"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Friday, May 08, 2015

Charter School Segregation Week and the Celebration of Corporate Welfare

Below are some charts you might find useful in understanding how much money is being wasted on corporate efforts to use slave labor by disadvantaged children to fuel segregated and abusive charter school empires that are largely funded by state and federal governments. 

The goal by the National Alliance for Public [sic] Charter Schools is a half-billion dollars a year from USDOE.  If the new ESEA now being considered becomes law, the numbers below will look like coffee money. 

From the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch: (click to enlarge)


What many people don't realize about the paternalistic charter industry is that the real payoff is in real estate and the issuing of bonds to fund new capital and capital improvement programs.  In Memphis, for example, charter operators look for buildings worth renovating that can be bought for a song after Chris Barbic, the corporate skinhead in charge of the state office that hands out charter contracts, labels the target school as one for closure.  Shelby County Schools Supt. Dorsey Hopson serves as the local enabling corporate whore, who rubber stamps the Barbic choices.  

Big name charter chains that have abused their way to high test score bottom lines are lined up in Memphis and other cities for a chance to cash in with new contracts to open new chain gang "schools."  Renovation as well as new facilities funding is made possible by issuing tax-sheltered bonds, which has become a new growth industry for Wall Street investors.  

Below are three slides from a slide presentation recently presented online by the Bond Buyer (yes, I signed up for a free introductory membership):




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