Shapiro Consulting, Author at The Center for Education Reform

The Power of Choice: Who’s blocking ‘choice’ in the Rochester City School District?

May 21, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

By Berkeley Brean
NBC 10 Rochester (WHEC.com)
May 20, 2015

If a family in the city had the money to move to the suburbs for the good suburban schools that would be a choice. But what about the families in the city that don’t have the money to make that move? What choice do they have?

If they don’t win the charter school lottery, their children have to enroll in the worst ranked school district in the state. That’s why News10NBC traveled to Washington D.C. which is the capital of school choice.

We looked into who is blocking choice in Rochester. It’s the people who control the school system the way we know it now, according to the public school reformers we spoke with.

Jade Yates wants to make music and she wants that music to help people. Yates says, “I know a lot of people are going through a lot of things and depression and I think music really helps people.”

Jade is in the eleventh grade at Richard Wright Charter School in Washington D.C. It’s a charter focused on journalism and media arts. Going there was a choice her mother made.

Mother April Goggans says, “I think choice is just that. I think a lot of times parents feel shackled to their school in the neighborhood.”

Doctor Marco Clark is the founder and principal at Richard Wright. He makes a promise to every parent that their child will be accepted to a college.

“The question I ask is, ‘will the public schools do that?'” says Wright. “Do they make that type of promise? Are they bold, do they have the audacity to say things that charters and schools of choice actually have the opportunity to do? We stand by our product.”

Since school choice became the law in D.C., its overall graduation rate increased ten percent. Rochester City School District Board President Van White says, since he took office, the overall grad rate in Rochester has gone up the same.

“When I got sworn in at Number 50 School, where I attended when I was a kid, the four year graduate rate was 39 percent,” says White. “Now we’re not happy, but in August of last year the graduate rate was 48 percent. That’s almost ten percentage points.”

But in terms of choice, 45 percent of all children in D.C. go to charter schools. Only 14 percent of Rochester city children attend charters — that’s 4,200 out of 28,000.

Kara Kerwin of the Center for Education Reform: “Folks in Western New York and the rest of the state really need these options and we need emphasis on how we can scale up school choice in those areas.”
Berkeley Brean: “And who is stopping that?”
Kerwin: “The teachers unions. The status quo. The people who are afraid of change.”

Brean: “So what should parents be demanding then? Should they be getting on the phone and calling their New York State United Teachers’ office and Rochester Teachers Association office?
Kerwin: “They won’t listen to them. What needs to happen is legislative change, so that it takes away the power from those special interest groups and puts the power back in the hands of parents.”

Thursday night, in our exclusive report, we’re going to take that comment to Rochester Teachers’ Union President Adam Urbanski and he’s going to tell you something they he thinks will surprise you.

If you feel strongly about this, what can you do? We think you go straight to the top. You tell the governor he needs to do something. Now, that can be intimidating, so we made it easy. The phone number is 518-474-8390 or you can email him here. We composed a sample email that you can use as a starting point. You can click here for a form letter.

This piece is part of an in-depth, multi-part series called The Power of Choice. Watch the full special here.

Filed Under: CER in the News Tagged With: school choice, Parent Power

The Power of Choice

May 20, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

In May 2015, News 10 NBC in Rochester, NY, aired in an in-depth, multi-part special on the Power of Choice, exploring why parents in Rochester, New York, are not afforded the same opportunities as parents in Washington, D.C. when it comes to finding the best fit for their child’s education.

The series comes at a critical time when Governor Cuomo and New Yorkers are working to expand charter schools and bring much-needed tax credits to Empire State families vying for the freedom to choose the best education for their child.

The Center for Education Reform was honored to weigh in and provide context about how public charter schools have changed education in our nation’s capital.

Students at Richard Wright PCS 4 Journalism & Media Arts ask their own questions of News 10NBC Reporter @whec_bbrean pic.twitter.com/uWRKC0J6dS

— Kara Kerwin (@CERKaraKerwin) April 27, 2015

Watch the full special, the Power of Choice:

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools

Newswire: May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

Vol. 17, No. 20

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE. More students across the country are donning their caps and gowns this spring with U.S. graduation rates at an all-time high. However, the numbers aren’t telling the whole story. The Associated Press reported last week that “the record high graduation rate masks large gaps among low-income students and those with disabilities compared to their peers.” Not only are there major gaps, but overall achievement could certainly be better, with less than 50% of our nation’s 8th grade students able to do math and read proficiently. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan pointed out that gains in grad rates aren’t everything, and that we must ensure all students are prepared for life beyond K-12 education. And parents agree, as their demand for better schooling opportunities continues to outstrip the supply. It is time for state and local lawmakers to get serious about substantive and lasting change and work harder to bring about reform faster, bigger and better. Click here if you agree that it is truly time to put parents in the driver’s seat of their child’s education.

100 PERCENT. Meanwhile, we could all learn a thing or two in addressing the achievement gap from Gary, Indiana’s 21st Century Charter School. The school’s 2015 graduating class has a four-year graduation rate of 100%, and 100% of them have been accepted into college, with about 90% of the students being accepted to a four-year university. The Gary, Indiana charter school was founded in 2005 and has been extremely successful since it opened its doors. Remarkably, an overwhelming majority of the students come from poverty but they are beating the odds and inspiring the rest of the student body to aim high. It’s no wonder Indiana has remained the reformiest state in the nation by stimulating greater #ParentPower!

HOW WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED? With the achievement gap growing, and parent demand for choice at an all-time high, we may be the last generation to truly be in a position to save the next through education. But in order to bring about that change one must know how we got here. Make history, don’t repeat it! That’s the goal of EdReformU™, the nation’s first and only effort to inform, educate and arm the next generation of leaders to make real change happen in America’s schools. Building on the inaugural pilot course (video highlights here!), EdReformU™ is now seeking applicants for a new six-week course, History of Charter Schools (HistoryCS-201), beginning June 8, 2015. Prospective students can find details at university.staging.edreform.com and should tweet @edreform saying why they want to apply by Tuesday, May 19, using the hashtag #ERU. Authors of the most compelling tweets will be invited to apply for a seat. You’ll go down in history. It’s up to you how. Make it; don’t repeat it. Hope to see you on campus!

OPPORTUNITY KEEPS KNOCKING. “When parents have better choices, their kids have a better chance,” said school choice champion Senator Tim Scott at last week’s D.C. Opportunity Scholarship (DC OSP) hearing at Archbishop Carroll high school. And indeed, the data, the student stories and parent testimonies all indicate that this school choice program is working across the board and raising the state of education in our nation’s capital. Not only does the DC OSP have an excellent return on investment, with a 93 percent graduation rate for 40 cents on the dollar, but students are saying that the chance to use a scholarship to choose the best educational environment for them allows them to build a strong foundation for their future. It’s a shame critics continue to dig up old rhetoric against the program and Congress has to fight annually to ensure it remains appropriated. Here’s to hoping student and parent voices stand out when this program is up for reauthorization again in 2016.

HIDDEN TREASURE. Montana Governor Steve Bullock allowed a tax credit program to become law without his signature, after earlier vetoing an education savings account program for students with special needs. While the Treasure State’s new school choice program could be stronger, it’s certainly a first step for the state that has continued to rank dead last in Parent Power and saw five of six total school choice bills killed in the Legislature this year. Thankfully, 2015 so far has seen a flurry of steps in the right direction when it comes to increasing Parent Power and choice in education across the U.S., but we must encourage states to push harder and stronger in order to accelerate the pace at which our children have access to learning options that deliver on the promise of an excellent education.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

Why D.C. Parents NEED School Vouchers

May 19, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

In 4^th Grade, Shirley-Ann Tomdio’s life changed forever when she was accepted into the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP), which allowed her to transfer from a failing D.C. public school to Sacred Heart, a private Catholic school. Shirley, the daughter of two Cameroon, African immigrants, used the voucher for nine years.

Shirley testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 14, 2015 at Archbishop Carroll High School in Northeast D.C. to discuss the possibility of reauthorizing the DCOSP.

“In 2009, I graduated Sacred Heart School as the valedictorian and took my Opportunity Scholarship across town to Georgetown Visitation (Prep School)!” Shirley told federal lawmakers on Thursday. “At Visitation, I made Second Honors my first two years and First Honors in my third and fourth year. I was a decorated member of the track and field team, co-editor of our school’s Art and Literary magazine, a cheerleader for our school’s pep rally, and the Secretary and Treasurer of the Black Women’s Society. In May 2013, I walked across the stage and accepted my diploma.”

The voucher program for low-income children was enacted a year after congress passed the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. The program has been extraordinarily successful for the District’s most disadvantaged children. Consider:

in 2014, 89 percent of beneficiaries graduated on time vs. 58 percent of D.C. public school students;
for a high school education, it cost $12,000 per scholarship student annually vs. $20,000 per D.C. public school student; and
97 percent of voucher recipients are African American or Latino.

The scholarship program has been under assault since President Obama took office. The program ceased to exist in the first year he took office, but came back in 2011 through passage of the bipartisan SOAR Act. Every single year since then, his Administration has proposed to eliminate program entirely by excluding it from the budget.

Each year, supporters of the scholarship work extremely hard to get congress to reauthorize the program. The critics, led by the president and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, fight tooth-and-nail on behalf of failing schools and the unions, by rehashing old arguments and using outdated numbers. Thankfully, the bipartisan coalition led by school choice champions like Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) on Capitol Hill continue to remain strong and committed to ensuring parent choice prevails.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With: DC, school choice, vouchers, DC Opportunity Scholarship

Bad Deal in Baltimore

May 19, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

Progressives and unions gut a charter-school reform.

May 18, 2015
Opinion
Wall Street Journal

The Baltimore riots produced national lamentations about urban poverty, but don’t expect much to be done about it. Witness how the Maryland legislature gutted a charter-school reform that could have offered an escape for poor children.

Baltimore schools are some of the worst in the country. According to the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a mere 14% of Baltimore fourth graders and 16% of eighth graders were proficient in reading. One in four students fails to graduate from high school. This is a disgrace.

Many states have used charter schools as an alternative to let educators operate without the rules that favor teacher tenure and other protections over student learning in failing schools. But Maryland’s chartering law is one of the stingiest. It makes local school boards the sole chartering authority, and they see charters as competition. The state also limits the freedom of charter schools to innovate and demand high performance.

Baltimore has successes such as KIPP schools among its 31 charter schools teaching some 11,000 students, though those are remarkably small numbers for a city its size. In 2013 New York City had 70,000 students in 183 charter schools, rising to 210 for 2015-2016. More than 11,000 Maryland students are on charter waiting lists. That’s because, even with the state’s restrictions, charter students outperform those in traditional public schools in 4th and 8th grade reading and 8th grade math.

The tragedy is that last week Governor Larry Hogan signed a bill that leaves the city’s relatively few charter schools under the sway of the teachers unions. The new Governor’s original plan would have allowed charters to operate outside union collective-bargaining agreements, given charter operators greater autonomy over staffing and improved the state’s funding formula.

Those goals died at the hands of Democrats who dominate the state legislature, in particular state senator and former teachers union member Paul Pinsky. One of the first reforms killed was a measure to give charters the choice of participating in a collective-bargaining agreement. So charters must continue to answer to unions for work rules, tenure, even pay.

The reform victories that survived are modest. If a charter school has a good track record for five years, it can request exemptions from “textbook, instructional program, professional development and scheduling requirements.” How generous—a mere five-year wait to design a better curriculum. The law also requires the school district to let teachers transfer to charters if they want to go, and gives charters more control over the assignment of school principals.

Meanwhile, the Center for Education Reform notes that the law takes away much of the State Board of Education’s power to review local school-district actions on charters and makes it harder for the Governor to shape policy through appointments to the board. Under the new law, no plan for a charter school “may be construed to take precedence over an agreement of a local bargaining unit in a local school system.”

All of this reflects the power that government unions have over Democrats in Maryland, one of the country’s most left-leaning states. It also reveals the disconnect between the left’s rhetoric on poverty and its refusal to change the policies and practices that destroy economic opportunity. Look for another generation of education failure in Baltimore, and more riots down the road.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Congress weighs funding for D.C. school vouchers

May 15, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

by Andrea Noble
The Washington Times
May 14, 2015

Shirley-Ann Tomdio, a junior at George Washington University studying to be an orthopedic surgeon, ticked off a list of accomplishments that would make any parent proud.

The daughter of Cameroonian immigrants, Ms. Tomdio earned honors before graduating from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, was an editor of her school’s literary magazine, won awards on the track team and serves as a leader of a women’s empowerment group.

Speaking about her accomplishments before a panel of federal lawmakers Thursday in the auditorium of Archbishop Carroll High School, Ms. Tomdio credited her successes to her parents’ perseverance, as well as a school voucher program that made it possible for her to attend to the private high school.

“The scholarship has allowed me to build a strong foundation for myself,” she said. “As the oldest, I have to set an example for my siblings and most importantly, myself.”

Congress is gearing up to reauthorize funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program that aided Ms. Tomdio — a school voucher program that provides disadvantaged families with money to subsidize their children’s enrollment at private schools in the nation’s capital. Meanwhile, President Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget includes cuts to the program.

A GOP-controlled Congress established the federal voucher program in 2004, which has awarded stipends of up to $12,572 per student to send more than 6,000 D.C. children to private schools.

But since its establishment, the program has been a point of political contention, with critics questioning its impact on student achievement and calling on the government to focus resources on public schools.

Program supporters say it gives families a choice outside a troubled public school system.

“Despite spending more per student than any jurisdiction in the country, D.C. Public Schools continue to struggle when it comes to educating students,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, who oversaw Thursday’s hearing.

But local Democrats note that city schools have made drastic improvements in the decade since the voucher program was authorized, and say that if Congress wants to support school choice, it should dedicate the money to the city’s well-established public charter school program instead.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting congressional representative, raised concern Thursday about “fly-by-night” private operations that accept students as part of the program, noting that not all of them are as well-regarded as Archbishop Carroll, where more than half of 384 students receive vouchers.

“There is no quality control on these schools,” she said.

Schools involved in the D.C. program are vetted prior to participation and must meet testing standards, said Kara Kerwin, director of the Center for Education Reform.

“Results out of the D.C. [program] do give other places a hope this can work,” said Ms. Kerwin, noting that her organization ranks the city’s voucher laws as fourth best in the country.

But the biggest indicator of whether the schools are doing a good job is whether parents kept their children enrolled, she said.

Mr. Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget would cut funding for D.C. school programs from $45 million allocated this year to $43.2 million and would require $3.2 million of the allotment to be used for an evaluation of the voucher program. The funding is divided into three separate allotments that go toward the voucher program as well as D.C. Public Schools and D.C. Public Charter Schools. Each of the three received $15 million in the current budget.

Ms. Norton said she would like the voucher program to be phased out gradually, allowing the 1,442 students currently receiving vouchers to graduate without enrolling new students.

As lawmakers quibbled over funding, experts were divided on whether the voucher program delivers tangible results.

Megan Gallagher, a research associate with the Urban Institute, testified Thursday that there is no clear evidence that the voucher program is the best strategy to improve student achievement.

“The evidence is limited on the benefits of [the program] on student achievement,” said Ms. Gallagher, pointing to a 2010 Department of Education study of the program.

The study noted that “after at least four years students who were offered (or used) scholarships had reading and math test scores that were statistically similar to those who were not offered scholarships.”

However, the same study also concluded that students enrolled in private schools through the voucher program were far more likely to graduate from high school.

In 2014, 89 percent of the students enrolled in the voucher program graduated as opposed to the 58 percent graduation rate for students enrolled in D.C. Public Schools.

Patrick Wolf, one of the authors of the study, testified Thursday that in addition to higher graduation rates, the study also found higher satisfaction ratings from parents of enrolled students.

“Parents have been empowered by the [program] and report that their children are in better and safer schools,” Mr. Wolf said.

Despite the mixed statistical results, Mr. Chaffetz said he intends hold a markup of the bill reauthorizing funding for the voucher program in the coming months.

“I think the principle of choice in school for parents is a very important one. In D.C., it’s demonstrating results and it’s helping people,” he said.

Filed Under: CER in the News Tagged With: vouchers, DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, opportunity scholarships

Editorial: NM charters rank high on U.S. News high school list

May 15, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

by Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
Albuquerque Journal
May 15, 2015

Once again, New Mexico charter schools are at the top of the class, demonstrating why there is pent-up demand from families for this successful alternative public education model.

A U.S. News and World Report ranking of the best U.S. high schools lists three Albuquerque charters at the top of the 12 New Mexico schools that made the list of the 2,500 top high schools in the United States. Coming in at 76th out of nearly 20,000 high schools reviewed by the publication in compiling its “best of” list – and first in New Mexico – is Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School. Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science and Albuquerque Public Schools’ South Valley Academy were nationally ranked 219 and 410 respectively. Two other charters also made the list – APS’s Early College Academy at 910 and New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe at 2,008.

The highest ranking for a traditional New Mexico public school was Los Alamos High School at 521. Albuquerque High was rated No. 5 for New Mexico and 842 nationally. La Cueva and Eldorado in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and V. Sue Cleveland in Rio Rancho and Texico High in Curry County were also ranked within the top 2,500 schools on the list.

All deserve congratulations.

But the list further reinforces the importance of charter schools in the nation’s education reform efforts. The publicly funded charters, which can’t recruit students, use a lottery system to fill their schools. In the case of Cottonwood Classical, Executive Director Sam Obenshain says 100 new students were admitted this year from an applicant pool of about 500. South Valley Academy has accepted 90 students for this fall’s sixth-grade class, with 180 on a waiting list, and 92 ninth-graders, with 78 on a waiting list.

It is not uncommon for demand for charter slots to exceed the supply. The Center for Education Reform’s Newswire reported this week that New York City has the longest wait list for charter schools in the nation with over 160,000 students on it.

And while charters generally don’t offer all of the activities and amenities most traditional schools do, it’s clear plenty of motivated parents and students are willing to forgo them to receive the closest to a private school education they can get without the tuition.

Plus, charters have proven to be effective “labs” that allow traditional public schools to adopt innovative solutions that are proven.

Congratulations to all 12 New Mexico schools – students, teachers, parents, administrators and support staff – for making the prestigious U.S. News list.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Newswire: May 12, 2015

May 12, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

Vol. 17, No. 19

DOWNGRADED. This morning, Maryland became the first state to roll back its charter school law. While Governor Hogan’s original changes to Maryland’s charter school law would’ve made modest improvements to the state’s ‘F’ graded law, the State Senate gutted his vision, sending a bill to his desk that prohibits online charter schools, removes the State Board’s check and balance authority, stalls enforcement of equitable funding for charter school students, and removes the flexibility school districts already had in negotiating operational changes by requiring every single operational feature subject to a legal agreement. “I am fully aware that the politics of Annapolis can be ‘tricky,’ but to completely ignore the warnings of local charter school leaders, news media, local businesses, parents and national experts is extremely troubling and does not put the interests of students first,” says CER President Kara Kerwin.

MAKING THE CHOICE. A new report from the D.C. Public Charter School Board provides the first comprehensive look at where charter school students in our nation’s capital attend school. Commuter patterns reveal 48 percent of public charter school students attend charters in their home ward, while 46 percent of public charter school students attend a charter outside of their local district. What this report indicates is that parents make choices for their children for a variety of reasons; some choose a school because of proximity, while others choose a school based on its culture or special academic focus. Whatever the reason, parents deserve the power to make choices when it comes to their children’s future, as one D.C. charter school parent notes, “Choice is everything.”

163,000 WAITING. D.C. parents aren’t the only ones who think “choice is everything,” as New York City has the longest wait list for charter schools in the nation with over 160,000 kids wanting to access public education options outside of their assigned neighborhood school. The problem with New York is that there are perverse policy incentives in place regarding backfill, or the practice of “making vacated seats available to new students”. Policies that prevent parents from having the most power over their children’s education must be exposed and changed, which is exactly why CER’s Parent Power Index evaluates and grades states based on how much opportunity and information parents are afforded. As a recently published piece on CER’s Parent Power Index notes, (and as data from New York to DC reveals!), “Whether you come down for or against charters and other school choice options, parents want the resources to make informed decisions about their children’s schooling.” Thankfully, today New York Governor Cuomo introduced the Parental Choice in Education Act, and together with Cardinal Timothy Dolan called on the Legislature to pass this legislation that would provide $150 million in education tax credits for students most in need of education alternatives.

MORATORIUM. “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” While Delaware is nowhere near first when it comes to offering Parents Power, perhaps the First State should take Ricky Bobby’s trademark slogan to heart and work harder to improve parent power, not limit it, as it just did by placing a moratorium on charter schools in Wilmington. Just days ago, Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed a bill into law that bans new charter schools from opening until June 2018. The rationale? Concerns that charters have “disrupted local feeding patterns and hamstrung traditional public schools.” Call us crazy, but stifling growth just because it’s hurting “business as usual” for adults in the system isn’t a valid reason to prevent what’s in the best interest of our students.

TAXED. It looks like North Carolina is taking notes from Delaware when it comes to stifling innovation and growth, as a provision that snuck into the 2014 budget is rearing its ugly head. The provision calls for new charter schools opening in 2016, and all charter schools upon their renewal, to come up with $50,000 cash or purchase guarantees. Perhaps North Carolina is forgetting that charter schools are in fact public schools that actually get 36 percent LESS money on average than their traditional public school counterparts and unlike other public schools, typically do not even receive facility funding. All the while research indicates public charter schools are actually using public funding more efficiently than traditional public schools. Time for adults in the Tarheel State to figure out an alternative to balancing the budget that doesn’t come at the expense of improving student outcomes.

#EDREVOLUTION. CER will be on the ground in New Orleans next week for AFC’s annual policy summit that convenes some of the best and brightest policymakers, advocates, and leaders when it comes to school choice. Register to attend here, and be sure to follow @edreform on social media for real-time updates!

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

Statement Regarding Maryland Governor Hogan’s Signature on Charter School Legislation

May 12, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
May 12, 2015

Statement by Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform:

“This morning Maryland became the first state in the country to roll back its charter school law at a time when it should be pursuing bold and dramatic change across its public education system.

“I am deeply concerned and disappointed by Governor Larry Hogan’s decision to sign The Public Charter School Improvement Act of 2015, which no longer reflects the much-needed change the Governor’s original proposal envisioned.

“The new law prohibits online charter schools, removes the State Board’s check and balance authority, stalls enforcement of equitable funding for charter school students, and removes the flexibility school districts already had in negotiating operational changes by requiring every single operational feature subject to a legal agreement.

“I am fully aware that the politics of Annapolis can be ‘tricky,’ but to completely ignore the warnings of local charter school leaders, news media, local businesses, parents and national experts is extremely troubling and does not put the interests of students first.

“I appreciate the Governor’s commitment to revisiting this issue in the near future, but if the politics of this past session are any indication, it is highly unlikely there is any legislative appetite to improve the already ‘F’ graded charter school law.”

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: Charter Schools, charter school law, Governor Larry Hogan

Are We Doing Enough to Affect Change in Education?

May 8, 2015 By Shapiro Consulting

On Thursday, May 7th, Paul Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. hosted its 2nd Annual “My Brother’s Keeper…Responding to the Call” event focused on effective efforts to prepare young boys of color for college and community action surrounding those strategies. The forum strengthened the dialogue about key issues like inequality and the achievement gap, an especially significant discussion given the recent happenings in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jami Dunham, CEO of Paul Public Charter School, D.C. native, and Howard University alumna, explained how central education is to helping the country’s most disadvantaged communities, telling those in attendance last night, “What happened in Baltimore is a reflection of the adult culture that has failed those children. We as adults have failed to give them the tools to succeed.”

Dr. Robert Simmons, Chief Innovation Officer at D.C. Public Schools, challenged the audience, saying, “D.C. could easily become Baltimore. We need to ask ourselves if we are doing enough to affect change in education.”

And in fact, just today the Washington Post Editorial Board made this same connection, writing:

The state of Baltimore’s public schools was spotlighted in the aftermath of riots that rocked a city mourning the death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, while in police custody. Bad schools are only one element of urban dysfunction. But they are both a consequence and a cause of inequality, and improving them is essential to keeping another generation from being trapped by poverty. There’s no excusing violence. But as the attorney for Mr. Gray’s family said of the young people who took part in the rioting, “The education system has failed them.

Giving poor parents the kind of alternatives that wealthier families take for granted would help. Some competitive pressure on the school system might help, too. But Maryland is so hostile to charter schools that many children in Baltimore find themselves stuck with no options.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) tried to get the General Assembly to approve needed reforms, but the Democrat-controlled, union-friendly legislature not only gutted his plan but also passed a bill that would impose onerous new regulations on charters. The bill is awaiting action by the governor; he should veto it.

Baltimore’s tumult underscores the need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that welcomes high-quality charter organizations that have helped bring school improvement to cities such as Washington and New Orleans.

Indeed, strong charter school laws are essential in allowing schools like Paul Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. to thrive. In fact, out of the 43 charter school laws that exist today, Washington, D.C.’s is (and has remained for nearly 7 years!) the top-rated charter school law in the nation, allowing D.C. to transform and become a place with schools parents want to send their children.

National Charter Schools week shines a spotlight on the power of education to bring change to communities that need it most. It’s up to us to take action and continue to spread that message and awareness beyond just this week.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With: Charter Schools, Baltimore, charter school laws, charter schools week

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