Four new NYC charter schools being started by religious groups.

[madfloridian]

This is a pattern that is spreading across the country now. They claim they will be secular. I wonder who will be watching.

Churches Mix With Charters

Four of the 27 new charter schools opening in New York City this fall have ties with religious organizations, although leaders assert curriculum and instruction will be secular.

Supporters say the new schools are a welcome addition amid overcrowded classrooms and heightened demand for charters, especially in neighborhoods with low-performing schools. But the development blurs the line between church and state, and also calls into question the distinction between public education and private groups, an issue with which charter schools already contend.

Four pastors are involved in starting charter schools, which receive public funding but can be privately run.

The schools receive public taxpayer money, but will be run privately with little oversight.

More:

"As a social institution, churches live in communities where problems exist," founding principal Laurie Midgette said. The curriculum will include artists working in classrooms with teachers, and "character-building" courses in the morning.

Mr. Bernard said that while no component of the curriculum is explicitly religious, his faith informs his values of community and respect—and consequently, those of the school.

Blurring the lines between secular and religious way too much.

The same thing is happening in Florida and Indiana and other states. In fact religious schools that are having financial problems become charters to get public money to stabilize them. They also say there will be no religious intent.

Eight Catholic schools in Florida convert to charter to survive financially.

Taxpayers are now funding religious schools. Those schools will also benefit from real estate deals. All mixed with taxpayer money.

And so, the Archdiocese of Miami will begin its experiment with charter schools this fall. What was intended as a pilot program at one parish – Corpus Christi in Wynwood – will become, for financial reasons, the norm at seven more. Charters also will open in August where five other Catholic schools closed this June: Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater, St. Francis Xavier in Overtown, St. Stephen in Miramar and St. Clement in Fort Lauderdale.

A seventh charter will open at St. Malachy in Tamarac, which opted to close its school before its financial situation deteriorated further. And an eighth charter will open in Miami Gardens, in the building used by St. Monica School until it closed in May 2008.

Charter schools are free, funded by public dollars, so religion cannot be taught during the school day. Unlike traditional public schools, however, charter schools operate independently of the local school board and have more leeway in managing day-to-day operations.

In other words, who is going to be watching.

Because the parishes are leasing their former school buildings to the charter schools, they are deriving income from the properties. The amount ranges between $150,000 and $350,000 this first year, “depending on the size, capacity and condition of the facilities,” according to Fernando Zulueta, president of Academica, a company that provides management and support services for most of the charter schools opening on archdiocesan properties.

And in Indiana two Catholic schools are converting to charter, and they will be getting one million dollars of taxpayer money when they do so.

Two Indiana Catholic schools convert to charters...get 1 million of taxpayer money.

Two Catholic elementary schools in Indianapolis will convert to public charter schools and receive nearly $1 million in state funding, according to a plan that was recently authorized by city officials.

St. Anthony’s and St. Andrew and St. Rita Academy will be among the many Catholic-to-charter school conversions approved throughout the country within the past couple of years. In an effort to save failing Catholic schools, officials in Florida, New York, Texas and the District of Columbia have also approved similar conversions.

Just like schools in all the other states, the Indianapolis schools have agreed to stop religious instruction and remove religious symbols in order to receive the public funding. But for the first time, an archdiocese will retain control and continue to run the public school – a move that makes church-state separationists more than a little nervous, to say the least.

I personally do not believe it is a good use of taxpayer money to save financially failing religious schools.

We are depriving public schools of funding by doing that.

I am still trying to figure out why the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Center must have an education director.

Duncan appoints director of education in the Faith-based program.

Groff, who has made education a hallmark of his Senate leadership, will serve as director of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Center in the office of Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Groff will “help empower faith-based and community groups, enlisting them in support of the department’s mission to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence for all Americans,” the Education Department said in a statement.

I am not sure what that means...“help empower faith-based and community groups, enlisting them in support of the department’s mission to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence for all Americans”

I thought that was the mission of public education...."equal access to education and to promote educational excellence for all Americans”.

Public schools can't do their job to provide educational excellence if funds are being taken away and given to religious schools to help them survive financially.

[NoNothing]

1. "I thought that was the mission of public education."

And they have proven themselves unable to perform that mission satisfactorily.

I don't agree with with direct public funding of religious schools but the status quo is unacceptable. If the public schools cannot be reformed then it is necessary to start shifting resources elsewhere.

[pattmarty]

6. And just what do you suggest, "NONothing"? Public schools............

...........should be funded, operated and owned by the government. What is happening to the school system now with this privatization is no standardization, unequal curriculum and the "powers" concentrating on breaking teacher unions. They are in fact getting worse according to the studies that have been done since this insane privatization process. It should be obvious to anyone capable of rational thought that when you turn something over to private interests no matter what it is it will COST MORE.

[NoNothing]

7. I don't claim to have all the answers

But your assertion that anything run by private interests is always more expensive than when it is government run is patently ridiculous, and, I think, not helpful. Don't you think there might be some middle ground between total privatization and the status quo? Something similar to charter schools but without funding religious institutions?

Where I live, in Milwaukee, the public schools have a budget of 1.2 Billion dollars. That's over $16,000 per student! That's thousands of tax dollars for every man, woman, and child! And what do we get for that? Second worst reading performance in the country. Record levels of drop-outs. Violence in the schools, laying off teachers, and failure at almost every level. At the school board meeting the other night, the top agenda item: boycotting the state of Arizona.

I wouldn't accept that kind of performance from a private school, and I don't accept it from a government school either! The level of frustration here is off the charts: the school board has been gridlocked for an eternity, meanwhile the bureaucracy is totally unaccountable and the property taxes are astronomical. The *institution* itself is broken, and has thus far not been able to fix itself. If we do not at least try to find alternative ways forward, we have failed the children. The status quo is an unmitigated disaster.

[pattmarty]

10. Look genius, privatization is not the answer. You have been led..........

.........down the "privatize everyfuckingthing" path. If you want "answers" why don't you and the people in power look to Europe and Asia. One thing you don't hear much about is the "problems" with the European/Asian educational systems. Since YOU don't have the answers (or obviously want to get any) I'll give you a few to consider: Finance the school systems with a Federal tax and get rid of the racist and patently unequal real estate tax funding of "local" schools. Standardize the WHOLE curriculum. Have a system to test (I hate to use that word in today's climate) students for what their strong points are and then offer advice to them to either further their education (paid for by the government K-16) or offer training for jobs that will be needed in the next ten yr span. I can go on, but at least that's a fucking start.

[provis99]

26. ALL private goods and services cost more than if run by government.

It is an undisputable economic fact. governments run to break even, Private enterprise runs to make a profit. Private enterprise by definition costs more than government.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. How old are the school buildings in Milwaukee?

What are their energy costs?

How many kids are transported to school? How many have parents who have transportation or live close enough to walk to school?

After salaries, the biggest item in an urban school district's budget is transportation.

How many kids in Milwaukee's schools don't speak English? How many are special Ed? Both ELL and Sped programs have larger numbers in low income urban areas.

How many kids in Milwaukee are living at poverty level? Educating our poor is more expensive.

It's ignorant and shows you fail to grasp the every day factors that impact our urban schools to just quote the per pupil cost and expect outrage. Here's a clue, brainiac: the kids in Milwaukee are indeed more expensive to educate. That's a fact in every urban district in the country.

As for condemning the Arizona law, good for them. I would imagine there is a significant percentage of Hispanic students in the Milwaukee district. The school board in my district recently took the time to endorse the Dream Act and I'm very proud of them for understanding how important that legislation is to a significant number of our kids.

[LWolf]

17. Who are the "they" you refer to? nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. Why, the evil Satanic teechers unions, of course

When in doubt, blame the unions. That seems to be the DLC solution to everything lately.

[LWolf]

25. Heh.

'Cause we all know how much influence teachers' unions have on political policy which drives the system.

:eyes:

[madfloridian]

2. I know. Let's take the resources from public schools and demand more.

And let's ridicule the teachers and only blame them. Let the parents and students off the hook for any accountability.

I love that argument.

But it's working quite well, thank you.

:sarcasm:

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Silver lining here: privatizers may make enemies of ...

...people concerned with church/state separation.

Which would be a HUGE positive. Anything that wakes up *any* segment of the population to the dangers inherent in privatizing public schools is a HUGE positive.

[madfloridian]

5. Now that's a good thought.

Nothing else seems to even slow down the movement to privatize. Might work that way. :hi:

[Starry Messenger]

8. I really hope so.

I have a few liberal friends who really love charters and defend them. Nothing is getting through the corporate feel-good language but maybe this will serve as a wake-up call.

[Jakes Progress]

11. There is another wrinkle.

When states have suggested public funding for religious private schools in the past, it is often voted down not because the populace didn't want a Baptist middle school, but because if funding is made available for all religious groups, then Wiccans, Satanists, and a myriad of religions that conservatives don't like are also eligible. Whereas they may not mind public money for main stream parochial schools, they balk violently at the idea of funding a Druid kindergarten. Not to mentions a Muslim academy.

[Fumesucker]

23. Yeah, they're going to make enemies of both of us..

It's a small minority in much of the USA that gives the slightest damn about church/state separation, there's a considerably larger minority that would love to get rid of it altogether and install their own religion as the government.

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. It's a minority but it's an influential minority within the Dem. Party.

They don't ... for the most part... get what all the fuss is about with the teachers' unions, school reform and "all that". They aren't teachers or union members and.... fuck knows.... their own kids are never going to require the services of an urban public school system.

So "school reform"... divorced from its implications... is easy to sign onto. But plans by religious absolutists to hitch a ride on the "privatization" bandwagon ... on the taxpayers dime, yet.... might occasion a raised eyebrow or two in Chevy Chase, Cambridge or even Oak Park.

[2Design]

4. the training of the nazi youth groups and indoctrination - same thing

we had a good public education system that has been under attack for many years many decades - when it is gone - people will complain or their children will be indoctrinated xtains who comply with GOP thoughts and become slaves to the rich

[KamaAina]

9. Imagine the hue and cry if them there Muslins wanted to start a charter

like the ones who want to build a mosque* (*-actually a cultural center, except in Faux World) at Ground Zero** (**-a couple of blocks away).

[madfloridian]

12. Well...read Perimeter Primate's work about certain charters.

http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/06/magnolia-schools-charter-management.html

Could be more than we realize.

[KamaAina]

13. zOMFG!! Sunnyvale is right down the road from me!

I'll be sure to stop off at Walmart tonight and pick up some duct tape and plastic sheeting! :sarcasm:

[madfloridian]

14. More. I don't think public money should go to schools...

unless their backgrounds are checked and there are no ties to movements.

http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/06/us-fethullahci-charter-schools.html

[KamaAina]

15. Sorry I made sport of that. Looks like you're on to something here.

It should, however, be pointed out that these aren't Muslim charter schools, but rather, ones linked to a cult that appears to be to Turkey what the Moonies are to Korea. :scared:

[madfloridian]

16. And my issue is that we are giving public money to charters...

that may be linked to movements.. Education should not be done that way.

If you have Christian schools, then you should have all the others...Jewish, Muslim et al. If we are going to financially save Catholic schools then we have to play fair.

There is nothing in the name or description of that long list of schools to indicate their connections...except the trips to Turkey and the Turkish professors.

I have a practical criticism...money. Public money should not be going there.

[LWolf]

18. Muslims have started charter schools.

Here is one:

http://www.thegcs.org/index.html

It doesn't identify itself as a "Muslim" school. But it was opened to serve Muslim students in the area.

I know this; I was there. I was recruited to teach there in their early years. I turned them down.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. It sounds like a tower of babble is being created.

Instead of one uniform public system there will be so many separate and distinct world views that we won't be able to talk to each other. This evil needs to be stopped.

[Telly Savalas]

20. Maybe they can buy those nut job text books promoted by the traditional public schools in TX.

[PSzymeczek]

21. Public money

for PUBLIC schools. NO public money for sectarian religious schools!

[madfloridian]

22. I agree with you. Amen.

It's a dangerous blend.

[eShirl]

27. are any atheist groups starting any charter schools?

[awoke_in_2003]

32. no, we are too militant...

and busy making war plans for this year's edition of "War on Christmas" :)

[hapkidogal]

29. Thank You

For keeping us updated. This is truly troubling to me. The mixing of these institutions is what Republicans want. Then they will have committed the ultimate coo. It is time to stand against this.

[madfloridian]

30. Most welcome. It is very troubling.

[cleverusername]

31. Parental involvement is key

The most important factor in the success of any school is parental involvement. Any one here complaining about public schools set foot in one of them in the past year? I volunteer weekly at our elementary school. My kid sees me talking to his teacher every week.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. welcome to DU...

like the username :hi: Yep, parental involvement is one of the most important things.

[olegramps]

35. The Key issues are Poverty and Parental involvement.

The test scores in our schools absolutely reflect the economic situation of the students. The wealthy areas post high achievement in their schools as compared to those in depressed economic areas. If we actually were seeking a solution to the disparage in achievement then we would be seeking means to bring these people out of poverty. Prior to WWII higher education was beyond the reach of most working class Americans and was primarily reserved for the wealthy.

Two things made the opportunity for high education being available for the working class. The combination or the GI bill for veterans and the union membership that won the workers a fair share of the nation's wealth that provided the opportunity for a generation of young people to afford a college education that their parents never had.

[rucky]

36. Those two issues are intertwined.

In poverty, there are more single moms, more grandparents/aunts/uncles who are primary caregivers, more situations where the parents are working, more service and factory jobs with odd shifts, less time to run a family. Also the families tend to move around more, and the kids switch schools as the need arises. Just getting kids to school is sometimes a feat - much less being involved in their schooling. The time where most kids should be doing homework, many students in low income families are taking care of younger siblings.

I think you're right about the solution. If we give parents stable employment, they can give their kids a stable home life and a clear path for their present and their future.

[olegramps]

37. Poverty is why I support Organized Labor.

Poverty is the principle cause for the majority of social ills that plague depressed sections of our society. These range from low educational achievement, to crime and significant health problems. I have lived long enough to see the dramatic change that can take place in families that move from bare subsistence to the middle class when families are able to earn a living wage.

One of the major reasons that I supported Obama was that I believed that he would be a strong supporter of unions and what they proved the could do in their total improvement of the working classes opportunities. This would have included powerful actions to stop the outsourcing of jobs rather than present laws that have awarded companies that are intent on the destruction of the middle class that has resulted in the largest transfer of wealth to the privileged class since the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Unfortunately, it appears that my trust was misplaced. For example, I was astounded when I read that Obama removed sections from the financial reform bill that would have allowed stockholders to control the pay of executives. In regard to Labor, the Obama administration is not only not supportive of organized labor, but in the case of the Teacher's Unions they have actively joined the Republican's in their long cherished desire to destroy them.