White Dems Oppose Charter Schools; Minority Dems Support – IOTW Report

White Dems Oppose Charter Schools; Minority Dems Support

WFB: 

While Democrats are often thought of as opponents of school choice, new data show the story is not so simple: an examination of trends from 2016 through 2018 revealed that while white Democrats have grown staunchly opposed, their Black and Hispanic peers remain in favor of charter schools.

In an already hot 2020 campaign, charters have become targets for left-leaning candidates. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in a speech Saturday called for an end to federal funding of for-profit charter schools, and a prohibition on funding of new charter schools, including not-for-profits. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) sided with Sanders, calling for-profit charters in particular “a real problem right now.”

Sanders and Warren are, broadly speaking, in line with the majority view of their party. Education Next, a pro-reform journal, has polled Americans on their views on charter schools since 2013, providing detailed data on party breakdown since 2015. Their polls indicate that charters are consistently more popular with Republicans than with Democrats, and that the schools have slipped to being net unfavorable with the latter group in recent years.

However, this overall unpopularity hides a surprising trend within Democrats. Chalkbeat, a pro-charter news site, asked Education Next to provide it with racial decomposition of support for charters within Democrats. The results were startling.  read more

13 Comments on White Dems Oppose Charter Schools; Minority Dems Support

  1. The only way to get rid of the public funded “Arabic-themed” schools is to get rid of all charters! Not to mention all the Gulen “Concept” schools all over the nation

  2. Actually, I did my intern year at a charter school, and I’m a bit puzzled by some of these details (such as “sucking up money from taxpayers”). The one I taught at, though part of the local school district, had to pay its own rent every month and constantly had to submit reports as to its testing and other results — and they consistently did better than many (possibly most) of the “regular” district schools).

    While there is a decidedly left-leaning flavor within that school (like most), there also existed a respect for others’ perspectives that was modeled as well as taught. For example, my mentor teacher, a flaming liberal, required everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, which she doesn’t believe in. I remember once her telling a kiddo, “You don’t have to say it but you do have to stand for it.” Sure, some may see that as not good either, but I understood she respected that others do revere the Pledge, and standing during it demonstrated respect for our nation. There are always going to be people who don’t respect our nation, but teaching them how to interact positively with those who do, and dealing with the differences, has proven to be a wise move in these ridiculous days of “taking a knee.”

    Also, it was a very intense program, for teachers as well as students. We didn’t use the scripted Houghton-Mifflin, and I wrote 25 lesson plans **per week** for English alone (five reading groups sorted by level, five times a week). Our Saxon math *was* scripted but the teachers all had extra materials they had made that were used for a small “circle time” sort of extra instruction, more hands on. As a sub I saw in the regular schools – countless times – teachers rush through math lessons, leaving some kids way behind in the dust.

    We did a lot of the same sort of things parents who home-school kids do, were very involved in Dinah Zike foldables (look it up, it’s an awesome way to get kids involved in what they are studying), had parents for different events in the classroom (more intimate, not a vague, distant attendance) – breakfast, BBQ, etc. – during which kids showed them stuff they’d worked on, and parents got to talk to the teacher about how their children were doing, but also out of the box and fun stuff. Parents were also required to volunteer (at home stuff available too) four hours per month, which really did a lot for relationships between parents, school, and teachers. And best of all, we had an **amazing** array of charity events AND were the top in the district for how much we collected. Many, many parents brought in turkeys, for example, at Thanksgiving, not just a few canned items. (And even those who brought in a few items were thoughtful in their choices.) The families were very generous and they as well as the teachers all modeled and taught the importance of community giving to those less fortunate. And it was often done in such a fun way – “bets” between the P.E. teacher (who ran the programs) and if the kids made their goals, he would dye his hair pink, for example.

    This man talked a lot about everyone having a passion, and at an assembly once he told us how he found his, after not knowing for so long what he could possibly direct his energies to. One day he was up in his mother’s attic and found a bunch of his old report cards from elementary school. He noticed he had a lot of absences in third grade, and asked his mom about it. “You didn’t have a coat that year.”

    “In that moment,” he told us, “I found my passion.”

    For those who have heard that story before, pardon the repetition.

    10
  3. TRUTH: Public schools hate charters not just because they are competition. The real reason is, the funding a district gets per student follows the student wherever they go. So when a student transfers from public to charter, the public school loses that $2,000 or whatever it is. Add on top of that if the kid is special ed.

    That’s always been the real reason behind the opposition. There are abominable charters that need shut down but when public schools say it’s all about teaching quality, that’s a lie. It’s really about the $$$.

    11
  4. The biggest reason for the dem/liberal opposition to charters is they can’t control the indoctrination of the young minds. My sisters three boys all went to a private Lutheran school thru 8th grade. They are all doing well with good jobs and conservative values (which they hide from their union loving liberal parents.) They have told me that entering public high school was a big shock for them but they just kept to themselves and soldiered thru it. They couldn’t believe how far behind them the kids were that attended public schools their whole lives.

    10
  5. Tim, ideology is definitely A big reason but money is THE big reason. That’s why the ed unions have been the biggest block of opposition to charters: if enough students/funding transfer away from public, union jobs are at risk of going away too. And with them, the dues.

    7
  6. Grool, my sister and brother in-law paid for their kids tuition. Possibly because of separation of church and state law and it being a Lutheran church school. You’re right about the money but the molding of minds to the liberal union loving commie indoctrination is I think just as big an influence.

    4
  7. The teacher’s unions hate vouchers. With a burning passion. WTF is up with 90% of blacks voting dem when scumbags like Obama blatantly kill hugely popular voucher program like the one in DC?

    With a substantial waiting list and strong grass roots support, none the less, killed. yeah, fuck you, right? Tough shit for them. And from our side? Not a fucking peep. Could you ask for any lower hanging fruit to show the diff between sides? I swear if we had a half dozen Frank Slades in Congress, we could turn this shit around.

    As grool said above the unions hate the thought of competition. I recently got into a debate with a REgressive about vouchers and said let a 1,000 flowers bloom. If she wanted to send her kid to a licensed school specializing in witchcraft, knock yourself out. But allow me the right to send mine to one of my liking.

    Still, she couldn’t have that. TPTB know best and GD it, you’ll toe the fucking line. And like it.

    They realize their hold on this country is dependent on getting our children and pumping their heads full of crap. They will fight vouchers to the death.

    6
  8. Thomas Sowell’s observation on white Leftist attitudes towards minorities applies here. He said white leftists don’t think minorities perform in life as well as whites.

    Dowell called it “the soft bigotry of lowered expectations”

    blacks and Hispanics should be furious at the Left.

    2

Comments are closed.