Are charter schools private corporations or public schools?

Rss@dailykos.com (laura Clawson) · Saturday, September 03, 2016, 6:18 pm

Are charter schools private corporations or public schools? In two separate cases, the National Labor Relations Board says private corporations:

In its recent decisions, both issued Aug. 24, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Hyde Leadership Charter School in Brooklyn and the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School are — like other government contractors — private corporations that receive taxpayer dollars. In the New York case, for example, the board found that even though state law describes charter schools as existing “within the public school system,” the schools were not directly established by a government entity and the people who administer them are not accountable to public officials or to voters.

In this specific case, that’s not great for teachers trying to organize, who will now be governed by the laws governing private sector organizing.

“Charter management claims charters are public schools when they want taxpayers’ money, but use legal maneuvers to hide from public audits, seek to evade the rules that govern public pre-K programs and, in this case, claim they are private schools when it comes to union representational elections,” [New York State United Teachers’ Carl] Korn told the Times-Union.

It’s all about avoiding accountability or pressure to meet the same standards public schools are held to.

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