Cloning Bill Fails, Funding Bills Compete

I'm told that HB466, the bill to ban "cloning" of charter schools, has just failed, and that you can check out how folks voted here (PDF).

Meanwhile, Catalyst has a new story up about how there are some new wrinkles in the school funding debate: A green light for school funding plan. "Legislators have yet to vote on the governor’s plan to raise more money for schools, but a competing proposal has taken a step forward."

Comments

Alexander--there seems to be a problem with your link. Here is the correct one.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/95/house/09500HB0466_03292007_035000T.pdf

Seems a resounding defeat, given the union mobilized for this one. Whats up with that? Is the union as dead as it seems or did they decide to save their fight for a less important issue

This is so very sad, a real defeat. This only hurts neighborhood public schools more. Forget about least restrictive environment--the local school will only have special ed, low, low, low income kids, kids with severe behavior disorders
and kids who are too old to be in the grade they are in. And uncertified teachers...A real shame.

"This is so very sad, a real defeat. This only hurts neighborhood public schools more."

So a bill that would have reduced public school choice is defeated, and that's sad?

In my view (a parent), I'm thrilled. If parents choose a newly cloned charter over their neighborhood school, that's just too bad for the neighborhood school. Instead of bemoaning this questionable notion that all of the neighborhood schools will be left with the students whose parents can't/won't/don't choose, maybe we should focus our energies on ensuring that all parents take the time to determine which school is best for their student. Assuming that we'll always have thousands of parents who don't care to choose a public school seems patriarchical and cynical to me.

Wait a minute, this is new, charter detractors now arguing that non charters will be filled with uncertified teachers because of charters? That seems the opposite of the usual argument...that charters are filled with naive, uncertified fly by night staff who don't know a good thing when they see it (a union that protects them from the for profit business executives lurking in the shadows of their charter schools)

We should build on the clear resounding message the house sent, and get the charter cap lifted once and for all. Forget about clones, we need more options period. Charters are one method. And if parents want them we should make them.

9:34, people have a choice on where to shop, yet most still choose Walmart, which is the primary reason so many jobs have been shipped overseas and there are more people today on public support (welfare, food stamps, etc) than before welfare reform!

and all walmart offers, like charter schools, is an inferior product. might seem like a deal, but in the long run, its not....

Maybe even more important than the charter school vote is the collapse of the education funding proposal coming from the Gov's office. Now that both Rev Jackson and Rev and Senator Meeks have come out against the gross reciepts tax it is in effect dead.

I think both Meeks and Jackson were pressured by smaller black owned firms that believed they would be in deep trouble with existing low profit levels if the tax passed. This combined with the opposition of the IL Manufactures Ass, etc, has killed the plan.

There will be no income tax increase in our state, so the fundamental problems will continue. If I were a for profit charter operator or contractor in Chicago I would be looking to end all of my contracts because sooner or later CPS is heading for a crash, along with many other districts in IL. CPS will be forced to reduce the percentage management firms are charging along with other cuts in the next few years.

Since I am recieving retirement benefits from the CPS I am also expecting that these will be cut and I have been taking steps to reduce my expenses under the assumption that this is going to happen. Teachers, central office staff, and principals whould plan on having lower retirement benefits in the future than what exists currently and operate under that assumption. If it turns out to be not as bad as it looks then we may all have money in the bank due to our conservative plans for our retirements.

Hopefully the union will have better luck with their bid to get rid of the residency requirement for CPS employees. Please write to your state senators using this link:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/resodencybill

Its funny how Walmart keeps coming up in these school debates. You would swear that some of these nutty people that oppose charter schools are really fighting some other evil global conspiracy. Calm down folks! Maybe if you focused your energy on educating kids, our public schools wouldn't be in such bad shape.

it's not a global consipiracy, its just democracy gone awry. the mantra these days is 'choice'.

in past days that same mantra would have been considered 'mob rule'

a democracy isn't an opinion pole. it still requires leaders to make the final decision based on solid evidence.

It's both naive and ignorant to think that charter schools are unconnected to the overall push to privatize for the benefit of the greedy profiteers who run this country.

[cermak_rd]

But charter schools are public schools that have to select their children by a random lottery (if they have more applicants than they have slots). Vouchers are privatized education and I am not for vouchers due to the loss of public control of public money.

But in this case, vouchers are public schools set up as an option for parents who want to choose them. Their student body is not all that much richer than the general student body so I don't see any concerns about elitism.

Now, have some companies in other states tried to make money off Charter schools? Yes, they have. I don't think any of them have been wildly successful though.

Has anyone compared test scores for these charter schools? Charter schools in my area are the same or worse than the public schools in this same area.

Also, let's not forget: many of these charter schools, etc are business ventures for companies. Like the one started up by the law firm that has connections with Daley (I believe one of the law firm partners had a seat on the board of the REN 2010 school approval committee-or something along those lines). A few years ago business folks were chomping at the bit to get in on the groundfloor of this new sector: education. As one businessperson put it, "Education is the next big service sector and we need to get a piece of it."
Can't quite remember now who said it, but that's the attitude out there. So, I think we should be very cautious about accepting some of the rhetoric that's coming from these business people.

Also, Walmart is one of the very companies spending vast amounts of money promoting school choice-vouchers, charters, etc. It's easy to look up their involvement. A number of articles have been written about their involvement in influencing the direction of education.

I am all for fixing the schools or providing schools that actually produce results, but opening schools ad infinitum on the say so of folks that may or may not have our childrens' best interests at heart is really something that we should not take lightly.

This year our school chose the after-school program called Newton Learning, designed by the same company that runs Edison Schools. Its scripted, and its crap. There were so many mistakes in the teacher book. and, if you have unqualified teachers in your schools, who is going to catch those mistakes? No one. They'll just be teaching students incorrect information, confusing and frustrating the kids. Say what you want about public school, but at least there is more of a choice right now about how to teach kids, not just a script full of typos.

2:10-

Give us the data that backs up:

"Charter schools in my area are the same or worse than the public schools in this same area."

[cermak_rd]

2:10,

And under what yardstick? Just test scores? What about student violence, is it better or worse (I don't know I suspect Charter schools would try real hard to hush that kind of thing up)? What about graduation rates?

3:05...Out of all of the charter schools in Chicago there is currently one run by Edison: CICS Longwood.

Go look for yourself: http://www.edisonschools.com/edison-schools/schools/school_list?state=IL

And in the meantime, can people stop making assumptions and accusations about all charter schools based on the few that are run by private, for-profit companies in Chicago?

Let's face it, on the whole charters are certainly governed by private business and self interest anymore than CPS is.

I worked last year at a Chicago based charter school. I took the job in part because I was having trouble getting my New Jersey teaching certificate accepted by Illinois. I was properly certified by November and left the charter school at the end of the 2005-06 school year. I am not going to trash this school by name or charter schools in general.

But I can tell you all a few things. Charter school parents that I dealt with, mostly working class Hispanics, were able to discipline their children and a phone call home for a student who was acting out almost always resulted in greatly improved behavior. This was completely unlike my experience teaching in New Jersey with urban students where I found such phone calls often to be a waste of time on my part.

The reason for the difference is that the charter I worked at required all parents to sign a code of conduct and to agree if their child repeatedly violated even relatively minor parts of the code that they would attend school with their child for a full school day and hence lose a day’s pay or a sick day. I knew of one student who appeared to me to have a very serious unidentified psychiatric problem that was expelled from the school with the student’s mother crying and begging the school to leave her child in the school. This child was never referred for a special education evaluation because the school claimed the parent was opposed to special education, which may have been true. But the school did neither the child or the parent any good by throwing the student out without attempting to understand what was wrong with him.

The charter school paid relatively poorly, but not outrageously so. The school picked up none of my pension costs which I got hit with once my certification came through because they hired me as a non-certified teacher. They claimed that they would this year, but I did not return to find out.

Other than one of the lead teachers I had more teaching experience with urban students than any of the staff. Many of the teachers working at the charter I talked to came into teaching through Teach for America. Several of these teachers left the school at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. According to internal data from the school I saw while working on a grant proposal the school was turning over 15% of its faculty each year.

So my conclusion is that yes charters teach mostly low income students. But at least the charter I worked at taught a different type of low income student who was far less disruptive to the classroom than the students I had taught in New Jersey or now teach in a western suburb of Chicago. So the claims of charter proponents of superior performance ring a little hollow with this teacher. By the way the suburb I am now teaching in gave me year for year my seniority gained in New Jersey, whereas the charter had no seniority system. By the way the suburban district did not give me a year for my time spent at the charter.

Frankly, I was amazed by the charter school’s pathetic teacher evaluation system. I was evaluated by a supposed principal who I doubt even had an administrative certificate, whose teaching experience in total was in a Catholic school system. I was given a relatively poor evaluation because I failed to work mandatory overtime which consisted basically of attending recruitment meetings that had nothing to do with instructing children.

By the time I left this charter school it had secured several million dollars in capital loans put together by an organization called the Illinois Facilities Fund. The only real assets this charter had were the dollars being paid it by CPS and the reports we got indicated that in order to keep up with its loan payments in the future the school had to be at maximum enrollment, which to my thinking meant the charter had to keep recruiting kids or die. We are creating one hell of a big mess with education in this country and I am so glad I no longer teach in the city.

i wish we could hear from more charter school teachers, who have had experience in both public and private urban schools. I suspect many of the proponents of charters that leave messages on this blog are connected to the organizations that run charters, not necessarily teach in them or see the bigger picture.

I appreciate hearing the testimony of a charter schoolteacher. I thought that my experience was unique. I am a certified teacher and have a number of years experience teaching before my certification. I went to teach at a charter because I thought choice was a good idea.

Unfortunately, I found that teaching at a charter was not much different than teaching in a regular CPS school in regards to school curriculum, books and supplies, discord between teachers and administrators, other policies, testing, etc. I agree with the charter teacher "So the claims of charter proponents of superior performance ring a little hollow with this teacher."

The special ed students were not well serviced and there wasn't much in the way of effective discipline, which increased over the year. It was difficult to contact parents because I had to do it from home as I had classes one after the other with no breaks except lunch, which I used as prep time. Most of the time I wasn't able to get in touch with parents because they were not at home. Like the previous poster, most of the parents I dealt with were working class Hispanics. When I was able to speak with a parent the student's behavior improved and assignments were completed.

I don't know how many teachers were certified, that was not talked about. Some teachers were working to be endorsed in the subjects they were teaching. In my interaction with some of the teachers and the questions they raised during discussions, it seemed that some had little knowledge about educational psychology, and appropriate teaching methods while others were very prepared. Some teachers were hired because of connections. A veteran teacher told me that the work I was getting out of my students was amazing and advised me to lower my expectations seeing how much time after hours I spent in getting that work.

Like the previous poster I was evaluated by a supposed principal who I doubt even had an administrative certificate, and whose educational experience was a mystery and questions avoided. Although I was given a high evaluation, I was scored for programs that didn't exit in the school, expecting at least an N/A but received actual scores and some low scores where I could prove otherwise. It was pathetic.

Although I was told that my salary would parallel CPS salaries, I was paid significantly lower, teaching more units, no prep time, grading and prepping for classes at home. The principal was out of the school as soon as the school day ended and I knew because I often stayed late to get my work done. After deductions for taxes and health insurance I was left with a meager income where I had to get a part-time job to cover my living expenses.

It was impossible to sustain my living expenses and property taxes in Chicago and I have moved to another state and am teaching there. The district has credited me with some of the years of my teaching experience and I am able to provide for my family.

Like the previous poster stated the charter has to keep recruiting students or die. I agree that we are creating one hell of a big mess with education in this country and I am glad I was able to find a job that I love to do and provide for my family.

I lived in Chicago all my life and miss it but I cannot afford living there anymore.

I taught at an ASPIRA charter. I did finish one year there. I hated teaching there the school used all packaged lessons and materials. To put it simple, the pay was bad, the school lacked creativity, the building itself was a joke, and the sad part was the parents believed their kids were getting a really great education. Why? Because the school kept feeding them PR and the parents having no money for a real private school wanted to believe they were doing right by their kids. All very sad.

I taught at an ASPIRA charter. I did finish one year there. I hated teaching there the school used all packaged lessons and materials. To put it simple, the pay was bad, the school lacked creativity, the building itself was a joke, and the sad part was the parents believed their kids were getting a really great education. Why? Because the school kept feeding them PR and the parents having no money for a real private school wanted to believe they were doing right by their kids. All very sad.

I am a divorced, now single mother, of two children. I moved to Chicago from LA for a job that paid considerably more than what I was making in LA and to get as far away as possible from my ex. At the time I moved my oldest was in the middle of seventh grade and my youngest was in fourth grade. The company I work for provided me with a lot of support in relocating, including a company that provided me with a lot of information and apparently had very good relations with St. Francis Xavier Warde School, because both of my children were admitted to the school after the school year began.

I was paying tuition including after school programming of around $11,500 per child at FXW. Even with the child support payments I was receiving from my ex and a good salary it became rather clear to me the next year that I had to look at public options for high school for my oldest. The reason for this was St. Ignatius where many FXW kids were going to cost $10,200 + $600 for books, fees etc. I really did not understand the public options, but I learned that Payton which was close by was a very good school and we applied to that school. My child was not accepted at Payton.

I had heard about a public charter school that some parents were considering for their children, Noble St. Charter High School. I looked at the data for the school and I was impressed. According the information the school sent me Nobel was in the top 15
of the more than 100 Chicago Public high schools ,including selective and non-selective admissions schools, its average ACT score was better than an 18. Since this school was free we applied and were accepted.

The beginning of my disillusionment with Nobel St. began at parent orientation before the beginning of the school year. I found the presentation by Superintendent Michael Milkie to be pompous, I looked around the room and realized that the vast majority of the parents were Hispanic, some of them with limited English abilities. When I discovered that the Dean of Students was Tonya Milkie I became even more unnerved. What had I gotten my child into, in order to save money.

I rapidly discovered the following things, Nobel St. was using a math program called Saxon that was designed to be taught by home schooling parents. It’s instructional level was below that of FXW middle school math program. The school offered almost no options, for example the only language offered was Spanish, which was in fact the home language of many of the students. In the first month I began to meet other freshmen, some of whom I could only describe as closeted gang members who were hiding their affiliations from their own well meaning parents and apparently the school.

I learned soon that about 15% of the students enrolled at the school leave each year. So I came to understand that those that did graduate were the best of the lot. I have to assume that Nobel St’s mean ACT score is based on a range of score from around 15 up to only about 25. The highest scoring students would be unlikely to be admitted to UCLA where I graduated from. I had no interactions with Marlon Tobin the Dean of Discipline, but from discussions with my child’s friends he was the one that “put kids out.” I transferred my child out after two months to Gordon Tech which only costs $7,400 a year and I like much more for my child.

I would not recommend Nobel St. to any parent who has the economic ability to send their child to a private high school and did not get into a CPS prep academy. Nobel St. may be a good option for low income parents. But for those of us who are in better shape for income it does not work.

I'm a public school teacher and I believe we need to fix our educational system, but allowing private companies to run our schools will only get us into more trouble. Teachers have worked so hard to get respect and decent pay, only to take two steps backward with charters. Want better education? Pay teachers better and you'll get better candidates. There is no other solution simpler than that. I'm also for holding teachers accountable, but principals should be held accountable first. i.e., if a principal has not tried to retrain a teacher, he/she cannot be fired. No more scapegoating of teachers. Hold the employers responsible first and foremost.