Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Ball State Closing Two Indianapolis Charter Schools

Evidence continues to mount that Indiana's ambitious experiment in diverting scarce public education dollars to start up new charter schools has been an utter failure. The latest casualties include two Indianapolis charter schools established by Ball State University. Fall Creek Academy and University Heights Preparatory Academy will be closed at the end of this school year in June. The empirical evidence clearly proves that students receive no better education at charter schools on average than they do at our public schools and often perform below their public school counterparts. How much more money will state lawmakers allow to be blown on this failed experiment at the expense of our public school system before they start listening to parents and educators and stop listening to the education profiteers showering them with campaign contributions?

7 comments:

  1. How much more money will state lawmakers allow to be blown on this failed experiment at the expense of our public school system before they start listening to parents and educators and stop listening to the education profiteers showering them with campaign contributions?

    You actually answered you own question on a previous blog. The scheming and conniving will continue as long as the privatization of Public Schools continues and there are eager beaver donators to politicians willing to cash in. Bottom line our Governor and Legislature gives not one care about educating young people.

    All our young people need to learn is, "Do you want to Super size your Burger?"

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  2. Anonymous11:17 PM EST

    Why is this town so afraid of peaceful demonstrations to bring awareness to battles. Name the media in the right to know as well. Who is hanging with whom on these agenda's. Demonstrate. March. Convene. Class Action Suits.

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  3. Anonymous5:36 AM EST

    Charter schools are an offshoot of
    the tea party loons. Part of the same wackjobs subset that think that proprietary trade schools where you learn how to be a dog groomer are the equivalent of real colleges such as Butler and IU.

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  4. Anonymous8:23 AM EST

    Anon 5:36... is using a hate-remark the best method for you to advance your position? There is a loon here but I doubt it is a group of people dedicated to the proposition that the power of the people is paramount over the power of the state. I am weary of people who constantly exhibit their unearned claim to moral superiority by mocking anything they do not actually understand.

    Your paranoia and your unsupportable, hate statement about "tea party loons" crack me up. If it's not "George Bush" it's "The Tea Party" or anyone or anything else but the actual cause. Sure seems to me these charter schools are brought about by bought-and-paid for progressives primarily Left Democrats abetted by Establishment Crony Republicans - both willing to take scarce tax resources off the table of everyday hard-toiling Hoosiers to pay for schools run by progressive elite insiders whose interest is more of personal profit than education.

    I agree with Gary Welsh in his analyses of charter schools but at least Mr. Welsh's history about this political drain has always been supported by facts whereas your allegation simply serves to smear a group that I fail to see had anything to do with the progressive insiders and the actual charter school agenda.

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  5. Anonymous2:20 PM EST

    According to yesterday's statehouse testimony....A LOT more. They have to pay off their politically connected for profit "educators". What you DON'T know...Pence wants to divert 67% of the Safe and Secured Schools grant (the one that allows school districts to have SROs and updated safety technology). In other words, Gov. Empty Suit wants to reduce the safety and security of our students so that the profiteers can make their $$$.

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  6. Anonymous3:18 PM EST

    National statistics say that the taxpayer is getting hosed. It costs quite a bit more money to educate a student in a "public" privately run Charter School, and there is only so much money for infrastructure. The light bill is the same for the underused public school that has drained off the students for a program that is either equivalent, or less than, than the traditional public school. If you believe that test scores are the hallowed ground of what a student knows, then this is the case. Poverty and dysfunctional family structures are the biggest challenges that all educators face. Charter Schools that fail have more children with these problems -- just like every school that takes all children, just as they are. How many years are we going to waste money? How does the state get away with allowing a privately funded Charter school buy an unused taxpayer funded public school for a dollar because loss of enrollment. The taxpayers paid millions to build it -- and the reason it is underused is because it is losing enrollment to Charters and vouchers. You cannot FIX education when more children are living in poverty and more families cannot take care of their children.

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  7. Anon 3:18 IS correct that culture -- NOT race or ethnicity -- have A LOT to do with student performance: a family that highly values education will spend time, money & effort on getting their kids a good-quality education.

    That being said, government schools have the ability to obtain their revenues by force via taxation, either directly via millage or indirectly via the General Assembly. This makes government schools less responsive to market forces.

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