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Falling Behind: State Funding for K-12 Education since the Great Recession
A recent analysis by the Budget and Tax Center shows that funding for K-12 education has declined by almost 10% over the past 5 years while enrollment has increased by more than 2%. While the counterintuitive claim that money does not matter in education has become surprisingly common in recent years, the effects of the […]
The big scam: Why North Carolina should dump virtual charter schools
Linger long enough in Raleigh’s legislative lagoon and you’ll find there are three kinds of lawmakers:
The pragmatists: Take a photo if you spy one of these. Theirs is an isolated, lonely caucus, and their agenda is a more nebulous sort. Find the logic, find the rationale for a proposal and you may have an ally here.
Legislators should reject efforts to extend failed virtual charter school “pilot”
The General Assembly should reject any efforts to extend the authorization of the state’s two virtual charter schools, and should instead focus on winding down the two failing schools. Since their creation, North Carolina’s two virtual charter schools, North Carolina Virtual Academy and North Carolina Connections Academy, have been among the worst-performing schools in the […]
The Week’s Top Five on NC Policy Watch
1. In North Carolina, the conservative war on academia merges with its war on the poor and vulnerable Right launches new attack on UNC legal centers that serve people in need For several years now, North Carolina conservatives have been waging a war on the poor, the vulnerable and people of color. From the evisceration […]
School choice advocates push to rebrand vouchers, virtual charters for legislators
Public school supporters call the tactics misleading
North Carolina public education backers are fired up this week over a new round of advocacy at the N.C. General Assembly that seems geared toward rebranding for-profit virtual charters and private school recipients of taxpayer-backed vouchers as public schools.
The Follies
DeVos cites wildly inaccurate data about virtual charters
New information about the written responses from Education Secretary-nominee Betsy DeVos to questions posed by a Democratic Senator should cause more problems for her embattled nomination.
Monday numbers
19—number of months since the State Board of Education voted to allow two virtual charter schools to open in North Carolina in the fall of 2016 as required by a law passed by the General Assembly (“NC approves 2 online charter schools to open this fall,” News & Observer, February 5, 2015)
This week’s top five on NC Policy Watch
1. Governor McCrory needs to realize that putting ideology over evidence won’t help struggling students Legislative leaders say they care about helping struggling schools in North Carolina and the students who attend them—but they don’t act much like they do. Imagine going to the doctor for an ear infection and the doctor tells you that […]
NC virtual charter operator disputes details of California court settlement
K12 Inc., a controversial for-profit, virtual charter operator running a school in North Carolina, is disputing the terms of a multi-million dollar settlement the company announced late last week with the California Office of the Attorney General. As we reported Monday, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris touted a $168.5 million settlement with the company, which was accused of inflating […]
NC virtual charter operator coughs up $168 million settlement in California case
Here at Policy Watch, we’ve reported extensively on the struggles of North Carolina’s two virtual charter schools. Both schools—run by for-profit, education groups K12 Inc. and British-based Pearson—have been besieged with skyrocketing dropout rates in their first year of operation. Yet state lawmakers moved in this year’s budget to include new relaxed restrictions for the schools, […]
Report skewers controversial virtual charter schools for running non-profits as a business
Take some time this afternoon to read a fascinating, in-depth report from The Mercury News in San Jose, Calif., on the tightrope virtual charter school operator K-12 Inc. walks in order to operate for-profit institutions under non-profit tax exemptions in California. It’s important to note because Virginia-based K-12 is the operator of its own online school […]
This Week’s Top Five on NC Policy Watch
1. Win the courts, win the war How the state Supreme Court advanced the conservative agenda Conservative justices hold a 4-3 majority on the ostensibly nonpartisan state Supreme Court and, as party operatives understand well, maintaining that edge has been critical to ensuring Republican control elsewhere throughout the state. “Lose the courts, lose the war.” […]
A startling admission of the hucksterism of virtual charters
The education of thousands of North Carolina students and millions of taxpayer dollars are currently at risk in the latest school privatization scheme that continues to draw far too little attention from the media and even many education advocates. Two online charter schools opened in the state this fall operated by two different for-profit companies, […]
Virtual charter schools recommended in spite of serious academic and financial questions
Despite major concerns and numerous unanswered questions, a special committee appointed by the State Board of Education recently recommended approval of both applicants seeking to create virtual charter schools in North Carolina. While the concept of introducing more technology into classrooms is almost universally lauded, virtual charter schools are a relatively new concept in which […]
Application of predatory, for-profit virtual charter company goes before State Board of Ed
It may be 10 days before Christmas, but there are still a lot of worrisome/controversial policy decisions taking shape in the halls of state government this week. As noted in this morning’s Weekly Briefing, a state legislative committee will meet this Friday to recommend rolling back some important consumer protections in the mortgage lending industry. […]
Virtual schools boss makes list as America’s highest paid “teacher”
Fat cat corporate execs getting rich by sucking up taxpayer dollars: It’s one of the dirtiest little secrets of the mad rush to privatize essential public services and turn them over to giant Wall Street-backed corporations. Fortunately, the good folks at the Center for Media and Democracy are doing their best to expose the phenomenon […]