For the second time in recent weeks, the Obama Administration has been forced to defend its school reform agenda from its political left. The White House has been up to the task, but the episodes underscore liberalism's vested interest in the tattered education status quo.
House Democrats last month passed a spending bill that gutted funding for the President's $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition, which rewards reform-minded states with education grants. Lawmakers removed the provisions only after a veto threat from the White House.
Next came news that a coalition of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, had released a document critical of the Administration's education agenda, including Race to the Top and the expansion of charter schools.
The document argues that competitive grants hurt minority kids in losing states and that federal education dollars should be dispensed by formula so some states don't receive more than others. The civil rights groups also said they were "concerned about the overrepresentation of charter schools in low-income and predominantly minority communities" and that "there is no evidence that charter operators are systematically more effective in creating higher student outcomes nationwide."
The groups' claims were remarkably similar to the those made by the teachers unions, which support some of the organizations. In 2009, for example, the National Education Association gave a total of $255,000 to the NAACP and the NAACP National Voter Fund, according to the union's financial disclosure forms. The American Federation of Teachers gave $25,000 last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, another signatory.
Notwithstanding these concerns about charters, parents in poor neighborhoods seem to prefer them. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, an estimated 365,000 students in the U.S. are on charter school wait lists. Studies have shown repeatedly that poor and minority kids have the most to gain from charters and other forms of school choice. Of the country's 20,000 high schools, only 2,000 produce about half of all dropouts. And a black child has a 50% chance of attending one of these "drop-out factories." The urban school problem isn't too many charters but too many failing schools.
There has been notable dissent from the groups' new document. Al Sharpton, who heads the National Action Network, told us in an interview this week, "I don't agree with some of the conclusions" of the coalition opposing education reform.
"I have members of my board who run charter schools," said Mr. Sharpton. "I'm not anti-charter schools. I'm pro-good charter schools. We want what's best for our kids, even if it doesn't follow the liberal status quo." Mr. Sharpton said the Administration was right to focus on accountability. "I think there's a new leadership in the black community, and we're not wedded to the [teachers] unions calling our shots," he said. "I think accountability must be part of what we do to make sure kids have the education they need to close the achievement gap."
In a speech to the Urban League's annual convention Thursday, President Obama was blunt: "This status quo is morally inexcusable." So is the fact that the nation's leading civil rights organizations are now siding with teachers unions and others working to preserve a public education system that is failing the millions of black families who can't afford an alternative.
No comments:
Post a Comment