Enrollment Off in Big Districts, Forcing Layoffs (but not enough of them!)

[krazen1211]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/education/largest-school-districts-see-steady-drop-in-enrollment.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The rise of charter schools has accelerated some enrollment declines. The number of students fell about 5 percent in traditional public school districts between 2005 and 2010; by comparison, the number of students in all-charter districts soared by close to 60 percent, according to the Department of Education data. Thousands of students have moved into charter schools in districts with both traditional public and charter schools.

Although the total number of students in charter schools is just 5 percent of all public school children, it has had a striking effect in some cities. In Columbus, Ohio, for example, enrollment in city schools declined by more than 10 percent — or about 6,150 students — between 2005 and 2010, even as charter schools gained close to 9,000 students.



The real problem of course is that there are not enough teachers being fired. Columbus, for instance, has failed to fire 10% of the employment force!

Fiscal responsibility demands the firing of these unnecessary teachers.

[opebo]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

[bgwah]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

They're basically private schools that receive public funding. The GOP uses them to weaken unions.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

I don't get my jollies from seeing teachers or any one fired... but I am happy to see that charter schools are succeeding

[opebo]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

They're basically private schools that receive public funding. The GOP uses them to weaken unions.

My god, that's horrific.  For sure I'm out of date - when I next visit home I may get the vapours.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

We need more unemployment!!!

[bgwah]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

They're basically private schools that receive public funding. The GOP uses them to weaken unions.

My god, that's horrific.  For sure I'm out of date - when I next visit home I may get the vapours.

"Private" may not be the best word to use, but why not let Wikipedia answer your questions!

[opebo]

"Private" may not be the best word to use, but why not let Wikipedia answer your questions!

Oh, I use that for work, here I like to chat with my friends to find out about those things.  Actually I did already know 'roughly' what those were, I just had no idea that large numbers of students were actually attending such horrors. I thought it was more like a pilot scheme.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

"Private" may not be the best word to use, but why not let Wikipedia answer your questions!

Oh, I use that for work, here I like to chat with my friends to find out about those things.  Actually I did already know 'roughly' what those were, I just had no idea that large numbers of students were actually attending such horrors. I thought it was more like a pilot scheme.

There are some specialist charter schools that are good for what they specialize in. There's a supposedly very good Chinese-immersion one in my area, for example. There are also some that are exactly what you'd think and the krazens of this world in general can't get enough of them.

[Zioneer]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

[CultureKing]

Obama's emphasis on charter schools is one of his few policy planks that has really peeved me. It's just another way to enlarge the achievement gap and create further socioeconomic divisions. Though from what literature I have looked at it does seem as if charter schools have not been able to actually improve student performance, so perhaps people will realize that they are more or less scams that siphon away funding from schools.

[WhyteRain]

Public education is to education as public housing is to housing.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

Sure- such as the many charter schools opening across the country which serve special needs children or aim to get juvenile delinquents back on track. It astounds me that any one could see charter schools as a bad development...

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Public education is to education as public housing is to housing.

Needlessly crappy because of classist undertones (or overtones) in how it's thought of by policymakers? We can certainly agree on that.

[Zioneer]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

Sure- such as the many charter schools opening across the country which serve special needs children or aim to get juvenile delinquents back on track. It astounds me that any one could see charter schools as a bad development...

I can and I went to a charter school for all of my high school schooling. Charter schools aren't all bad, but they're frequently an excuse to defund public schools, to not so subtly teach a political ideology (my own charter school was obsession with their version of "Constitutionalism") and to avoid ethnic minorities (I'd say that my school was doing that to, but there's few enough non-white people in Utah that I don't think they were trying to do that).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

That's often the case, but not always, the Twin Cities have quite a few charter schools (I think they actually started here), and they usually tend to be things like immigrant immersion or special focus (such as a performing arts school) ones. But yeah in white flight areas that is the case. Nathan summed it up pretty well.

But the real thing here is that krazen is not touting the success of charter schools, he's just getting giddy about teachers being laid off and wishing that more were. This does prove that indeed krazen simply hates teachers just for being teachers. While irrational hatreds of certain groups aren't uncommon, it's hard to imagine how anyone over say 15 could single teachers out as a group deserving of ire. Of course we also don't have any evidence krazen falls into the over 15 category.

[Zioneer]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

That's often the case, but not always, the Twin Cities have quite a few charter schools (I think they actually started here), and they usually tend to be things like immigrant immersion or special focus (such as a performing arts school) ones. But yeah in white flight areas that is the case. Nathan summed it up pretty well.

But the real thing here is that krazen is not touting the success of charter schools, he's just getting giddy about teachers being laid off and wishing that more were. This does prove that indeed krazen simply hates teachers just for being teachers. While irrational hatreds of certain groups aren't uncommon, it's hard to imagine how anyone over say 15 could single teachers out as a group deserving of ire. Of course we also don't have any evidence krazen falls into the over 15 category.

Yes, it's rather disgusting how eager krazen is at the prospect of unemployed teachers.

[WhyteRain]

What are 'charter schools'?  Some white-flight thingie?

White flight and often politically extremist.

That's often the case, but not always, the Twin Cities have quite a few charter schools (I think they actually started here), and they usually tend to be things like immigrant immersion or special focus (such as a performing arts school) ones. But yeah in white flight areas that is the case. Nathan summed it up pretty well.

But the real thing here is that krazen is not touting the success of charter schools, he's just getting giddy about teachers being laid off and wishing that more were. This does prove that indeed krazen simply hates teachers just for being teachers. While irrational hatreds of certain groups aren't uncommon, it's hard to imagine how anyone over say 15 could single teachers out as a group deserving of ire. Of course we also don't have any evidence krazen falls into the over 15 category.

Yes, it's rather disgusting how eager krazen is at the prospect of unemployed teachers.

I hope krazen isn't one of those conservatives who think public education can "work" if only there are enough "conservative reforms" enacted.  It can't.  The mission of public education is and will always be to serve those who control it and make money off it.

Also, krazen misses the boat.  Teachers are the "bone and muscle" of schools.  The real reform would be cutting the huge amount of fat -- the non-teachers -- from the payroll.