Welcome to Cashing in on Kids, a newsletter for people fighting to stop the privatization of America’s public schools—produced by In the Public Interest.
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Parents, get these questions answered. As the crisis rolls through the summer and fall approaches, parents are struggling with how to approach the next school year. Some are considering privately operated online or virtual charter schools, like those run by the publicly traded, for-profit company K12 Inc.
Because there is often contradictory information about the strengths and weaknesses of online charter schools, In the Public Interest has come up with questions that parents can ask and get answered to help them make informed decisions about their child’s future. In the Public Interest
We’ve also pulled together frequently asked questions about online charter schools, questions legislators should ask about online charter schools, and questions school districts and state education authorities should ask about online charter schools.
Small Business Administration releases Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) data. Dozens of publicly funded charter schools (and elite private schools) across the Washington, D.C., region received millions of dollars in federal aid intended to keep nonprofits and small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. (So did longtime Republican operative Grove Norquist’s anti-tax think tank.) This, according to data released Monday by the Small Business Administration. Journalists and researchers are combing through the data as you read this, so keep an eye out for more stories. The Washington Post
At a high-ranked Boston-area charter school, a troubling pattern on issues of race. Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden, Massachusetts, is facing growing criticism about inequities and reports of bias. The school disciplines Black and Latinx students at sharply higher rates than white students, and a school cofounder recently posted on Facebook that systemic racism is “a false narrative” and “the millions marching are indeed pawns.” The Boston Globe
Gompers reverses course. San Diego’s Gompers Preparatory Academy has rescinded its decision made two weeks ago to lay off more than a third of the school’s teachers. The layoffs had been criticized as an attempt to end the teachers’ recently formed union. inewsource
Anti-worker billionaire starts charter school. Diane Hendricks, the Wisconsin billionaire caught on film in 2011 urging former Gov. Scott Walker to make the state a “completely red … right-to-work” state, has a new project: a charter school in her adopted hometown of Beloit. Urban Milwaukee