Not all charters are bad, but the for profits that Devos promotes here are the
worst, most unnaccountable, and in many cases corrupt ones in the nnation.
Joe
Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of Education
in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit Free
Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal role
in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland native.
Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record with education
before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers pour
nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
accountability
in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found wasteful
spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to operate
for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter schools
run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure laws.
Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in early
December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out DeVos'
role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos as
a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But
that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making table.
In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby has
referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during questioning)
on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public schools.
But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too much
can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key component
of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has been telling
us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on their
promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among data
to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers
the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same
authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won bipartisan
approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying organization,
has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with impressive
and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle: $1.45 million
in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a day.
The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after Republican
members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter schools
in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free Press
review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those open
more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for when
to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that they
must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's charter
school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in poverty.
In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation with
a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick Devos,
husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.
Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of Education
in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit Free
Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal role
in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland native.
Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record with education
before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers pour
nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
accountability
in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found wasteful
spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to operate
for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter schools
run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure laws.
Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in early
December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out DeVos'
role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos as
a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But
that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making table.
In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby has
referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during questioning)
on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public schools.
But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too much
can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key component
of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has been telling
us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on their
promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among data
to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers
the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same
authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won bipartisan
approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying organization,
has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with impressive
and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle: $1.45 million
in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a day.
The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after Republican
members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter schools
in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free Press
review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those open
more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for when
to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that they
must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's charter
school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in poverty.
In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation with
a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick Devos,
husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.
