         The Charter School Blues
Oakland and New Orleans are sister cities. Like New Orleans, Oakland is a port town with an exciting mix of cultures, peoples and music. None of the $100 billion generated by the port actually goes to the people of Oakland. The city's Flatlands are some of the poorest urban areas in the state and with one of the highest murder rates. Since the 1940s, Oakland has been the proud western terminus of the Chitlin' Circuit. Thousands of African-American families migrated out here from Louisiana, from New Orleans to Bastrop, to sink culture and music deep into the city. The city's African-American population was over 40% through the 1990s and is today slightly under that level. Being a city of around 450,000 people, Oakland has the largest concentration of African-American people in any major city west of New Orleans. We remembered well when we heard the rumors, right after Katrina, of rape and murder in the New Orleans Convention Center. We heard these rumors too after the big 1989 earthquake that collapsed two decks of the Oakland freeway on top of each other. Supposedly residents of West Oakland were up on the freeway looting the bodies and killing people for their watches. Just like New Orleans, it all turned out to be a lie. We experienced the rebuilding too. The government quickly spent over $3 billion to repair damage in Oakland. None of it went to the people however. It built instead the world's most expensive road so that the containers could keep coming into and out of the port School Takeovers Like most Americans, we were, and are, enraged by the government treatment of the people of New Orleans. But we were horrified to hear that the Louisiana State Legislature has taken over the entire New Orleans school district, with 102 of 117 schools slated to be charter schools. As Bush proclaimed, New Orleans will be the nation's landmark charter system. We were horrified because this is another thing that Oakland shares with New Orleans. Our public schools were taken over 2 1⁄2 years ago. Supposedly the district was financially insolvent. In that time we have witnessed the use of charter schools as a wedge to destroy the institution of public education in Oakland. It is now a matter of public record that the quality of education in Oakland is being cut beyond all recognition. Our public schools are being privatized right before our eyes! The first thing we found out about the state takeover is that the community loses all civil rights over public education. This means that elected representatives no longer can make any decisions they want about the schools… and they don't have to make public reports or even explain the budget. The State-Appointed Administrator is the only person that has the power make decisions. Our own, no-good, State-Appointed Administrator, Randolph Ward, has already spoken in Louisiana to civic leaders about the wonders of privatization. Ward has increased charter schools in Oakland dramatically. The number of public school students has fallen from 51,000 to 41,000 since Ward took over. We have 28 charters, more than most states. Each charter takes students, resources, federal money, computers, buildings, books, etc away from the school district. This makes it even harder to pay off our state debt. So while Ward brings more and more charter schools to Oakland, he cuts Oakland public schools to the bone. He has laid off more than 60 percent of custodians and janitors, more than 70 percent of maintenance workers. He has laid off clericals, teachers and school safety officers. Under Ward, libraries have been eliminated in nearly all middle schools and several high schools. Ward also has implemented a financing scheme for the public schools that openly violates Brown Vs Board of Education. The new financing scheme means that schools are both separate and unequal. The sequence is important for communities everywhere. First they eliminate civil rights; then they violate the law and eliminate equal, quality education. Well, have the charters have truly been successful, like the privatizers proclaim? Good question. Ward refuses to produce any data of charter school success… yet we keep of charterizing, making it ever more difficult to get out from our debt to the state. We cannot even investigate whether Ward has misappropriated public money. No voice, no vote. Corporate Players Oakland is being turned into the poster child for privatization. We are more vulnerable, you see, because we are under state control. Most of the charters these days are not started up by inspired teachers and community members. They are corporate charter schools that are run on a for-profit basis. They can screen their applications and often do not even follow state law. A year ago, Bernard Gifford, a former Dean of the University of California School of Education warned the Oakland teachers' union that, by the Fall of 2007, more than 2000 California schools will be declared "failing" under Bush's "No Child Left Behind". These schools will be fodder for the corporate privatization forces. In California, a charter school can claim the school building of a school that has been on the NCLB failure list for 5 years. The corporate charter movement in California is led by billionaire Eli Broad, from Southern California. Broad suggested making Randolph Ward the state administrator. After all, Ward was the Broad Foundation Man of the Year. Broad's corporation funds the Aspire Corporation, which runs 4 charters in Oakland. The Eli Broad Institute pays the salaries of many of the downtown central administrators. Broad developed and financed the new corporation that runs the charter schools. It's almost like a corporate takeover! Broad is also active in Louisiana. The corporate crowd sees a big chance to turn the New Orleans tragedy into an investment opportunity. Why shouldn't the use the situation to push a privatized vision of charters for the whole country, and make a tidy profit besides? We feel that Oakland's experience with the state take-over and with corporate charters should be understood by parents, communities and educators everywhere. Public education in the United states is headed towards a privatized, pay-as-you go system. This necessarily leads to the withdrawal of the right to equal, quality education. We stand at the cross-roads… and these historic steps to curtail our civil rights are generally taking place without public discussion. If you are interested in finding out more about the Oakland public school crisis, please contact us. We are long-term teachers in the Oakland schools, who are actively opposing the state takeover, and have documented this attack on our children. |