Jerry Brown's Oakland charter schools: worth scrutiny in the governor's race

October 27, 8:50 AMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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With former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown in the running for governor (he was previously state governor in the '70s-early '80s and is now state attorney general), the fact that Brown founded and lavished attention and fundraising efforts on two Oakland charter schools -- while, many say, ignoring and scorning the schools in the rest of Oakland that serve the other 98 percent -plus of Oakland's students -- is newsworthy and should be getting close scrutiny. VERY close scrutiny.

Oakland's Perimeter Primate blog posts today about Brown's charter schools, the Oakland Military Institute and Oakland School for the Arts, with lots of detail:

Jerry Brown’s Two Pet Charter Schools: Part One

Jerry Brown wants to have another turn on the Governor of California ride. The "About" page on his campaign website features a little story about him.

Of the 1035 words written to summarize Jerry’s long political career, 196 words are dedicated to Brown’s accomplishments while he served as Oakland’s mayor from 1998 to 2006. Of those 196 words, 53 words quite accurately describe Brown’s involvement in education during that time. His interest in the education of Oakland’s school children is explained as such:

Brown personally founded the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute. Both schools serve students from the 6th grade through the 12th and are among the best performing schools in Oakland. Their graduates are now studying in such outstanding universities as Yale, Vassar, Stanford, West Point, UCLA and UC Berkeley.

Now, an astute observer will notice something’s missing – namely any mention of the 50,000 or so students who attended the schools which weren’t either of Jerry’s charters. With so little information about his views on public education or any other possible involvement he had had, an independent critical thinker will be curious how the claims on Jerry’s website mesh with reality.

Read the rest of Part One of the Perimeter Primate post

...and Part Two.