Riding the ‘Turnaround’ Merry-Go-Round in the Continuing Assault on Philadelphia Public Schools: Part II

by Ken Derstine @ Defend Public Education!
April 6, 2016

Part I of this series detailed how Mastery Charter is using the hostile takeover methods of the corporate world to takeover more Philadelphia Public Schools each year. But education deals with relationships between human beings, not the industrial products and natural resources of the corporate world. Thus, these hostile takeovers aggravate historic class and ethnic tensions (watch the video). Philadelphia schools have struggled for years with underfunding at the state level; now charters bring the added disparity in funding between public schools and charters within Philadelphia. Philadelphia currently has 83 charters. Other charter companies, including KIPP (four schools), ASPIRA (six schools), and Universal (seven schools) are looking to expand their enrollment, but Mastery increasingly dominates the charter sector in Philadelphia. Also, with many independent charters, Philadelphia is ranked third in the nation for the number of students enrolled in charter schools with currently roughly 70,000 of Philadelphia’s approximately 200,000 students being enrolled in charters.

Mastery Charter Schools

Mastery currently manages nine elementary schools, eight middle/high schools in Philadelphia, and six schools (five elementary and one high school) in Camden, New Jersey, in total, serving over 12,000 students. In its five-year budget plan, announced March 24^th, at the School Reform Commission (SRC) meeting, the District anticipates an additional enrollment of 10,000 more charter students in the next five years. Adding to the District's problems, on February 16, 2016 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the SRC had overstepped its authority in imposing enrollment caps on charters. That will probably result in an increase in charter enrollment in existing charter schools. The SRC also announced on March 24th its intention to add at 10,000 more charter students in the next five years and to close at least three public schools each year beginning in 2018. 

Click here to read the entire article.

Movers and Shakers

Dan Katzir is leaving his position at the Broad Foundation. LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines will step down from his post next year. Might deputy superintendent John Deasy, a former deputy director of education at the Gates Foundation recently hired by the district, replace him as the head ed honcho in LA?

I'll conclude my three part series tomorrow. Part 1 here and part 2 here.

LAUSD's Cortines on Scholastic's Payroll

From Southern California Public Radio:

Book supplier paid LAUSD chief $150K last year

Feb. 12, 2010 | Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC

Ethics watchdogs say they’re troubled that Los Angeles Unified’s superintendent is supplementing his salary with money paid by a large company that sells reading material and services to the school district.

L.A. Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines sits on the board of directors of the New York City-based Scholastic Corporation. The Los Angeles Times reports that federal filings disclosed Cortines earned $151,000 last year from the company, and roughly the same amount the previous two years.

A filing from five months ago indicates that he owns about $100,000 worth of stock in the company. The school district pays him a $250,000 salary.

Scholastic has $16 million in contracts to provide L.A. Unified with reading material. Cortines said he abstains from any school district decisions having to do with the company. Former school board member Jeff Horton told the L.A. Times that the arrangement puts the district at a disadvantage as it attempts to turn around low reading scores. Other district observers said it gives the company an unfair advantage in its dealings with L.A. Unified.

Cortines became a director at Scholastic Corp. before the school board tapped him to lead the district. Current board members told the newspaper they have no problem with his ties to the company, and a former board member said no one vetted his outside employment in the rush to make him superintendent.