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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Look, it's not like charters aren't getting benefits from this set-up.  In fact, it's quite the contrary.  For example, charters can close their admissions when the lottery is over and funding for each student is provided.  No one enters after they decide.   BUT if a kid moves into the neighborhood [i]at any point in the year[/i] DCPS has to provide a space for that student in that neighborhood school.  NO charter has to take a kid mid year.  That's a huge issue for a teacher and school to deal with.

And if a charter decides to kick a kid out for absences, they can do so.  That kid is out of the school AND the system.  BUT DCPS cannot just kick a kid out of their system.  A kid may be kicked out of a particular school, but the system is still responsible for finding another school. The bar is pretty high to expel a kid from an entire system.

And don't forget, charters enjoy a great deal of autonomy in their hiring. NO dealings with the union, with their resources and equipment and with the curriculum choices are just a few advantages.  Charters can decide to pay their teachers whatever they want.  They can fire at will.  So while it may seem "ludicrous" to hold charter to the same standards as a larger school system, note that charters enjoy MANY benefits that the leaders within the schools of a large school system do not have.

What's ludicrous" is to provide public funding for charters to run themselves however they see fit and NOT hold them accountable to the same obligations that public schools have around special education.  You do not get public money, autonomy and then get to cherry pick which students you'd like to educate. 
[/quote]

1. It is a fact that DCPS has been way over-estimating the number of students they are expecting each year and thus are way over funded every year. This fact compensates for possible student entry into DCPS at different points in the school year.

2. As for space issues, DCPS has way more funding for facilities than charter schools as it currently stands. How many DCPS schools are meeting in church basements?

3. I do not know of any charter kicking kids out for absences. Expulsions would be for egregious behaviors only. As for the DCPS bar to expel students it is ridiculously high IMO when many DCPS students feel unsafe in their own schools. DCPS also has special schools where they can send problem students to as well unlike charter schools.

4. As for the unions, DCPS is free to give Kaya chartering authority within DCPS anytime they want which would help circumvent the union. I look forward to this since IMO the teacher's union is a millstone around DCPS's neck. And for the record. I am a liberal Democrat!

5. I do think charters should be held to the same laws protecting special needs students. I am just advocating for realistic revisions to the law and I am the parent of a special needs kid. As for cherry picking, any student may apply to charters so I disagree that charter schools are cherry picking.[/quote]

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