Chris Heller, attorney for the Litttle School District, reports in a memo to the School Board that the state Board of Education today lifted restrictions it had placed on a new charter school in Little Rock targeting black males, the Urban Collegiate Public Charter School for Young Men.
According to Heller, the Board acted (5-0) at the behest of state Education Director Tom Kimbrell. He objected to limitations meant to insure the school mostly targeted underperforming students from poor backgrounds. A number of other charter schools have promised to serve kids in failing education situations, but the most successful in Pulaski County have drawn student bodies that, compared with the local school districts, are disproportionately white, non-poverty and made up of students who were already scoring at proficient levels on standardized tests. The Little Rock district says this has had a disproportionate impact on the district’s ability to remain desegregated.
If Heller’s account is accurate, the irony is rich. He says Gov. Beebe’s new school boss was fearful of setting up a charter school limited to poor, low achieving students because the likelihood of failure would be great and it would be hard to get people to work at such schools. Duh.
This is precisely the dilemma facing schools in impoverished neighborhoods all over the country. Charter school proponents say their magic dust can solve all this, though national studies have suggested otherwise on the whole, with some notable outliers such as KIPP schools. (And KIPP, rather than skim cream, vigorously attempts to reach the kids who need it most.) Kimbrell’s action here indicates allegiance with the movement to lay waste to Pulaski’s urban school districts with unlimited charters, no matter their resources or game plans. Some students will be helped. Many will be hurt. Good and proven schools will be destroyed in the collateral damage.
Heller’s note: