The Choice We Face

by John N. Hale

  65. Peter Bergman and Isaac McFarlin Jr., “Education for All? A Nationwide Audit Study of Schools of Choice,” December 2018, 3, https://web.archive.org/web/20190126191458/http://www.columbia.edu/~psb2101/BergmanMcFarlin_school_choice.pdf.

  66. Julian Vasquez Heilig, Amy Williams, Linda McSpadden McNeil, and Christopher Lee, “Is Choice a Panacea? An Analysis of Black Secondary Student Attrition from KIPP, Other Privately Operated Charters, and Urban Districts,” Berkeley Review of Education 2 no. 2 (2011): 153–78; Valerie Straus, “Do Self-Selection and Attrition Matter in KIPP Schools?,” Washington Post, June 14, 2011; “Staying or Going? Comparing Student Attrition Rates at Charter Schools with Nearby Traditional Public Schools,” Schools Brief (New York City Independent Budget Office), January 2014, https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/2014attritioncharterpublic.pdf; Bifulco and Ladd, “The Impact of Charter Schools on Student Achievement”; Nichols-Barrer, Gill, Gleason, and Tuttle, “Does Student Attrition Explain KIPP’s Success?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT: RESISTING SCHOOL CHOICE THROUGH COUNTERNARRATIVES AND COALITIONS

  1. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5 and 13, 2020.

  2. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5, 2020; “N.J.A.C. 6A:31, Renaissance Schools,” New Jersey Department of Education, https://www.state.nj.us/education/code/current/title6a/chap31.pdf; John Mooney, “Explainer: Getting Inside the Urban Hope Act—and ‘Renaissance Schools,’“ NJ Spotlight News, September 30, 2014, https://www.njspotlight.com/2014/09/14-09-29-explainer-getting-inside-the-urban-hope-act-and-renaissance-schools; Phil Dunn, “N.J. Governor Announces Takeover of Camden School,” USA Today, March 25, 2013.

  3. Keith Benson, interview with the author, March 27 and August 19, 2020; Eliza Shapiro, “How an Unknown Reformer Rescued One of America’s Most Troubled School Districts,” Politico, June 30, 2018, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/30/camden-superintendent-education-reform-paymon-rouhanifard-218940; Phaedra Trethan, “Camden Schools Superintendent Submits Resignation,” Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ), April 11, 2018; Rebecca Everett, “Under Proposal, Historic Camden High School to Be Replaced by 4 Small ‘Academies,’“ NJ.com, October 4, 2016, https://www.nj.com/camden/2016/10/under_proposal_camden_high_school_to_be_replaced_b.html; Mark Weber, Bruce Baker, and Joseph Oluwole, “One Newark’s“ Racially Disparate Impact on Teachers (New Jersey Education Policy Forum, 2014), https://njedpolicy.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/weber-baker-oluwole-staffing-report_3_10_2014_final2.pdf.

  4. James Cersonsky and Student Nation, “What You Should Know About the Philly Student Walkout,” Nation, May 17, 2013, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/what-you-should-know-about-philly-student-walkout; “Philly Students Walkout, Teachers Protest Severe Budget Cuts,” NBC Philadelphia, May 17, 2013, https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philly-teachers-protest-budget-cuts-student-walkouts/2144731; Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5, 2020.

  5. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5 and 13, 2020; Phil Dunn, “Camden Student Protest Draws Praise, Attention,” Courier-Post, May 14, 2014; Jason Laday, “Camden High School Students Walk Out of Class to Protest Teacher Layoffs,” NJ.com, May 14, 2014, https://www.nj.com/camden/2014/05/camden_high_school_students_walk_out_of_class_to_protest.html.

  6. LaRaviere quoted in Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah and Bill Ruthhart, “Principal Says Emanuel Administration Stifles Dissent,” Chicago Tribune, May 14, 2014.

  7. Troy LaRaviere, “Under Emanuel, Principals Have No Voice,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 10, 2014; Diane Ravitch, “Troy A. LaRaviere: How Chicago Neighborhood Schools Outperformed Charter Schools,” Diane Ravitch’s Blog, September 4, 2014, https://dianeravitch.net/2014/09/04/troy-a-lariviere-how-chicago-neighborhood-schools-outperformed-charter-schools.

  8. Eve L. Ewing, Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closing on Chicago’s South Side (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018); Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, John Chase, and Bob Secter, “CPS Approves Largest School Closure in Chicago’s History,” Chicago Tribune, May 23, 2013.

  9. Troy LaRaviere, interview with the author, January 9, 2019; Ravitch, “Troy A. LaRaviere”; Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, “Chicago’s Noble Charter School Network Has Tough Discipline Policy,” Chicago Tribune, April 7, 2014; Stovall, “Charter Schools and the Event of Educational Sharecropping,” 62–64.

  10. Keith Benson and Ronsha Dickerson, “Commentary: How an Undeserving Leader Is Destroying Education in Camden,” Courier-Post, May 25, 2017.

  11. Arthur Barclay and Felisha Reyes Morton, “Commentary: Progress Made Possible in Camden’s Schools,” Courier-Post, May 30, 2017.

  12. David Omotoso Stovall, Born Out of Struggle: Critical Race Theory, School Creation, and the Politics of Interruption (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2016), 4; Daniel G. Solórzano and Tara J. Yosso, “Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research,” Qualitative Inquiry 8, no. 1 (2002): 23–44.

  13. Stovall, “Charter Schools and the Event of Educational Sharecropping,” 67.

  14. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 13, 2020.

  15. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5 and 13, 2020; Everett, “Under Proposal, Historic Camden High School to Be Replaced by 4 Small ‘Academies’“; Phaedra Trethan, “Christie, at School Dedication in Camden, Looks Back on Changes in City,” Courier-Post, May 7, 2018.

  16. Save Camden Public Schools Unity Community Center of South Jersey, Inc. v. Camden City Board of Education (April 24, 2018) DOCKET NO. A-0133–16T2, https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-published/2018/a0133–16.html; Jim Walsh, “Court Rules for Camden Voters in School Fight,” Courier-Post, April 24, 2018; George Woolston, “This November, Camden Residents Will Vote to Determine School Board Type,” TAP into Camden, October 4, 2018, https://www.tapinto.net/towns/camden/sections/education/articles/this-november-camden-residents-will-vote-to-determine-school-board-type.

  17. Troy LaRaviere interview; LaRaviere, “Under Emanuel, Principals Have No Voice.”

  18. LaRaviere, “Under Emanuel, Principals Have No Voice.”

  19. Troy LaRaviere interview.

  20. Troy LaRaviere, interview.

  21. Juan Perez Jr., “Alderman Blasts Principal’s Ouster,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2016.

  22. Juan Perez Jr., “Troy LaRaviere Blasts CPS, Details Reasons He Was Ousted as Blaine Principal,” Chicago Tribune, May 13, 2016.

  23. Juan Perez Jr., “Alderman Blasts Principal’s Ouster,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2016; Juan Perez Jr., “LaRaviere to Discuss His CPS Ouster Case Thursday,” Chicago Tribune, May 12, 2016.

  24. Amanda Kerr, “Marching Burke Students, Supporters Fight for School, Protest Charter Idea,” Post and Courier, May 25, 2015.

  25. Quality Education Project, “Charter School Resolution,” June 7, 2015, Quality Education Files, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, and in possession of author; Amanda Kerr, “Marching Burke Students, Supporters Fight for School, Protest Charter Idea,” Post and Courier, May 25, 2015.

  26. Molly Smith, “Raleigh Egypt Parents Call Charter School Transition a ‘Hostile Takeover,’“ WREG Memphis, October 27, 2014, https://wreg.com/2014/10/27/raleigh-egypt-parents-call-charter-school-transition-a-hostile-takeover; Daarel Burnette II, “Exclusive: Green Dot Public Schools Pulls Out of Raleigh-Egypt ASD Takeover,” Chalkbeat, November 20, 2014; https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2014/11/20/21092121/exclusive-green-dot-public-schools-pulls-out-of-raleigh-egypt-asd-takeover; Stephanie Love, correspondence with the author, February 9, 2020.

  27. Arianna Prothero, “Charter Operators Pull back from Memphis Turnaround Effort,” Education Week, April 21, 2015, https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/22/charter-operators-pull-back-from-memphis-turnaround.html; Bill Dries, “Frayser Battleground for Achievement Schools” Daily News (Memphis), October 31, 2014.

  28. Elisabeth Greer, interview with the author, August 20, 2020; Aiko Kojima,
interview with the author, August 21, 2020; Juan Perez Jr., “‘We’ve Finally Won One,’ National Teachers Academy Supporters Say After CPS Drops Plans for High School,” Chicago Tribune, December 4, 2018; “We Are NTA,” http://wearenta.weebly.com.

  29. Norman Stockwell, “‘Education Must Be Available to Every Child’: An Interview with Jitu Brown,” Progressive, December 1, 2017, https://progressive.org/magazine/education-must-be-available-to-every-child-an-interview-wi; Sanders, Stovall, and White, Twenty-First-Century Jim Crow Schools, 108; Journey for Justice Alliance, “History,” https://j4jalliance.com/history-2-2; Yolanda Perdomo, “Dyett High School Hunger Strike Ends After 34 Days,” WBEZ, September 20, 2015, https://www.wbez.org/stories/dyett-high-school-hunger-strike-ends-after-34-days/fcb33f6e-2e76-4d19-adea-ad7887e5a008; “The Dyett Hunger Strike, One Year On,” Schott Foundation for Public Education, August 30, 2016, http://schottfoundation.org/blog/2016/08/30/dyett-hunger-strike-one-year; “Dyett High School Hunger Strike Ends” Chicago Tribune, September 20, 2015.

  30. Journey for Justice Alliance, “A Moratorium on School Privatization,” https://j4jalliance.com/project-details-2.

  31. Jitu Brown, “#FightForDyett: Fighting Back Against School Closings and the Journey for Justice,” in Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out! Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement, ed. Mark R. Warren and David Goodman (Boston: Beacon Press, 2018), 52–53.

  32. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5, 2020, August 13, 2020, and September 15, 2020; Vincent DeBlasio, “Camden Residents Offer Support of Gov. Murphy,” TAP into Camden, May 21, 2019, https://www.tapinto.net/towns/camden/sections/government/articles/camden-residents-offer-support-of-gov-murphy; Catherine Dunn, “As Tax-Credit Controversy Rages on, Gov. Murphy Tours Camden Businesses,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 4, 2019; Phaedra Trethan, “For New EDA Chief, a Bus Tour of the ‘Real’ Camden,” Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ), June 6, 2019.

  33. Keith Benson, interview with the author, March 27, 2020.

  34. Ronsha Dickerson, interview with the author, August 5 and 13, 2020.

  35. Jennie Biggs, correspondence with the author, August 3, 2020; Natasha Irskine, interview with the author, August 24, 2020; Elizabeth Greer, interview with the author, August 20 and 27, 2020; “About,” Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, https://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/about.

  36. Carol Burris and Jeff Bryant, Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride (Network for Public Education, 2019, https://networkforpubliceducation.org/asleep atthewheel.

  37. Marla Kilfoyle, interview with the author, February 12, 2020.

  38. William J. Barber II, “America’s Moral Malady,” Atlantic, February 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/a-new-poor-peoples-campaign/552503.

  39. Brown, “#FightForDyett,” 53; Stockwell, “Education Must Be Available to Every Child.”

  40. Benson, “To the Black Education Reform Establishment, Be Real with Who You Are and Whose Interest You Represent.”

  41. Stovall, Born Out of Struggle, ix–xvi, 3; Ana Beatriz Cholo, “Little Village High Tab: $60 Million,” Chicago Tribune, September 25, 2003; Ana Beatriz Cholo, “Little Village Getting School It Hungered For,” Chicago Tribune, February 27, 2005.

  42. Hale, The Freedom Schools, 222–23; Lisa Deer Brown and the McComb Young People’s Project, conversations with the author, July 2, 2012; Umar Farooq, “Baltimore Algebra Project Stops Juvenile Detention Center,” Nation, January 24, 2012, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/baltimore-algebra-project-stops-juvenile-detention-center/; Hale, The Freedom Schools, 222–23.

  43. Charles Payne, “Miss Baker’s Grandchildren: An Interview with the Baltimore Algebra Project,” in Quality Education as a Constitutional Right: Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public Schools, ed. Theresa Perry et al. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), 4.

  44. Theresa Moran, “Chicago Teachers Say They’ll Strike for the Kids,” Labor Notes, August 28, 2012, https://labornotes.org/2012/08/chicago-teachers-say-theyll-strike-kids; Diane Rado, “Chicago Teacher Strike: Issues at the Center of Contract Negotiations, Chicago Tribune, September 17, 2012; Monica Davey and Steven Greenhouse, “School Days Resume in Chicago as the Lessons from a Strike Are Assessed,” New York Times, September 19, 2012; Greg McCune, “Chicago Teachers Union Ratifies Deal That Ended Strike,” Chicago Tribune, October 4, 2012.

  45. Cantor quoted in Amy Goodman, “Striking Teachers, Parents Join Forces to Oppose ‘Corporate’ Education Model in Chicago,” Democracy Now, September 10, 2012, https://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/10/striking_teachers_parents_join_forces_to.

  46. Juan Perez Jr., “Little Progress in New Strike,” Chicago Tribune, December 5, 2018.

  47. Stan Karp and Adam Sanchez, “The 2018 Wave of Teacher Strikes: A Turning Point for Our Schools?,” Rethinking Schools 32, no. 4 (Summer 2018); Jasmine Kerrisey, “Teacher Strike Wave: By the Numbers,” Labor Notes, October 4, 2018, http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2018/10/teacher-strike-wave-numbers; Dylan Scott, “The Strike That Brought Teachers Unions Back from the Dead,” Vox, July 5, 2019, https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/28/18662706/chicago-teachers-unions-strike-labor-movement.

  48. See Derek W. Black, “The Current Crisis,” chap. 1 in Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy (New York: Public Affairs, 2020).

  49. Keith Benson, interview with the author, August 19, 2020.

  50. Katara Patton, “Interview with Mayoral Candidate Troy LaRaviere,” Chicago Defender, October 24, 2018; Troy LaRaviere interview.

  51. Bill Ruthhart, “LaRaviere Campaign Site Takes Shots at Emanuel,” Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2018; Bill Ruthhart, “LaRaviere Ad Tells Emanuel: ‘Get the Hell Out,’“ Chicago Tribune, August 5, 2018; Troy LaRaviere interview.

  52. Mike Vilensky, “Democrat Todd Kaminsky Leads N.Y. State Senate Race,” Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2016; Marla Kilfoyle, interview with the author, February 12, 2020.

  53. Miguel A. Gonzales, “With Nearly 1,800 Educators on the Ballot, a #RedForEd Wave is Poised to Make a Big Splash in November,” National Education Association, press release, November 2, 2018, http://www.nea.org/home/73989.htm; “Over 170 Teachers Ran for State Office in 2018,” Education Week, July 17, 2018, https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/over-170-teachers-ran-for-state-office-in-2018-heres-what-we-know-about-them; Madeline Will and Sarah Schwartz, “Dozens of Teachers Were Elected to State Office. Many More Fell Short,” Education Week, November 6, 2018, https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/11/08/dozens-of-teachers-were-elected-to-state.html; Katie Reilly, “Most Teachers Running for Office Lost on Tuesday. Here’s Why Educators Are Celebrating the 2018 Midterms Anyway,” Time, November 9, 2018, https://time.com/5447995/teacher-education-2018-midterm-elections.

  54. Katie Reilly, “‘Our Voices Were Heard’: Dozens of Teachers Advance in Oklahoma Primaries After Walkouts,” Time, June 27, 2018, https://time.com/5323467/oklahoma-primaries-teachers-running-for-office; Reilly, “Most Teachers Running for Office Lost on Tuesday”; David Williams, “16 Oklahoma Educators Elected to Office on Tuesday,” CNN.com, November 7, 2018.

  55. Waldran quoted in Kyle Hinchey, “Teachers Share Disappointment with Election Results, Excitement for the Future,” Tulsa World, November 11, 2018.

  56. Black, Schoolhouse Burning, 43–44.

  57. Don Kaufman, “Why Education May Be the Issue That Breaks Republicans’ Decade-Long Grip on Wisconsin,” New Yorker, August 15, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/why-education-may-be-the-issue-that-breaks-republicans-decade-long-grip-on-wisconsin; “Tony Evers,” Chippewa Herald (Chippewa Falls, WI), March 30, 2013; Patrick Coolican, “Tim Walz Defeats Jeff Johnson in High-Stakes Election for Minnesota Governor,” Star Tribune, November 7, 2018; Miguel A. Gonzales, “With Nearly 1,800 Educators on the Ballot, a #RedForEd Wave Is Poised to Make a Big Splash in November,” National Education Association, press re
lease, November 2, 2018.

  58. Jason McGahan, “How Wealthy Charter-School Advocates Have Shaped the Race for California Governor,” Los Angeles Magazine, June 4, 2018, https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/governors-race-2018; “California’s Students Win, Futures Brighter with Election Victory of Gavin Newsom for Governor—State Superintendent Race Too Close to Call,” California Teachers Association, press release, November 7, 2018, https://www.cta.org/en/About-CTA/News-Room/Press-Releases/2018/11/20181107.aspx.

  59. “About,” Public Funds Public Schools, https://pfps.org/about.html; “Judge Overturns Expanded Wis. Voucher Plan,” Education Week, January 22, 1997, https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/judge-overturns-expanded-wis-voucher-plan/1997/01; Mark Walsh, “Ohio Court Clears Cleveland’s Voucher Pilot” Education Week, August 7, 1996, https://www.edweek.org/education/ohio-court-clears-clevelands-voucher-pilot/1996/08; Derek Black, conversation with the author, February 18, 2019.

  60. Erin Golden, Twin Cities School Segregation Case Proceeds After Ruling on Charter Schools,” Star Tribune, June 12, 2019; Herbert White, “NC Lawsuit Challenges Mecklenburg Town Charter Schools Legislation,” Charlotte Post, May 1, 2020.

  61. “About,” Litigation, Public Funds Public Schools.

  62. Cain v. Horne, 202 P.3d 1178 (Ariz. 2009); Schwartz v. Lopez 382 P.3d 886 (2016); Louisiana Fed’n of Teachers v. State of Louisiana, 118 So.3d 1033 (La. 2013); “About,” Public Funds Public Schools.

  63. “In re Renewal Application of TEAM Academy Charter School,” Education Law Center, https://edlawcenter.org/litigation/in-re-renewal-application-of-team-academy-charter-school.

  64. Carley Lanich, “Hammond, Lake Ridge Schools Join Lawsuit Challenging State’s $1 Charter Law,” Times of Northwest Indiana, November 23, 2019; Dave Bangert, “West Lafayette Taxpayers Look to Join Lawsuit Against Indiana’s $1 Charter School Law,” Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN), December 5, 2019.

  65. Derek W. Black, “Preferencing Educational Choice: The Constitutional Limits,” Cornell Law Review 103, no. 6 (2018): 1359–1430, https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol103/iss6/5; Derek Black, conversation with the author, February 18, 2019.