Sarasota teachers say charter schools can advertise with taxpayer money, but not public schools.

[madfloridian]

That's really amazing when you stop and think about it. Charter schools can spend our public taxpayer money to advertise for their school, but Sarasota, Florida, public schools apparently can not do that.

I don't know the laws in every county and state. Apparently in some states public schools are having to spend our taxes on advertising to keep any students.

A similar Imagine charter school in Sarasota was not one of the best rated schools, in fact it was behind all public schools in the FCAT. The teachers' group did send out fliers, but the parents think now that they are among the more elite if they go to a charter school. That's why advertising pays. And they are using my tax money to do it.

There's a video in the article. A woman holds up a paper showing that charter school at the end of the list.

Group aims to warn parents about charter school's poor performance

Imagine School at Palmer Ranch will open its doors for the first time on Monday. The new charter school will be the second in Sarasota County. Charter schools follow some of the same format as public schools...FCAT's are taken and teachers are certified. "Where we differ is we have our own school board; we are smaller. Our school board just does our school," says Assistant Principal Mary Tumbleson.

She says her school also uses their own curriculum, and that Imagine School's philosophy is something parents like. "What I have found for our parents here is that they are very educational-savvy...they've done their research."

"We are hoping that parents will look at the data before they make a decision." Pat Gardner is president of Sarasota Classified Teachers Association, which represents teachers and employees of the public school system. She says parents need to make sure they know the facts. "This is important to your child's future; look at data, look at numbers, look at performance, look at history before you make that decision. It is very, very important."

Gardner says the Imagine School in North Port didn't score well on the FCAT's. The school had the lowest grade out of all elementary schools in Sarasota County.

Here are the words from the Sarasota teachers' group about the charter school advertising.

The Sarasota Classified Teachers Association says they just want the best for the kids, and for parents to research the schools their child will be attending, and to not fall for the advertisements...look at the facts. They say charter schools can advertise with the use of their taxpayer funds, but public schools cannot advertise their advantages.

That surely sets up an unfair advantage.

Think about it. Never before have I heard of public school money being used to advertise, but under the new system of "choice", which is the nice name for letting some schools be run by corporations...many public schools are now taking our tax money to keep enough students to stay alive.

This article from the WSJ refers to schools that are doing just that.

Districts Facing Declines in Enrollment Use Marketing Campaigns to Win Back Students -- and the State Funding They Bring

Public schools in the U.S. have added professional marketing to their back-to-school shopping lists.

Financially struggling urban districts are trying to win back students fleeing to charter schools, private schools and suburban districts that offer open enrollment. Administrators say they are working hard to improve academics -- but it can't hurt to burnish their image as well.

..."So they are recording radio ads, filming TV infomercials and buying address lists for direct-mail campaigns. Other efforts, by both districts and individual schools, call for catering Mexican dinners for potential students, making sales pitches at churches and hiring branding experts to redesign logos.

"Schools are really getting that they can't just expect students to show up any more," said Lisa Relou, who directs marketing efforts for the Denver Public Schools. "They have to go out and recruit."

Administrators working on the public-relations push say the potential returns are high. State funding for public schools is based on attendance, so each new student brings more money, typically $5,000 to $8,000 per head. In addition, schools with small enrollments are at constant risk of being shuttered in this recession, and full classrooms help.

I have a philosophy. If you take money and resources from public schools for years, denigrate them, tear down their teachers, bad mouth them to the public.... then you end up with both sides spending more taxpayer money on advertising which will financially aid the media more than the children who are supposed to be learning.