Jackson Jambalaya

Nancy Loome, Executive Director of the Parents Campaign, sent out a blast email last week about charter schools. You see, she supports charter schools. She really likes the concept. Of course we should try them in Mississippi. However, we just need to make sure we pass the right bill. Here is her email with embedded commentary from yours truly:

The Senate Education Committee will vote on the charter school bill on Tuesday morning.

We need your help to get the bill amended to achieve our goal of improving student achievement and providing good options for kids who are trapped in chronically underperforming schools.

Nice start. We want to help those who need it. We want to get them some good learnin'. Who could be against that? Kill more flies with honey than vinegar, you know. Wait, there is that word, amended. Hmmmm....... what's that about? Keep reading.

Please call your senator and Lt. Governor Tate Reeves before Tuesday and ask them to support amendments that:

There is that amending word again. Does this email support the bill or will it be subjected to death by a million amendments, oops I meant cuts.

1. Restrict charters to chronically underperforming school zones - We cannot afford to create more schools - more administrators, more buildings, more overhead - in places where we already have excellent public schools.

Ah yes, money.... and irony. Someone who supports the bureaucratic and inefficient ways of public schools suddenly discovers fiscal responsibility. I don't seem to remember Ms. Loome sending out emails complaining about how JPS spends much more money than Desoto Public Schools even though they educate the same number of students or how JPS wasted a bond issue a few years ago. Or the fiasco when JPS paid two superintendants- one to work and one to stay at home. In fact, did she ever say anything when it came out in court testimony most of Jackson's middle schools were in bad shape? Just wondering.

Then there is the matter of "chronically underperforming school zones." Notice she wrote "school zones", not schools. As Mr. Reeves wrote yesterday, a "successful" school zone can still have bad schools. This little trick of restricting charter schools to "underperforming school zones" is an attempt to make it harder to deliver charter schools to the kids who need them the most.

Folks, we are dead last in education. We might swap places with Louisiana from time to time but we are dead last. Period. Does anyone even think our best schools truly match up with the best public schools in the country? Or even against local private schools like Jackson Prep or St. Andrews? Competition is never a bad thing. Competition will help the kids who need it the most and push the better schools to improve. The winner is the children.

2. Prohibit virtual charter schools - It is astounding that anyone would want to allow virtual charters into Mississippi. In other states, virtual charter schools have moved student achievement backward while their executives have pocketed a fortune - in state tax dollars! Read about it here.

Heeeeeeelllllllllllppppppp!!!!! Virtual schools, virtual schools, lions and tigers and virtual schools, oh my! Virtual schools are not the boogieman and have their place in Mississippi public education. They are a great too for educating gifted students or those with special needs. Have a child with Asperger's? The child may have a high IQ and can learn but not in a classroom or social setting. Virtual schools might be a good fit for that student. Child has an IQ of 150 but lives in Kemper County or the Canton school district and want to take Chinese or advanced physics? Chances of him getting those classes at his local public school are zilch. If he went to a school such as Baton Rouge Magnet High, he could take these classes:

Languages: Spanish, French, Latin, German, Greek, Chinese.
Advanced sciences: bio. 2 ap, physics 2 ap, chem. 2 ap, environmental science ap
Advanced maths: calculus ab ap, calculus bc ap, statistics ap, discrete math
Advanced social studies: us history ap, econ. ap, European history ap, world history ap.

Too many school districts in Mississippi are poor and rural in nature. They don't have the funds or teachers to offer advanced classes to the few students who need them. Check out the website of Lake Attendance center. Less than twenty high school teachers on staff. It doesn't take a genius to realize that school probably does not have teachers who can teach chinese or advanced physics. Too often our other special students- the gifted and talented- are underserved by the public school system. Remember the fight over Montessori in Jackson? Good schools but people like Eric Stringfellow had the attitude that if we couldn't offer it to everyone, then we should offer it to no one, an attitude that unfortunately, holds Mississippi back and hurts those who need help the most. Virtual schools will address that problem.

Ms. Loome also very conveniently ignores Florida has a virtual public high school that serves over 100,000 students. Florida virtual schools. Virtual schools are a tool and like any other tool, they can be used poorly or wisely. Ms. Loome and the public school lobby, who has us in last place, do not think they should be used at all.

3. Require a proven track record of success from charter school management organizations - We can't afford to waste scarce taxpayer dollars on inexperienced "mom and pop" charter organizers who don't know what they are doing.

No one is advocating bringing in charter school companies with no track record although I am sure Socrates Garrett is trying to figure out a way to partner with a charter school so he can get the "minority contract" in black school districts.

4. Ensure that for-profit companies cannot run charter schools - For-profits cut corners on education to rake in greater profits. The bill has a loophole that will allow this.

Please call before Tuesday - and ask your friends and family to call, too.

Oh really? WHAT exactly is so virtuous about non-profit companies? Guess what Blue Cross/Blue Shield, St. Dominics, and many of your hospitals are? Non-profits. Last time I checked, they all have quite a few executives making six-figure salaries with all of the perks. All companies, profit and non-profit, operate on the profit motive for no other reason- if they don't make a profit, they will eventually cease to exist. There is nothing wrong with a principal making over $100,000 a year if he is a top producer or a company making a profit if it delivers results in the form of highly educated students. Tie compensation to performance and results, just like in the private sector. Empower the principal to experiment and try different educational methods, which he can do in a charter school. We currently practice a cookie cutter approach to public education in Mississippi and have cookie cuttered ourselves to last place.

Learn the facts about the bill. The Mississippi Business Journal published a good review of the bill last week for those of you who don't have the time to read all 60-odd pages. Ms. Loome's missive is actually a literary judo move against charter schools. Ms. Loome and her Parents for Public Schools-funded campaign supporters know the legislature is going to pass some form of charter-school legislation.

Ms. Loome is not going to scream bansai, bow to Emperor Molpushito, and try to kill charter school legislation as it would be nothing more than a suicide attack in a Republican legislature. What Ms. Loome is doing is much more clever: profess support for charter schools while using amendments to water down the bill or make it ineffective. She wants to improve the bill, you see. The goal for Ms. Loome and PPS is to keep charter schools from coming to Mississippi, Ms. Loome is attempting to water down charter schools bills with amendments that will make it almost impossible to implement charter schools in Mississippi.