SCOTUS and Charter Schools
Take the Koch Brothers, an old rich white guy from North Carolina named Baker Mitchell, little girls and skirts and you have yourself an end run around civil rights. Again.
The DOJ US Solicitor General rejected the the claim that public charter schools in North Carolina are not “state actors” and therefore may violate students’ constitutional rights with impunity - and are asking SCOTUS to reject this whole nonsense as well.
Baker Mitchell, the North Carolina charter school (CDS) founder and board of trustee member is noted below in the DOJ’s filing. In part Mitchell stated the skirt rule “preserves chivalry and respect.” Then went on to explain ‘chivalry’ is “a code of conduct where women [SIDE NOTE: these are GIRLS not WOMEN] are….regarded as fragile vessle that men are supposed to take care of and honor.” The charter school board agreed. Now, they want SCOTUS to rule.
Let me just get this out of the way: CHILDREN - GIRLS ARE NOT WOMEN
In 2014 Pro-Publica rightfully pegged Baker Mitchell as a concerning new kind of educational robber-baron:
Mitchell's management company was chosen by the schools' nonprofit board, which Mitchell was on at the time — an arrangement that is illegal in many other states.
Charters are privately run but government-funded schools that are supposed to be open to all. Policymakers and many parents have embraced charters as an alternative to poorly performing and underfunded traditional public schools. As charters have grown in popularity, an industry of management companies like Mitchell's has sprung up to assist them.
Many of these companies are becoming political players in their states, working to shape the still-emerging set of rules charters must play by. A few, including Mitchell's company, have aligned themselves with influential conservative groups, such as Americans for Prosperity and the Koch-supported American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
Today the ACLU issued a news release piggy backing on the DOJ’s call for the Supreme Court to reject North Carolina - and by proxy Mitchell’s argument.
Girls at Charter Day School, together with their parents, challenged the skirts requirement as sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX. They are represented by the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, the ACLU of North Carolina, and the law firm Ellis & Winters LLP. In 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina blocked the school from requiring girls to wear skirts.
From the brief filed on behalf of the North Carolina child/parent. It might seem like gobbledygook but this is a good outline for how “public” charters work. I’ve reported on the problem with charter schools - and in some cases the benefits when truly run in areas of great need by people of character who believe in civil rights.
Charter schools are one of six types of “[p]ublic school unit[s]” in North Carolina’s public-school system.
A nonprofit entity may apply to the State for a charter that authorizes it to operate a public school. If granted, the state-conferred (All citations to the General Statutes of North Carolina are to the 2021 version unless otherwise stated) charter “establish[es] [the] charter school.”
Although charter schools “operate independently of existing schools,” they are designated as “public school[s] within the local school administrative unit,” or school district, in which they are located [NOTE: IN IOWA THIS IS AKIN TO THE AEA SYSTEM]
Charter schools are exempt from many “statutes and rules applicable to a local board of education,” but they are accountable to the State Board of Education for “ensuring compliance with applicable laws and the provisions of their charters,” and for meeting “expected academic, financial, and governance standards.”
The notion of “school choice” has always been about school privatization. Privatization is as much about profit as it is about control. And dress code is a hot debate in public schools as well - girls have never been allowed to wear something deemed inappropriate. I’m not advocating for tube tops and dance belts. What I am suggesting is that the yardstick of what is acceptable for a girl1 to wear is broken.
From my reporting in 2017 on charter schools in Jackson, Mississippi:
“Since the early days of charter schools, there has been a notion of a basic ‘bargain’ in that charter schools accept stricter accountability in exchange for greater autonomy (compared to traditional public schools),” said Valant, the Brookings fellow. “Many charter school authorizers have been too lenient on low-performing schools, but there is a clear process in place that holds charter schools accountable to public entities and generates information about school performance for authorizers and the public.” (In Mississippi, an authorizer board, created by the Charter Schools Act, receives 3 percent of per-student funding designated for charter schools as compensation.) Private school choice programs, on the other hand, don’t have the same requirements for accountability and transparency, Valant explained.
Charter schools are also hardly one-size-fits-all. Some are run by outside management groups (both nonprofit and for-profit) with schools located across the country.
ReImagine and Smilow are run by Tennessee-based nonprofit charter group RePublic Schools, for example. Others are founded and run locally, like Midtown Public Charter School. Midtown was founded by parents, incorporates a parent-led education council, and operates under the longstanding community growth and development nonprofit Midtown Partners. Proponents generally argue that charters promote innovation and competition, give parents more choice, and are the answer to underperforming school districts, while opponents argue that despite the requirements the charter schools must meet to stay open, they are still less accountable than public schools, both in terms of upholding academic standards and protecting students against discrimination.
In October 2016, in a move that was swiftly met by backlash from charter school supporters, including civil rights groups, the NAACP called for a moratorium on expanding charter schools until they “receive the same level of oversight, civil rights protections and provide the same level of transparency” as traditional public schools. This year, the organization issued a report, in which it made a series of recommendations including calling for the elimination of for-profit charter schools and better regulation of state authorizers. “Even the best charters are not a substitute for more stable, adequate and equitable investments in public education in the communities that serve our children,” it stated.
That last part. Protecting students from discrimination. Much like everything else that has come to fruition since the Trump situation, so called “school choice” has been on activist radars for a long, long time.
And, of course, vouchers to private schools are even worse.
My hope is that SCOTUS rejects hearing this case this session. Why? Because seriously. Cannot take another loss right now. Because it may be a North Carolina based lawsuit, but there are legal representatives from groups filing to be interested parties to the case: including Catholic Charities, The right wing think tank John Locke Foundation and the state of Texas. I am surprised to not see ole Brenna Bird signed on to this thing already.
I should probably bite my tongue.
Anytime I use a gendered term like girl I mean cis-girls AND anyone who identifies as a girl or genderfluid as the case may be.