on 11/6/03 6:44 AM, TONY SCALLON at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > By the way, I did not see any comments on Minneapolis public schools new fears > that charter and suburban integration are taking away students. > http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4192060.html Minneapolis public > schools are going to start competing with charter schools. > > This is a significant change in philosophy by the Board. Formerly, Board > members stated they represented all the public school students including > charter school public students. Now Board members are commenting they only > serve the interests of those who attend Minneapolis public schools. One School > Board member actually criticized charter schools at a neighborhood meeting for > not giving an appropriate education. She did not state which schools she was > concerned with.
More broadly, I wondered the same thing, Tony. Why is it so bad - from a public policy point of view - if Minneapolis students leave for charters? Both are paid with public money. Yes, the Minneapolis public system will lose money, but state aid is based on per-pupil, so theoretically anyone who remains shouldn't lose, should they? The Strib story noted that most of the public school "losses" were in north and south-central Minneapolis � places where criticism of the Minneapolis system has arguably been the highest. Well, if we've found a better way to educate those kids within the public charter, why not applaud that? I know some charter schools have stumbled - but they are all supervised by a public entity, either a public school district or the state. The same accountability is provided there (parents and the supervising entities) as in MPS. Caveat emptor, I say! I am not suggesting Minneapolis schools "give up" and accept losing students. (My son and my family are hugely pleased with Burroughs.) I have said before and will say again that most kids in MPS get an excellent education - at least as good as any open-, non-discriminatory admissions system can do. However, charter schools and similar flexibility may be exactly the right thing for those whose needs aren't best served by a huge system like MPS. I am not for vouchers - private schools can discriminate, and shouldn't be allowed to with public money. But the charter system, while perhaps needing to mature somewhat, strikes me as a good compromise. The biggest potential problem I see is that the district has recently built several schools on the north side - and if that's where the charter losses are coming from, there could be a lot of brick-and-mortar built for nothing (a la the '80s). This cycle of build-then-mothball has cost the schools millions in decades past; there needs to be better planning to assume flexibility will be constantly needed? I'd appreciate it if other knowledgeable folks can enlighten further on the danger to MPS if kids leave, as long as financing is per-pupil. David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
