Here is a correspondence I sent to the CA Charter School panel.\u00a0 I would encourage supporters of charter schools to let the panel know your views.\u00a0 You can contact them at:<\/p>\n
chartertaskforce@cde.ca.gov<\/p>\n
Members of the Panel:<\/p>\n
There was a time when the Democratic Party could truthfully state it was trying to help those least able to help themselves.\u00a0 That appears no longer to be the case, and now Democratic politicians are more and more able to be portrayed as against the less fortunate.\u00a0 As soon as those further from center were elected, the public sector teachers union used its Democratic legislative bidders to propose a rash of anti-charter legislation.\u00a0 This panel has a chance to serve as a moderating influence in this overall process.<\/p>\n
I intend no disrespect to the panel, but your reason for being, purportedly to study the financial impact of public charter schools on traditional public schools, isn\u2019t even a genuine question.\u00a0 Going back decades, the main cause of financial stress for school districts in California has been outlined in audits, CAFRs, and rating agency reports for school districts all over the state.\u00a0 Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB), negotiated with unions as part of a collective bargaining process that results from a conflict of interest, are the main cause of this financial distress.\u00a0 In LAUSD, where retired teachers receive perhaps the most generous health-care benefits anywhere, these costs reportedly take up to 15% of the budget.\u00a0 If you want to study why school districts face financial stress, OPEB is the place to start, not charter schools.\u00a0 And you might want to start that analysis with how unions are able to collectively bargain with elected officials whose campaigns they funded.<\/p>\n
The benefits of charter schools are many.\u00a0 Charter schools have done better, especially for low-income, minority, and disenfranchised students and families.\u00a0 Charter schools\u2019 track record of getting these students out of high school and into college puts to shame the decades-long track record of the union-run schools.\u00a0 A college degree, on average, means about $1.4 million more in earnings over a student\u2019s lifetime.\u00a0 Charter schools have also done this on less public funding than traditional public schools when all taxes are considered.\u00a0 No matter how you slice it, charter schools are a public-policy win.\u00a0 What is happening now is nothing less than the unions admitting they cannot compete in the classroom, so they are using their political muscle to thwart competition from charter schools.\u00a0 And the Democratic Party is choosing to stand with the unions instead of standing with those it purports to represent.\u00a0 Democrats can be characterized as only favoring programs for the less fortunate when it makes those less fortunate beholden to the Party, not when a program allows the less fortunate to help themselves such as through a better public education.\u00a0 That is what charter schools do.<\/p>\n
An interesting comparison is this: charter schools have to re-up every five years.\u00a0 How often does the teachers union have to do that?\u00a0 The answer: Never!\u00a0 The result is that the vast majority of teachers are members of a union they did not choose to belong to.\u00a0 Given the harmful impact of OPEB on school districts, would you not want to address that instead of limiting an effective public school option?\u00a0 The fact that you are not addressing this speaks volumes!<\/p>\n
I could go on and on about how charters outperform traditional public schools.\u00a0 If I were a conservative political consultant, I would be salivating at the prospects of the 2020 election cycle.\u00a0 This process is clearly establishing the Democratic Party as saying \u201cHow high?\u201d in response to your union funders’ demand to \u201cJump!\u201d\u00a0 How high in this case means: to remove an important ability for the less fortunate to change the trajectory of their kids\u2019 lives, the cost to society of which is less than the alternative, all to benefit a costly and under-performing union monopoly on public education.\u00a0 Public sector unions are using their contributions to the Democratic Party to drive away competition in public sector education, and to keep the monopoly intact.\u00a0 It is no different than if Ford did the same to limit the ability of General Motors to operate.\u00a0 No different at all.\u00a0 And when 2020 comes I would relish the chance to drive a wedge between the Democratic Party and one of its most important historical political bases.<\/p>\n
Your panel should do the right thing.\u00a0 It should act as a moderating and honest voice in this whole dishonest debate.\u00a0 Do not place a moratorium on charter schools.\u00a0 Do not give school districts the ability to deny charters for financial reasons that don\u2019t deal with the cause of school districts\u2019 financial stress.\u00a0 Do not take away an important appeals process that helps keep the district authorization verdicts honest.\u00a0 Do not increase the cost of facilities by requiring union construction.<\/p>\n
Do what you say you do: stand up for the little guys and keep the charter school movement in California strong and vibrant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is a correspondence I sent to the CA Charter School panel.\u00a0 I would encourage supporters of charter schools to let the panel know your views.\u00a0 You can contact them at: chartertaskforce@cde.ca.gov Members of the Panel: There was a time when the Democratic Party could truthfully state it was trying to help those least able… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckfinancial.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}