Listen Live
Stone Soul Vendor Graphics
Praise 104.7 Featured Video
CLOSE

The NAACP has announced plans to continue a moratorium on charter schools that was issued last year, according to the Washington Post. While public school advocates lauded the organization’s decision, charter school proponents and other civil rights groups criticized its stance.

The famed civil rights group’s staunch criticism of charter schools runs counter to the controversial claim from Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos that “school choice” is the “civil rights issue of our time.”

To investigate changes brought about by charter schools in the last four years, the NAACP created a 12-member task force and conducted interviews in seven cities: New Haven, Memphis, Orlando, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans and New York. After analyzing over fifty hours of public testimony, the task force issued its report last week, with members deciding that the expansion of these institutions has negatively impacted public schools:

“With the expansion of charter schools and their concentration in low-income communities, concerns have been raised within the African American community about the quality, accessibility and accountability of some charters, as well as their broader effects on the funding and management of school districts that serve most students of color.”

The report also included suggestions for moving forward, with mandatory district accountability at the top of their list of recommendations. The NAACP has also called for more uniformity in standards, higher student retention rates, fiscal transparency, and the elimination of for-profit charter schools.

SOURCE: Washington Post

NAACP Extends Moratorium on Charter Schools  was originally published on newsone.com