So, while I agree that a cut to charter school funding would be a bad idea, that’s apparently not the case. I apologize for the previous statement I made about the GA proposing a cut.

Here’s the RI Future link:
http://www.rifuture.org/diary/6747/despite-the-spin-house-budget-includes-money-to-expand-charters

Thanks for the clarification. I agree that teachers should be unionized, and with pretty much everything else you said. I think more jobs/professions/sectors should be unionized.

However, I also believe that contracts have to be realistic. Because so few jobs are unionized, raises in the private sector are negligible at best, non-existant at worst. This being the case, public sector employees have to realize that 2-3% raises each and every year are not sustainable.

At least, not until money that is currently being siphoned off as corporate profits and executive compensation is re-directed to increasing wages for people that actually work for a living.

Unmentioned so far is the fact that most RI charter schools are organized under the local school districts. That means the school boards control the money and the personnel — meaning unionized teachers.

Now, I believe that teachers should have union protection, and that they deserve good wages and benefits for the jobs they do. I also think that school boards have generally failed to negotiate contracts that are both fair to teachers and affordable to taxpayers — but have succeeded in blaming everything on the teachers. The RI charter school model does not address any of this.

To cite one example, the Beacon Charter School for the Arts in Woonsocket is an innovative program, but the principal there — Rob Pilkington, the head of the RI Charter League, by the way — can not hire non-certified (though qualified) teachers, nor can he pay non-union (i.e., lower) salaries. So, yes, charter schools are smaller and more select in their admissions, but they’re not a complete break from the public school model.

In the end, the GA is wrong to propose cutting these funds — it’s another way they’re trying to push the costs down to the local school districts.

OK, he’s a union guy. I get that. I’m pro-union (Solidarity forever!), but there are times to remain adamant and times to bend.

I also understand the union’s “thin end of the wedge” argument. But, bottom line is that charter schools only work when they’re small and select.

They do not threaten the status quo of the public schools because, time and again, when charter/experimental schools go big they inherit all the problems the public schools face, and prove equally as maladroit at solving them.

However, I have still never, ever seen any proof that public schools are any worse now than they were 30 or 40 or however many years ago that alleged “golden age” existed.
RI’s NAEP scores in math are up over 1992, and mathi is considered a better indication of teaching performance than reading.

A recent study also showed that private schools are no better at improving kids’ math scores than public schools.

All that said, it’s time the unions accepted the fact that teaching is no longer a poorly paid profession. No, it’s not law or medicine (See McAllen, TX), but the top step is making about twice median in RI, which is darn good.

So, the union-busters masquerading as “reformers” need to drop it, but the unions need to face reality, too. Charter schools are not evil. They help, to some extent. They are part of the solution, but they aren’t the whole answer, either.

Based on BOE reports, there are a few entries for Angus Davis. Some have him employed by Microsoft, some self-employed and one by another employer. Also, one has no middle initial while another has an “M” as a middle initial. I’m assuming that the numbers of different people by the name of Angus Davis is equal to the number of folks named Geoff Schoos in Rhode Island. So, my guess is that they’re probably the same person.

Whether the same person or not, the various iterations of Angus Davis seem to support democrats from Cicilline, to the Caprios, to state House Democrats, and to folks like Dan McKee, John M. Kelly (so common a name I can’t place him), and Doug Gablinske.

For better or worse, it seems that the guys he finances seem to win.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/angus-davis.asp?cycle=08