by Deborah Grill, Lisa Haver, and Diane Payne
This district opened its first charter school in 1998. Every year, those lobbying for and profiting from the privatization of public schools have promised to improve education for the city’s children. They said that the district had an obligation to create charters for the good of the children and the community. Twenty-five years later, we can see that the charter experiment foisted upon the city and its families has failed. Because of the backing of well-funded PACs and special interest groups, with their increasing political influence, charters have avoided accountability to the same communities they made 6their promises to.
The district has had many years to learn that the aspirational language of charter apps is rarely achieved. Charter renewal evaluations don’t measure whether the schools have fulfilled their promises of innovation; they cite standardized test scores and other data.
Almost every month, we see the Board renew substandard charters. Charters that fail to meet most or all of the basic standards are renewed after private negotiations with board staff. The board, like the School Reform Commission before it, refuses to hold public renewal hearings. The board protects the financial and political interests of charter operators and the elected officials who support them.
At its February 23 action meeting, the Board of Education will vote to approve or deny four new charter applications. APPS members’ research and analyses show that the Board should deny all four.
Global Leadership Academy International Charter High School
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools 