scharrison's blog

Biden administration to tighten rules on grants to charter schools

charterpirates.jpg

Choice goes both ways, especially where taxpayer dollars are concerned:

New grant rules proposed by the Biden Administration would require applicants to show that the number of charter schools “does not exceed the number of public schools needed to accommodate the demand in the community.” Other proposed changes to the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) include no longer giving grants to charters run by for-profit companies.

Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow, such as having 100% licensed teachers and participating in the National School Lunch program. There are more than 200 charter schools in North Carolina. More than 60 charter schools have received a share of the $36.6 million in CSP grant funds given to the state.

Since the cap on charter schools was removed when Republicans took over the NC General Assembly, the number of these schools in the state has doubled. There are also currently 783 private schools in NC, 2/3 of them religious in nature. Combined that's approaching the 1,000 mark. If that were 10 per county, wouldn't be such a big deal. But it isn't. Wake County has 24 charter schools and 87 private schools, pulling students and resources from the 171 traditional public schools. 8 of the 41 new private schools NC added in 2021 are in Wake County. Suffice it to say the "school choice" movement is out of control in North Carolina. Back to the Biden rule change, and the GOP's predictable reaction:

Madame Justice

Ketanji Brown Jackson has been approved by the Senate to take Stephen Breyer's seat this Summer:

Judge Jackson was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Miami, Florida. Her parents attended segregated primary schools, then attended historically black colleges and universities. Both started their careers as public school teachers and became leaders and administrators in the Miami-Dade Public School System. When Judge Jackson was in preschool, her father attended law school. In a 2017 lecture, Judge Jackson traced her love of the law back to sitting next to her father in their apartment as he tackled his law school homework—reading cases and preparing for Socratic questioning—while she undertook her preschool homework—coloring books.

Hear that crash? That's the glass ceiling being shattered.

Tuesday Twitter roundup

And before the right-wing nutters start flailing around about Liberal reporters, Travis is one of the most objective and fair journalists around these days. And this *is* a legitimate question. How about an answer?

Tuesday Twitter roundup

What Jeanne said. We had an EITC until the NC GOP did away with it. If you're not independently wealthy, you're not on their radar. After the cuts are made, anyway.

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