Wedding Woes

re: charter schools

Obviously it's biased, but John Oliver did a segment on charter schools. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_htSPGAY7I

Re: re: charter schools

  • I don't have speakers at work. Did he say anything complimentary at all? Because we love our charter, and honestly, liked almost all the charters we looked at for Bacon. 
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  • *Barbie**Barbie* member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    edited February 2017
    He mentioned that there are charters that are very good, run well, great for students, etc. but the focus of his report was talking about the corruption, poor laws and governance that bring charters down and has a negative impact on the kids/family/community. 

    ETA; by no means are all charters bad - but the ones that are take it to another level. 
  • Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 


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  • levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
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  • levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  


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  • levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    See, that's what's crazy to me...all charters here are free like public schools.
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  • levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    Most of the charter schools around here are in the inner city and they are part of the Indianapolis Public School district.  There may be some township schools with them, but I'm not sure.  There's no additional cost, but there is a lottery to get in. 
  • mrsconn23 said:
    levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    Most of the charter schools around here are in the inner city and they are part of the Indianapolis Public School district.  There may be some township schools with them, but I'm not sure.  There's no additional cost, but there is a lottery to get in. 
    Same is true here in Ohio. They're not generally part of the public school districts, but they're mostly inner-city or inner-ring suburbs. There's no tuition, but I believe there is a lottery here too. 
  • @levioosa it also explains why H's uncle from Arizona was genuinely confused as to why so many people in Michigan hate DeVos.
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  • I used to do a program in a string of charters here, and I will say it left a bad taste in my mouth for THAT particular string of charters.

    NOT because of the education (it was 'meh', IMO), or the employees (who were paid less, less qualified, and really screwed over on things like breaks throughout the day) and their unwillingness to do extras for students (so, for example, the grant I was funded through was for them to do a few after-school things w/ some programs...and they got the grant and then refused to actually do the programs.  it was complicated--overall, they did jack and shit for after school programs, etc).

    But what I really REALLY disliked is that these were 'public' schools, publicly funded that were really a very very VERY thin secular veneer over being Christian schools.
    The read from 'great books' (conveniently, the Bible almost every time) as they focused on "character building".

    I do NOT think this is all charters...but I think that it's evidence of some of the shit that's not regulated and understood.
  • levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    That's news to me.  By me they're in the inner city and free.  As an educator myself, I have a bad vibe, since they can kick out the "bad" kids and public schools can't.  
  • levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    See, that's what's crazy to me...all charters here are free like public schools.


    I found that confusing also.  They're all free, like any other public school, in my area.  At least that is what I've heard.  We already have a RIDICULOUS amount of private schools because NOLA is strongly Catholic and the public schools are terrible.

    If anything, the charters are more in poor or middle class neighborhoods.  The wealthy neighborhoods already have a plethora of fancy private schools to choose from.

    We also have a lot of same sex private schools.  Which I'd never heard of, except for maybe boarding schools, until I moved here.

    This is a little off topic but, to me, one silver lining of Hurricane Katrina was parents who had been born and bred here got to experience their kids going to GOOD public schools in other areas.  They'd always live in a world where "public schools are terrible" and didn't realize the dramatic difference until they briefly went elsewhere.  They came back with a better "it doesn't have to be this way" attitude.  Plus, a lot of the schools had to be rebuilt anyway.  Before that, kids were going to schools with no HVAC systems and buildings that were old as dirt and barely maintained.

    We're hardly a shining example of a public school system, pfft.  But, overall, it's better than it used to be.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Bacon's school is public and free. There is a lottery for entry, and at least 50% of the kids are on free or reduced lunches. It's very diverse, which I like for her, but the education is very good, IMO. Usually. This year we're having some trouble with the math teacher, but I'm telling her to just suck it up and learn a life lesson. 

    The charters around here are all free and public. Most of them have better standards and curricula than the public schools. I can't speak to how they compare to religious schools, because they all assume that being religious is enough information - like, they disclose nothing about curricula on their websites or anything because "We're X religion. We'll teach your kids X religion." Not what I was interested in. 

    They do have character education at Bacon's school, but it's basic things. They have a value every month, like honesty, loyalty, kindness, etc. Secular things we can all agree on, IMO, and you know I have troubles with authority and patriotism and all that jazz that they might be tempted to teach in school. 


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  • SS, you are right about the Nola schools. I went to private schools since Kinder because my home school was not the best.

    After Katrina we had several students that came to our school that were in private school and they thought our classes were harder than the private schools. It was interesting to see. Many of those kids stayed. Some moved back, but a lot of the families decided to stay.

    Sidenote: I was going to come home for Mardi Gras, but can't make it. Boo. I usually go every other year, but I sure do want some king cake and crawfish. Man.... I asked my mom to send me one from Gambinos.


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  • Charter schools were I live are 50/50 good and not so good. Some are religious (even though we have a public catholic board) and some are focused on other things like University Prep or gender based learning. They receive some funding from the government but most are not totally free for the families that choose to send their kids to them. We also have private schools that receive government funding but the tuitions are enormous. No issues (other than expensive and difficult to get into) with private.
  • levioosa said:
    mrsconn23 said:
    levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Tbh, when this all started I didn't quite realize the problem with charter schools. In my area they are fantastic schools. Expensive, but fantastic. 
    Like the tuition is expensive?  Ours are paid for with vouchers, and if you change schools, the original school keeps the money.
    Yeah, the tuition is expensive.  And usually the charter schools are in "better areas."  I don't think I even know of any charter schools in poor areas.  
    Most of the charter schools around here are in the inner city and they are part of the Indianapolis Public School district.  There may be some township schools with them, but I'm not sure.  There's no additional cost, but there is a lottery to get in. 
    No wonder people are confused about charter schools.  They're different in every state.  
    This seems to be the real problem. Because they are not part of the public school system, they are not subject to federal regulation and thus it falls to the states to make (or fail to make, in many cases) the laws that hold them accountable.

    Additionally, charter/private schools in most places are allowed to refuse entry, which often means minority students and students with disabilities are rejected. These latter kids cost more to educate, but voucher programs are designed to be for an equal amount per student. Take that money away from the public school and give it to a private one and you are depriving the neediest students of resources.
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  • I've been browsing this thread, is charter schools like a private school?
  • I've been browsing this thread, is charter schools like a private school?
    In most places they're public and independent but they can apply admission standards and have an application process in most states.

    I just had a DeVos epiphany from an article I read in the National Review.

    She is being hailed as a champion of education for profiting from the ownership of schools by the same people who argue that teachers who really care about students shouldn't complain or ask for more income.  Everyone who has ever complained about being underpaid - Betsy DeVos is your thunder and income stealing boss.
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  • I just looked it up, Canada has 4 charter schools and all of them are in Alberta {3/4 in Calgary}
  • TrixieJessTrixieJess member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited February 2017
    I just looked it up, Canada has 4 charter schools and all of them are in Alberta {3/4 in Calgary}
    Yeah, we definitely don't have them in Ontario. I can count the non-religious private schools on both hands in my area.
  • well, that's the trick...they're not private either.
    THere are ZERO non religious private schools in my area...I kow, because I've looked.
  • GBCK said:
    well, that's the trick...they're not private either.
    THere are ZERO non religious private schools in my area...I kow, because I've looked.
    Our Catholic schools are public in Ontario. You choose where your taxes are paid to.
  • ernursejernursej member
    First Answer First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited February 2017
    I just looked it up, Canada has 4 charter schools and all of them are in Alberta {3/4 in Calgary}


    I'm in Calgary we have more than 4 charter schools.

    From 2015 - but you get the gist:

    https://education.alberta.ca/media/1626467/charterschoolslist_dec42015.pdf

    General Website for Alberta Education - Charter Schools:

    https://education.alberta.ca/charter-schools/about-alberta-charter-schools/everyone/contact-us/

    *edited for links

  • Interesting I didn't realize we had these in Canada!

    I'm not sure I understand how they work exactly. I guess because there's such a variety. I watched a documentary a few years ago about the US education system that I believe showed charter schools in a favourable light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFN0nf6Hqk0

    It sounds like they're able to branch off from state regulations (eg to incorporate religious teachings, focus on the arts, use unconventional teaching methods, etc). Private schools do the same thing, but they run off tuition that they charge their students while charter schools run off state funding that they apply for (albeit less funding than public schools receive).
  • ernursej said:
    I just looked it up, Canada has 4 charter schools and all of them are in Alberta {3/4 in Calgary}


    I'm in Calgary we have more than 4 charter schools.

    From 2015 - but you get the gist:

    https://education.alberta.ca/media/1626467/charterschoolslist_dec42015.pdf

    General Website for Alberta Education - Charter Schools:

    https://education.alberta.ca/charter-schools/about-alberta-charter-schools/everyone/contact-us/

    *edited for links

    ahh, google only said 4! good to know
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