Following the Charter Dollars

This cogent analysis is cross posted from the website of the Louisiana School Boards Association. Don Whittinghill has been a LSBA consultant since 2000, responsible for production of the quarterly journal, The Louisiana Boardmember, for editorial content of the LSBA web site, and is a former reporter for the Times-Picayune.

Who benefits financially from the pro-market charter school movement?

The charter school reform emerged in part out of a progressive effort to promote innovation that could be used to improve all public schools, and to open up discus­sion on the relationship between school and community, particularly in urban areas. It was a movement initiated by Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts and envisioned as a school that would gain freedom to try different methods of teaching that could be transferred to all public schools.

However, a funny thing happened along the way. Free-market zealots (with riches) realized that over $600 billion is spent in the U.S. on public schools. A whole new frontier leading to stable profits was recognized.