A Christmas Crackdown on Texas Charter Schools

[TexasTowelie]

This was already going to be a record year for charter school closures in Texas. Before this week, state regulators had already moved to close eight charters in 2014. But on Tuesday, the Texas Education Agency announced 14 more were on the chopping block—the largest single revocation the state’s ever seen.

Sweeping new charter school legislation passed in 2013 encouraged new charters to open and made it easier to close struggling ones. But the charter growth promised in Lt. Gov.-elect Dan Patrick’s bill—which lifted the state’s cap on charters and encouraged successful charters from out-of-state to come to Texas—hasn’t materialized so far.

The bill also required schools to give up their charters after three consecutive years of low student performance or financial accountability scores.

-snip-

All but one of the 23 charter revocations this year were mandatory under the new law. (Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy is the other.) Texas has moved to revoke almost as many charters in 2014 as it did in all other years combined. In just this year, Texas has begun revoking more than one-tenth of the charters in the state.

The full story is at http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-revokes-14-charter-school-closure/ .

[msongs]

1. do the closed charters have to give back their profits? for fraud or something similar? nt

[TexasTowelie]

2. You have to be kidding.

The owners of the charter schools already spent that money. It would be like squeezing blood out of a turnip.

[Hoppy]

3. BUT... BUt.... But...but... charters make money for already rich people.

[DhhD]

4. Could it be that Texas Republicans want to get rid of out of State/out of clan owners?

Well believed Texas business people, themselves having said that they can be trusted to take over your public schools (Dallas ISD Home-Rule); after all, Texas voters allowed Dan Patrick to take charge of the Texas Legislature; Patrick having a history of vouchers and privatizing education. For instance, maybe a mayor of a city in Texas could be a mayor and an investment partner with a group of wealthy Texans, bank rolling privatization of Texas public schools for the 2015-16 school year after the 2015 Legislature is out of session. Deceit like stopping vouchers for the 2013-15 school years, will not now be necessary, as the Tea Extremist take over begins per permission by Texas voting behavior and results. In other words, local control, and the safeguards of Texas Education Code, may be gone, in my opinion. It may be a long two years.