Dive Brief:
- A new report from The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools argues that state takeovers of struggling schools and districts harm black and Latino communities.
- The report looked at high-profile takeovers in New Orleans, Michigan, and Tennessee, finding that no impacted district served mostly white students.
- In fact, 97% of students in state-run districts are black or Latino.
Dive Insight:
The report argues that the takeovers — which it characterizes as “market-based intervention and reform” that are “stripping political power” from communities — impact schools that are already underserved. The takeovers fail to address those underlying problems and can be used to push more schools into the hands of charter operators.
"These state takeovers are happening almost exclusively in African-American and Latino schools and districts — in many of the same communities that have experienced decades of underinvestment in their public schools and consistent attacks on their property, agency, and self-determination,” the report reads.
Instead, the report’s authors propose an alternate reform strategy that includes a focus on curriculum that challenges students, high quality teachers, school-based services such as healthcare, constructive disciplinary practices, and engagement with local community members.
It’s worth noting that the Alliance includes the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions. As part of many state takeovers, districts’ contracts with local unions are overhauled and in some cases, tossed out. As a result, union advocates may have a vested interest in preventing state takeovers.