The new Westword features a lengthy and interesting article on the fate of P.S. 1, an early Denver charter school the school board recently voted to close at the end of next school year. It’s worth a read.
Equally interesting is a sidebar examining how Denver’s three newest school board members view charter schools. The position staked out by Andrea Merida should send a chill through anyone who supports school choice. After saying she doesn’t want to approve any more charters for now, Merida goes on to complain that most charters are too small to serve enough kids to make a difference in a neighborhood.
But what’s most troubling is her distorted, flat-out inaccurate view of the Denver School of Science and Technology. Written into DSST’s charter is a dual lottery system, so that the school will always have AT LEAST 40 percent of its student eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch (the current number is 45.1 percent). DSST’s founders instituted the dual lottery because they knew full well that low-income families often get driven out of successful, popular schools because affluent parents have sharp elbows and know how to work the system.
This means that DSST will always have at least 40 percent of its kids coming from low-income families. Nothing prevents the number from going much higher than that.
So how does Merida interpret this eminently sensible and socially responsible policy?
But, she argues, the portion of low-income students in DPS as a whole is higher than that: 70 percent.
“That really isn’t a public institution,” she says. “An underprivileged child can be excluded from participating in a school that’s funded with public money.”
Factually she could not be more wrong. But who cares about facts when you’re trying to put ideological points on the board?
Popularity: 28% [?]
