graduating students with far fewer than the required credits.
-- Its test scores were rock-bottom.
-- The president of its board, a local lawyer, intimidated would-be whistleblowers into silence by threatening to sue them.
When the school board moved to revoke the charter for these small issues, the charter (Urban Pioneer) hired a PR guy who also used the term "witch hunt," and compared our school board to the Taliban. You can confirm all of this in the mainstream media via Google.
The charter advocates view any attempt to hold them accountable as a "witch hunt," I guess! I have a feeling this comes from the charter schools PR handbook. Karin, how can you defend this sleaze in good cons
Sorry to be so cranky about it, but charter schools are forever claiming to be so "accountable," and then they scream "witch hunt!" the minute anyone tries to hold them to it. It is really dishonest and sleazy of them.
By the way, in the case of the San Francisco charter school with the 2 student deaths, the financial shambles, the academic fraud, the rock-bottom test scores and the board president threatening to sue staffers if they disclosed any of this -- the state charter lobbying organization here in California (then called the California Network of Educational Charters, now the California Charter Schools Association) helped the school fight against our school district's attempt to shut it down after the two student deaths and after the other problems I mentioned came to light. It IS sleazy.
No, Stacy, this is not what I'm saying:
"So Caroline as you saying when a traditional public school as a problem -- ie an inappropriate teacher/student relationship -- we should spend millions of tax dollars to audit all public schools to see if the same thing is happening elsewhere?"
I'm objecting to the knee-jerk charter reaction, which is to scream "witch hunt!"
It is not true that charters are more accountable, though. That's just plain false. The story of the charter in my district -- while its failings were extreme -- is quite typical of the situation when an authorizer has a problem with a charter and the charter chooses to fight back. The now-failed for-profit charter operator Edison Schools Inc. similarly fought against our district over an Edison charter here in 2001, waging a bloody war in the media and the courts that did a lot of harm to our district. Their entire message is "we are accountable to no one!"
Caroline,
Just for your information, the person who called the request for an all state charter school audit a "witch-hunt" is not a charter leader, state charter org, or charter advocate--but a (democrat)senator.
The reaction against the proposed audit was across party lines, hence the 5-2 vote by the Colorado Legislative Audit Committee NOT to impose such audit.
I would like to clarify that this article has nothing to do with death of children, San Francisco charter schools (past or present), Edison Learning, or California's charter authorizers or state charter organization.
As Karin mentioned, the point of this is not that charters are unwilling to be subjected to audits. The point is that this particular audit request was so hostile and subjective that even a democratic senator who is not normally a big charter supporter stood up and said wait a minute, this looks like a "witch hunt". Keep in mind that the representative who asked for this audit also said publicly that charters deserve a special place in hell. Doesn't make him very subjective or credible on this subject.
Wow, Caroline, you repeated yourself three times in great detail, all regarding one school.
I could spend hours telling you public school horror stories, all in my own county. My own children were involved in sexual assault case against many second graders. There was NEVER a call for an investigation, or changes, and NO accountability?
There are good and bad charter schools, and the bad ones are closed down. The same can not be said for public schools, though Obama is changing that by challenging them with Race to the Top reforms.
It was a technical error that my post showed up twice -- whether mine or the website's, I'm not sure.
I think it's a safe bet that this senator is a charter advocate, as are many Democrats. I understand that this charter situation has nothing to do with Edison Schools, children's deaths etc. -- I was only remarking on the repeated use of "witch hunt" in response to an attempt to hold charter schools accountable. I vigorously disagree that it's so simple as "the bad ones are closed down" -- if they choose to fight back, it's very difficult to close them down, as we learned in my school district.
Caroline, are you saying that all claims of "witch hunt" must mean the same thing? And are you saying that because of one Colorado charter schools audit results that students were given extra time on their state standardized tests should equal an all-charter school audit to see how these schools financially impact the district?
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