The major newspaper for Detroit conducted a year-long study of charters in the state and found: “wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, poor performing schools and a failure to close the worst of the worst. Among the findings:
Charter schools spend $1billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency.
Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year.
A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more.
Charter schools as a whole fare no better than traditional schools in educating students in poverty.
Michigan has substantially more for-profit companies running schools than any other state.
Some charter school board members were forced out after demanding financial details from management companies.
State law does not prevent insider dealing and self-enrichment by those who operate schools.” http://www.freep.com/article/20140622/NEWS06/140507009
Now that our ALEC-supporting legislators got their tax credit scholarships, Kansas will see a full court press for massive expansion of charter schools. Public school supporters need to have their eyes wide open regarding how this has played out in other states.