A lot of charter schools like to label themselves “public charter schools” to help blur the distinctions between their publicly funded but largely privatized model and actual public education that takes all students and is fully accountable to the public.
While, as they say, not all charters are like this, the lack of oversight allows shady lease deals and widespread fraud to flourish. And then there are differences like this:
- 107 of the 164 NYC charter school discipline policies we reviewed permit suspension or expulsion as a penalty for any of the infractions listed in the discipline policy, no matter how minor the infraction. By contrast, the New York City Department of Education’s (DOE) Discipline Code aligns infractions with penalties, limiting suspension to certain violations and prohibiting expulsion for all students under age 17 and for all students with disabilities.
- 82 of the 164 NYC charter school discipline policies we reviewed permit suspension or expulsion as a penalty for lateness, absence, or cutting class, in violation of state law.
- 133 of the 164 NYC charter school discipline policies we reviewed fail to include the right to written notice of a suspension prior to the suspension taking place, in violation of state law.
The chart below shows some of the legal and structural differences that make all this possible.
Public education money needs to go to public education.