When Jeffco School Board Member John Newkirk compared unequal funding of education in the South due to racial discrimination in the last century to charter schools today in Colorado, there was much pearl clutching among board members who have been anti-charter school like Jill Fellman and Lesley Dahlkemper.
When will Jill Fellman apologize?
They must have thought: How could this guy compare the plight of African Americans seeking justice to those icky charter schools? As it turns out, Newkirk’s comparison is appropriate.
Radio host Ross Kaminsky took Fellman to task for her faux outrage in a Denver Post op-ed. He noted that “Black liberal pundit Juan Williams has called school choice the ‘civil rights issue of this generation’ and challenged Democrats ‘to stop favoring unions (and) start favoring what’s best for our kids.’”
Kaminsky also offered stats that backup the assertion that black students benefit from charter schools and, thus, unequal funding to charter schools is actually a discrimination issue. Here’s the data to prove it:
- Charter schools are 45.9% minority enrollment, which is one-half of one percent higher than in traditional public schools
- Black students’ participation in charter schools is nearly 130 percent of their share of the general population
The real question here is why liberals like Fellman are so hell-bent on not funding schools that service outsized swaths of minority students, some of whom live in school districts that are failing kids. Fortunately, Newkirk and his allies on the Jeffco School board and other school boards throughout the state have almost closed the funding shortfall among charter schools. Yet, Fellman continues on her crusade.
Fellman called for Newkirk to apologize. Kaminsky, instead, called for Fellman to apologize. Fellman should not only apologize, but also stop blocking attempts to provide a better education for at-risk kids.
HAHAHA funny. You see if we don't take our public money set aside to fund our public schools and give it to your private businesses we are discriminating. You would think if these private businesses made such better schools they wouldn't need public money. I guess that free market isn't all it's cracked up to be if your charter schools need to suck off the government teet to compete.
"The real question here is why liberals like Fellman are so hell-bent on not funding schools that service outsized swaths of minority students"
Wrong on all accounts related to Jeffco. The vast majority of charters in Jeffco have FRL and Minority rates lower than the county and state averages. Further, Jeffco charters have significantly smaller enrollment rates for SPED kids. It's intellectually dishonest to continuously deceive the public that funding equity in Jeffco is the same as education equality. In fact, reallocating dollars for the sake of "equity" actually imposes greater education inequality by taking resources away from students who need them the most.
It's also extremely disingenuous to conflate that all districts are the same. So let's put back the context that you conveniently removed: Denver Public Schools has a dramatically different demographic than the surrounding suburban districts. It also has the most charters. Your conclusion, therefore, about Ms. Fellman not wanting to fund schools with high minority rates is mendacious and distasteful.
What's even more intriguing is the notion that you believe charters need more funding at all. Back in the 80's and 90's, the promise of charters was that they could produce higher academic achievement outcomes for less money. Is that true? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcZhDMycUn4
Apparently not.
Here's the action by the Jeffco School Board majority that should be getting attention. Mr. Witt bullying a MINOR student with information provided by email earlier that day to the Communications Officer (who has since resigned her position). Where's the outrage about this blunder? How many policies did Mr. Witt and Mr. Newkirk break? Why are there no consequences for this behavior.
What if it was your daughter's photo and name he had displayed at a public school board meeting.? The Tweet (not FaceBook post) was about having a buritto guy at Board meetings, because people get hungry. Mr. Witt deemed that a "racial epithet". Really? So would saying a pizza guy also be a problem? Know supporters of Witt also 'favorited' the same Tweet in February. Get some real news!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_lwCsMA6M
Wow. I was at the meeting and was absolutely floored that Newkirk had the gall to make the comparison he did. Let's be clear, he did NOT say that schools were funded differently based on the color of one's skin. But even if he had, his analogy was repugnant. People CHOOSE charter schools knowing that they were created to do more/different with less. For charter schools and parents to whine that they now need more is ridiculous.
Newkirk also said that diversity was about more than just race. It is also about choice. Pretty sure he doesn't get it at all. But this is just more from Newkirk's political allies, who don't have children in Jeffco schools. Come to think of it, neither does Newkirk.
Jill Felman said what EVERYONE in the audience was thinking. Well done, Jill.
Fact is, Newkirk is a rich and privileged white man. He knows NOTHiNG of the struggles of ordinary individuals. To him, eating a burrito is racist.
How about if Newkirk and Witt apologize for defaming a minor student. Where is the conservative uproar over that. if she was the daughter of a Tea Party Whackadoodle, you can bet Kaminsky would be up in arms over that. Hypocrite.