EAG to MTEA: Back it up, or button it up
Now that Gov. Walker’s proposed budget has Wisconsin’s teacher unions in full panic mode, one union president is trying to smear Milwaukee’s charter school program by resurrecting the falsehood that charter schools cherry pick students, leaving “the rest” for the traditional public schools.
On Tuesday, Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Mike Langyel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that choice schools “choose the students they want to educate and leave behind the rest.”
Like a typical cheap shot artist, Mr. Langyel does not offer any evidence to back up his assertion.
The Education Action Group challenges Mr. Langyel to provide proof of this charge, or suggests that he stop deceiving the people of Wisconsin.
The simple truth is that charter schools serve all students, even so-called “low-achieving” students, oftentimes with great success. Many Milwaukee families turn to charter schools to find help for a child who is struggling in their neighborhood, government school.
Similar scenes are playing out all across the country. Demand for charter schools typically exceeds the number of openings. To accommodate the huge demand, charter schools hold lotteries to determine who gets in and who doesn’t. Such lotteries were depicted in two recent documentaries, “ Waiting for Superman” and “ The Lottery.”
The very existence of charter school lotteries absolutely contradicts Mr. Langyel’s claim that the schools cherry pick their students.
I understand that the teacher unions are fighting for their very survival, but that is no excuse for trying to scare the people of Wisconsin through outright deception. The people of Wisconsin need to have a serious, adult conversation about the budget crisis facing the state. If the teacher unions are not able to stick to the facts, they should keep quiet.
The MTEA also needs to examine its priorities. Last summer the union went to court to keep Viagra coverage in its health plan, and now it is smearing charter schools and the families who benefit from them. Those two things say a lot about the MTEA’s agenda.
