AFT and In the Public Interest launched a new website Thursday, Cashing in on Kids, to track charter schools and the private companies that often run them on a for-profit basis. The two groups argue that corporate-run charter schools are doing a bad job of serving students and that there is little accountability for these companies. In particular, the website will track K12 Inc., Academics, Imagine Schools, Charter Schools USA and White Hat Management.
This is a simple exercise of following the money. How many times do people simply get up on a pedestal and say we care about kids, and then you realize that they care about profits, they care about tax deductions, they care about privatizing the public system?…If accountability and transparency should go all ways, let’s look at the accountability and transparency in terms of charter schools, not just in terms of public schools.
The website will track each of the companies, collecting news, official sources and investigations into the corporations and how they run the schools they operate. On a conference call with bloggers, Weingarten says that AFT isn’t opposed to charter schools in theory, but the evidence has shown that the schools run by these companies, in particular, are failing to live up to the promises they have made to students and their parents.
“I am not anti-charter, and there are many people that run great charter schools that are very well-intentioned and well-meaning,” Weingarten says. “But there are also people within the so-called charter school movement…who are really all about profiteering.”
The website also will highlight charter schools that engage in good practices. “If we can see thoughtful education practices, effective schools, it’s not simply a matter of focusing on the negative. If there’s positive, you focus on the positive, too.”
You can learn more by visiting the Cashing in on Kids website or on Twitter or Facebook.
This article was originally printed on AFL-CIO on March 3, 2014. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Kenneth Quinnell is a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist whose writings have appeared on AFL-CIO, Daily Kos, Alternet, the Guardian Online, Media Matters for America, Think Progress, Campaign for America’s Future and elsewhere.
