Welcome to Cashing in on Kids, a weekly email newsletter for people fed up with the privatization of America’s public schools—produced by In the Public Interest.
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Legislative resegregation of schools catching on in right-wing states. Several weeks ago, Iowa’s governor proposed allowing students to transfer out of schools that have a voluntary or court-ordered diversity plan. Similar efforts have been reported in Louisiana and Alabama.
And here comes Indiana, where a similar proposal caused an uproar on Thursday in the statehouse and turned into a walkout and confrontation. WTHR
Now the rest of the news…
The definition of cashing in on kids. The co-founders of a Phoenix, Arizona, charter school in Goodyear have been indicted on fraud and theft charges. “The defendants are alleged to have provided falsified information including pay stubs to the Maricopa County Superintendent’s Office in order to obtain grant funding that wasn’t provided to the appropriate teachers.” Fox 10
Privatization in Appalachia. The West Virginia House of Delegates has passed bills to establish a school voucher program and expand the current charter school program. “Despite opposition from Democratic leaders, both bills passed easily through the chamber, which now has a Republican supermajority. They now move to the Senate, which also has a Republican supermajority.” The Neighbor
Pennsylvania online charter schools need reform. Susan DeJarnatt of the Temple University Beasley School of Law has published an article on the need for reform of Pennsylvania’s online charter schools. “Pennsylvania needs to reform its system for funding cyber charter schools. The fourteen cyber charters draw students and tuition dollars from nearly every public school district across the state, but those districts have no say in authorizing or overseeing cyber charters.” Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly
Some good news…
Community schools are stepping up during the pandemic. In the Public Interest spoke with Paula Oxoby-Hayett, a community school coordinator at Enos Garcia Elementary in Taos, New Mexico. “Sometimes this way of ‘doing business’ seems slower than a handful of people making all the decisions. However, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have community buy-in.” In the Public Interest
No events of note this week. So, here’s a podcast…
Black women and educational activism. National Education Policy Center researcher Christopher Saldaña interviews Kabria Baumgartner about her book In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America. NEPC Talks Education
Photo by Lorianne DiSabato.