Charter Schools May Be the Future of Public Education

[Music] more than 100 schools have been closed down in Detroit over the last 20 or so years that's more than five schools per year so when driving around Detroit you're usually only a few minutes from a school that's been closed down here's one of the closed down schools you can see it's all boarded up here already there's another closed school Frank Cody is one of the lowest performing high schools in Detroit it consistently ranks in the bottom fifth percentile on state exams and last year the state threatened to close it down if test scores didn't improve how was your experience Bennett Cody you don't got enough advisors we don't got enough electors we don't got enough resources to make our education bed early you don't got no art class they took that away we don't have like all of us on get Spanish class I'm starting 11 graders good Spanish class and I feel like our teachers don't help you which would you need help with cuz we got seniors who can't pass their classes right [Music] what do you guys want to be when you graduate what do you want to do some work what are your dreams for your future I want to be I wanna be very because I love end Wow it'd be like raise your hand if you went to a school that's now closed every single one but it's not just Detroit public education across the country has been in a state of crisis for decades Diane Ravitch served as assistant secretary of education under George HW Bush she's one of the leading experts on education in the country what has happened to the education system over the past 20 years has been that the growth of a very powerful movement to privatize public education we've seen a narrowing of the curriculum so that many schools in an effort to raise their test scores dropped the Ortz many schools dropped physical education oh because No Child Left Behind was the federal government saying that if you can't get your test scores up hey you will be punished it's the standardized testing that sets up schools for privatization a school choice gained momentum the largest growth has been charters privately run schools funded with public money no one had any evidence that charter schools were better than public schools but nonetheless they were proposed as a remedy when students leave traditional public schools and go to charter schools how does that affect the not only the school district but the communities in district after district across the country we've seen the growth of charters accompanied by the loss of funding to the public schools meaning that they have to cut what people don't realize when they hear charters is that every dollar that goes to charters and vouchers is a dollar taken away from public schools one of the first dates to embrace typical choice was Michigan where 25 years ago the state radically overhauled its public education system market competition was introduced michigan's education system became one of the most deregulated in the country and Detroit alone close to a hundred charter schools have opened since 1995 while nearly 200 traditional public schools have shut down in the same time one-third of the district schools need to become charters if they're to survive this place is now on borrowed time set to close to the end of an era the West Michigan's largest school district as students and staff said a final farewell [Music] if you close all the public schools in your area and you pop up two or three charter schools what is the choice you have no choice Aliyah more grew up in Detroit where she's now raising her two daughters she started fighting for public education after the state closed her neighborhood school in 2013 it was almost like if we can get rid of these schools then we can get rid of this district and charter it out when charters first came to the city it was like don't send your children in a filthy public schools go to nice charter schools nice academies our children are addressed in uniform our children walk on blue lines and it was more of a to me a prison or jail mentality you know not really open to parent input and involvement you know just get the dollars get the kids and even if our school fails we can close down and open another one in another name it's a business what do you say to those who who say that they want to give families like yours school choice that kind of angers me when I'm hearing that so much now choice choice it's a choice this was my choice at the center of Michigan's experiment and school choice is current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos the divorces are a powerful force in conservative politics both in Michigan and around the country since lobbying to introduce charter legislation the family has spent an estimated seven million dollars promoting the unregulated expansion of choice and with Betsy DeVos now working in the White House her model may be representative of what's to come nationally do you believe parents should be able to choose the best school there for their child regardless of their zip code or a family income me too and so does President Trump former state representative Lamar Lemmons has seen the influence of the Charter Lobby in the Michigan House firsthand how strong is the Charter Lobby here it is extremely strong and particularly that Betsy DeVos and a debossed family essentially spearheaded Betsy DeVos has said that public schools here are financially and educationally unsuccessful she suggested retiring DPS does she have a point no she does not in fact she help undermine dps with their influence with the state legislature did the state government intentionally closed down hundreds of traditional public schools in order to create opportunity for charters I believe so because no one would attend them if our schools were performing as they were so they had to create a crisis and then drive their children we call them educational refugees into the for-profit charter schools but the charter schools as a rule don't perform as well as the public school nationwide studies have shown that most charter schools haven't produced better results than traditional public schools in Michigan alone about 80% of charter schools performed below the state average and as they've expanded Michigan has dropped to dead last in terms of educational improvement and is the only state to have progressed in the past 15 years but the DeVos family has continued to advocate for school choice they even founded their own charter school in their hometown of Grand Rapids we're at West Michigan Aviation Academy and this 18-year old student is about to fly us in this plane [Applause] to be a little Buffy today and what you're on course heading there were Leo Circulo [Music] that's a first indication Dave is a senior at West Michigan Aviation Academy one of the best charter schools Michigan have to say Dave is pretty good especially given the weather conditions other on comes all the way over the right hold it here hold it off the ground hold it hold it hold it good pretty nice approximate lady nice landing Dave for those who understand the traditional public school model more so than this one you're essentially the superintendent of this one school correct as a CEO which I don't love that title but that's the title that I have they expect me to run the operation and there's very little bureaucracy they expect you know short briefs I'm these inter happening here so is it kind of more structured like the business yeah I think the more of a business by Tamora Board of Directors or of the corporate feel to work we have a lot of teachers that are freshman college and so they are relatable for us high school students and they dedicate so much time what I love most about the school is the opportunities that it provides for everyone like whatever you want to do the school helps you get to that goal and it helps you find where you are in society and like what you want to beat I know you have a diverse student population I'm noticing all the pilots are white why is that it's the ones who have made it through the program we have more diversity in this current pilot class and it's something that we'd love to have is more diversity and more females okay well and we're very cognizant of that and we do have now in the pipeline this year not in that picture our first african-american student who is solo but getting into charter schools like this one isn't easy something we saw at their annual admissions lottery first name is avery Walter Kendall spring born Ashleigh Escobar Sarah her wire number 70 Matthew Kline straw Charles cordis number 147 Tyler a czar gosh that's so nerve-racking huh what were you thinking as you saw those 140 whatever names go I thought I was not gonna get it because I was 147 147 out of 155 Wow the debate over school choice has reached a boiling point across the country while Betsy DeVos declined our request for an interview her husband dick DeVos one of the most powerful education lobbyists in the country agreed to sit down with us over the last few months in reporting this story we've seen some really impressive charter schools including yours we've also seen the effect that charters have had on traditional public schools does that concern you at all well I think I think there has been effective charters on public schools and my hope is that that effect has been positive that the effect has been at traditional schools having been confronted with an alternative that they were never confronted with before that that that will have them take a look at themselves and say how can we be special too I've talked to low-income parents who I know would be offended by that because they feel like the influence that your family has over the Michigan State Legislature has caused their public schools to be shut down okay I wish I appreciate that perspective the answer is we we don't we haven't I don't know how I don't know how they can come to that conclusion for in a fairly speaking I think lobbying for pro charter legislation funding campaigns of candidates who are voting strictly approach harder contributing to the Michigan Republican Party whose stance on education is Pro charter I think those would be other reasons and they feel like that the rise in charters is defunding their public school I think that's what they would say yeah and I appreciate the point of view you know and and and I respect that I respect their point of view on average when you look across the country charters don't outperform traditional public schools how do you sort of push for growth of charters when we don't know they're any better than traditional public schools why are parents choosing charters nobody's forcing them to go to charter school if parents weren't choosing charters churches wouldn't exist parents are making these decisions not bureaucrats not mean out of you parents are choosing these alternatives because apparently they think they're better for their children my hope is not that one does better than the other my hope is that they all do well the nature of competition though is not everyone wins the nature of competition in education is that potentially everybody wins 100 schools were closed in the last 20 years that's not winning children are getting a better education as a consequence of new options and new choices and new possibilities that is winning you you

Channel: VICE News

Views: 789,798

Keywords: public education michigan, Charter school, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, vice news 2019, charter schools, vice HBO, vice, vice video, Charter schools vs. public schools, public school, education, news, public schools america, education america, public education in america, gianna toboni, betsy devos, public education funding, american politics, donald trump, VICE on HBO season 6, Michigan, Dick devos, West michigan aviation academy

Id: yvir2PqkXuQ

Length: 13min 29sec (809 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/-salsa-cookies-]

What a good interviewer. So bad for education.

[u/Lamont-Cranston]

then the future is fucked