Charter Schools: The complexity of the debate

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32435-facing-the-complexities-of-the-charter-school-debate

The battle with charter school expansions is further revving up in Los Angeles, as a group of private foundations explore plans to expand the number of charter schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA, has vowed to fight the private foundations behind this effort, including the Broad, Keck and Walton Family foundations that have over the years been central to supporting the corporatization of large charter management organizations and disrupting the collective bargaining efforts of teachers unions.

To unveil the complexity of the argument further, there is also the huge question of big business influences within public education that cannot be ignored. The inherent split between public-private economic arguments can often lead us to overlook all the backroom deals cut by public school superintendents and their administrative teams with big corporations. Some clear examples are deals cut for bringing technology into the classroom or the millions of dollars paid for testing paraphernalia and textbooks to huge corporations who peddle their wares and whose products have a direct impact on the education of our children. But there are also corporate monies that feed into public schools in a variety of ways for so-called special programming and curricular support. Not to mention the number of big business advocates who sit on public school boards and advisory committees, shaping educational policies and practices in ways that fit their own interests, rather than those of students who attend schools in these districts and even less so the interests of less affluent communities they are meant to serve.