Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools by Ravitch Diane

Author:Ravitch, Diane [Ravitch, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780385350891
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

As the industry prospered, it came under increased scrutiny. Journalists and researchers began to question the cost and value of the education it provided, and educators awakened to the fact that every student who left a district school for a charter, whether bricks-and-mortar or virtual, diminished the district’s enrollment and budget.

In an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, John Hechinger pointed out that K12 schools had worse academic results than brick-and-mortar schools. The company’s response was that it was enrolling high numbers of poor students, a rationale that would be scorned by reformers as an “excuseȁin defense of a regular public school. Critics, including the auditor general for Pennsylvania, complained that the state’s cyber-schools—which receive nearly $11,000 per student—were overcharging for their services. When K12 enrolled special education students, its charges far exceeded those of the local school district. Hechinger reported that a parent had two boys who received one hour a week of speech therapy via headset, microphone, and Web conferencing; for this service, the state paid the cyber-charter nearly $22,000 annually for each boy. The same once-a-week speech service from the local school district would have been about $1,500 each. And the money for these services comes out of the state’s limited budget for public education.14

Unlike most educators, people in the corporate sector believed that education would be transformed by those who have a profit motive. Michael Milken was serenely confident in the education program he initiated. To address education and other major problems, he said, “In each case, the solution is the same: Unleash the energies of entrepreneurial people, and they will change the world.” According to Ron Packard, the possibilities for expansion were limitless: “There’s no reason why eventually you can’t be educating a billion kids online.”15

The New York Times launched an in-depth investigation into the claim that “corporate efficiencies combined with the Internet can revolutionize public education, offering high quality at reduced cost.” The Times focused on K12, the industry leader, to explore these issues. What it found was “a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload, and lowering standards.” To bolster profits, the company recruits students who are ill-suited for online education, which requires “strong parental commitment and self-motivated students.” Consequently, K12 and other for-profit online schools experience “high rates of withdrawal.” Teachers complained of low pay and heavy workloads, with some managing more than 250 students; many said they felt pressured to pass students who did little work. Students who were inactive remained on the roster, enabling the company to collect tuition for them. According to the story, state audpoverty is just an excusealEitors in Colorado identified 120 students in K12’s Colorado Virtual Academy who could not be verified or never logged in or did not meet state residency requirements.16

Students who enroll in K12 online schools receive a computer, an Internet connection, materials, and workbooks. Their parents are their “learning coaches.” Teachers work from their homes or other remote locations. Teacher pay is low, starting in the low $30,000s, less than their counterparts in traditional schools.

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