Black charter school leaders call out ‘systemic inequalities’ in City Council hearing

A handful of charter school operators gave City Council an earful Wednesday, charging that the Philadelphia School District creates “an intentional power dynamic of systemic microaggressions and interactional injustices” which leads to “systemic inequalities” for the city’s Black-led charters.

The testimony came at a Council education committee hearing convened to examine a recent independent investigation of the district’s charter authorizing and oversight practices. That investigation yielded a 132-page report released in October that found “no intentional acts of racial discrimination or bias, based on the race of a charter school leader, committed by any members of the Board of Education, School Reform Commission, or the Charter Schools Office.”

The African American Charter Schools Coalition — which has said it represents 18 of the city’s 83 charters — has said it found the school board’s stance that the report exonerated it and the charter office of bias to be disingenuous.

The school system’s charter “practices and policies clearly demonstrate that equity is at the bottom of the apex, while bias and inequity is at the top when dealing with Black-led charter schools,” said Andrea Coleman-Hill, CEO of Laboratory Charter School, which has campuses in North Philadelphia and East Falls.

Black-led charters make up a small percentage of the city’s 83 charters, but accounted for nearly 90% of the 23 charters closed or recommended for nonrenewal by the school board and its predecessor, the School Reform Commission, between 2010 and 2020. (Charters are public schools authorized in Pennsylvania by local boards, funded with public dollars but run by independent boards; the authorizing school board makes closure decisions based on a charter’s academics, finances and operations.)

A national study published by education researchers in 2020 found authorizers were less likely to accept applications to open charter schools when the applicant was Black or Hispanic. One of the study’s authors, Robert Maranto, testified at the remote hearing Thursday, telling Council that charters exist to better serve children.

But “that purpose can be undermined by very complex authorization and renewal process, and those sometimes disempower communities, particularly communities of color,” said Maranto, a University of Arkansas professor who studies charters and education reform.

Charter leaders called for reform of a system that Coleman-Hill, of Lab Charter, said was imbued with“inherent financial conflicts of interest”as the school district views charter schools as having a negative impact on their budget. She also cited “excessive accountability overreach” built into the system. “While Black-led charter schools are targeted at alarming numbers in comparison to other charter schools, the question should be asked if this is by design in order to balance the school district budget,” she said.

Dawn Chavous, spokesperson for the coalition, said there’s far too much subjectivity in the charter schools office’s annual evaluation of city charters.

“We believe this because we have had two different schools receive the same noncompliance marks but get two totally different grades,” Chavous said. “Let me explain it another way, if you and I are taking a test, and I get more answers right than you do, how is it that I fail and you pass?”

Moreover, Chavous said, the office “has a culture that doesn’t make schools feel like they are supported or heard. It’s more a gotcha, let me see what I can find wrong approach, and a do-whatever-I-say, what-you-think-doesn’t-matter approach. And if you speak up, you will be punished.

Larry Jones, CEO of Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School, said the charter school framework is inherently flawed.

“When you use a broken tool to measure schools, you’re always going to get bad outcomes,” Jones said.

Jones called for wholesale changes.

“There is something wrong with this process and until we decide we are going to overhaul the process, nothing is going to happen,” he said.

School board president Reginald Streater underscored the report’s finding of no overt bias.

He said that charters “are an important part of our educational ecosystem here in Philadelphia, and we remain committed to continually evaluating and improving our charter authorizing practices in the best interest of our students.”

Streater said the charter office has evolved since it was a three-employee operation — it now has roughly seven times that number of workers — and suggested that disproportionality in closures and authorizations are the result not of bias on the charter office or board’s part, but because the charters in question don’t have adequate resources to run a school, something that’s not in the district’s control.

Streater said the board wants to build a “strong collaborative relationship” with charters, and is tired of the two sectors being pitted against each other.

“This is tough work, y’all,” said Streater. But, he said, “this board is engaged in good faith.”

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, chair of the education committee, previously worked as dean of students at Sankofa Freedom Academy, a Black-led charter, and still coaches the basketball team there.

Afrocentric schools, Thomas said, are “more likely to provide a quality education to black families.”

He said it was urgent that the district and charter sector find ways to move forward.

Councilmember Quetcy Lozada expressed frustration that things are in roughly the same position they were last year, when she joined Council.

“We’re having exactly the same conversations that we have for a year now,” Lozada said. “What are we doing? When are we really going to give our children an opportunity for an equitable, quality education? When is that going to happen?”

The report’s release, and a new city administration, with Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker less than a month away from being sworn in, provide an opportunity, Streater said.

“We’re trying to get to where you believe that we should get to,” Streater told Lozada.