Unions' Charter-School Push

[question everything]

(snip)

Here in Chicago, a branch of the American Federation of Teachers is looking to organize one of the nation's largest nonprofit charter-school groups. Under an agreement last month, the United Neighborhood Organization, which runs 13 charter schools in the city, agreed to provide the union with contact information for its 400 teachers and to let union organizers meet with them on school grounds, even as the charter-school group didn't take a position on whether the teachers should organize.

Backers of charters, which are public schools run by independent groups, say freedom from union contracts enables innovation in areas like staffing and school calendars. Opponents say charters siphon money and students from struggling traditional public schools.

Labor leaders say they want to organize charters because teachers there complain about low pay and poor working conditions, and because unionized teachers can negotiate favorable conditions for students, such as small class sizes. But others say the push has as much to do with unions' declining membership.

(snip)

A 2007-08 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Department of Education, found that full-time teachers in traditional public schools earned an average annual base salary of $49,800 and had to work an average 38.1 hours a week to receive base pay, compared with $40,800 and 39.7 hours a week for charter-school teachers.

More..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324010704578418710940566402.html

(If you cannot open while clicking, copy and paste the title onto google)

[Buffalo Bull]

1. and in Buffalo...

Ex GOP candidate for New York Governor, Carl Paladino is running for a seat on the Buffalo school board. At first blush it seems to be a serious down grading in Paladino's ambitions. However the Tea Party favorite may have an additional motivation.
Paladino's issue is the virtues of Charter schools and desires an expansion of the current program.
As it turns out the real estate millionaire is the land lord of choice for Buffalo's charter schools. An expansion of Charter schools is apt to put a few more bucks in Paladino's pockets


www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130414/...1 day ago – “Obviously, when Carl Paladino says he wants to be on the School Board, it gets us very, very ... “He's literally a landlord for charter schools.

video.artvoice.com/artvoicetv.php?permalink=0000000470Mar 12, 2009 – tags: carl paladino buffalo school board public schools charter schools

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Does the school board decide to open charter schools?

In most states, the state legislature makes that decision.

[Buffalo Bull]

3. as i understand

The state enables the city to establish Charter schools.
Nothing forces to nor prohibits them from doing so

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Does the school board oversee the charters?

Or do they have their own boards?

I'm trying to understand what he would gain from being on the school board.

[Buffalo Bull]

9. The board decides

... where those schools would be located. The Charter schools lease their buildings. These building require re configuration to turn say a warehouse into a school, these costs are the city's responsibility. Paladino as landlord has hired Paladino the contractor to refit these buildings.
The entire loop becomes incestuous with Paladino, as the Board member , the landlord and the contractor.
The Buffalo News in airing these arrangement may have filled the presses duty to serve to educate the public.

[reteachinwi]

5. I'm being peevish and off topic

but the hours per week in the OP are understated.


A new report from Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession, finally quantifies just how hard teachers work: 10 hours and 40 minutes a day on average. That’s a 53-hour work week!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/survey-teachers-work-53-hours-per-week-on-average/2012/03/16/gIQAqGxYGS_blog.html

53 hours was a short week for me.

[question everything]

7. Are you a teacher?

Do you have to deal with kids with all their problems during those 10 hours and 40 min a day? Do you have to deal with phone calls from parents in the evening when you think that your day is done?

Regardless of the work, I don't think that most works can be quantified with how many hours, or minutes, one spend on a specific chore.

See also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022630722

[reteachinwi]

8. I was

Yes I did.

[hay rick]

6. Frank Biden (Joe's brother) has a similar business model in Florida.

Article: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/12/mavericks_high_charges_charter_schools_350000_rent_fees.php

From the article:

Mavericks president Frank Biden says the company turns a profit because of its savvy real estate choices. "It's all about the buildings we buy," he says." Certainly the operation of the schools isn't profitable."

But most of the time, Mavericks isn't buying buildings --at least, not directly. It's striking deals with private landlords, then charging individual schools rent of $350,000 per year for five years, regardless of the price of the building. That's the case at Mavericks schools in Homestead, North Miami, Kissimmee, and Pinellas. Biden says part of his job is convincing landlords to buy a building, and then lease it to Mavericks at a low cost. Bear in mind, the property owner will not have to pay taxes on the facility, as long as it's used as a public school.

Often, Mavericks locates its schools in poorer neighborhoods where property is cheap. In Homestead, the school building's current market value is $1.2 million, but the school is on the hook for $1.75 million in rent over five years. That sum, combined with its $418,000 management fee, means the Homestead school paid 28 percent of its revenue to Mavericks in Education in 2010

And some times the rental deal is profitable enough to cut out the middleman (landlord). See the article for more.

[Buffalo Bull]

10. joe aught to kick his brothers...

Excellent article. When Charter schools were first introduced those of us opposed feared this type of parasitic activity