Guidelines for Investigating or Suing Charter Schools by Mark Naison, Ph.D.

Guidelines for Investigating or Suing Charter Schools by Mark Naison, Ph.D.

When launching investigations of charter schools at the state or municipal level, or suing charter schools for misappropriation of public funds, the following questions should be asked:

1. What private interests benefit from the closing of public schools and the creation of charter schools? What tax breaks are conferred and what profits are made? To what degree do groups lobbying for the creation of charter schools stand to benefit financially from the policies they are pushing for?.

2. What is the connection between the creation of charter schools and real estate speculation which leads to rising rents and displacement of long time neighborhood residents?

3. To what degree do charters engage in weeding out of students who do not perform well on tests or are unwilling to conform to draconian behavior codes ? What are the consequences of large number of such students being pushed into local public schools, which have to accept them, or, if they are older, joining a population that is unschooled entirely?

4. To what degree do charters engage in unfair labor practices in their treatment of teaching and support staff, and how do these practices contribute to undermining the stability and professional integrity of the teaching profession in the communities where charters are located?

5. Which politicians on a city, state and national level receive major contributions because of their support of charter schools, and where are those donations coming from?