Teacher Unions, Charter Schools, and the Public/Private Distinction in Education Law and Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Superfine ◽  
David S. Woo
Keyword(s):  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Unions ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
The Public ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Depth Analysis

Background Over the past decade, courts and administrative agencies increasingly have considered cases that involve clashes between charter school proponents and teacher unions. While these cases have focused on a range of education policy issues, some cases have focused on arguably the most important legal and policy distinction applicable to charter schools— whether a charter school should be considered public or private. Purpose This study examines the intersection of the public/private distinction in U.S. law and policy, and the shifting political positions of teacher unions and charter school proponents, in courts and agencies. We examine the history of the public/private distinction in U.S. law and policy and specifically in education, in addition to conducting an in-depth analysis of three recent decisions involving charter schools and teacher unions in which courts and agencies determined whether charter schools were public or private organizations. Research Design This article is a legal analysis and historical case study. Findings Three recent and high-profile education cases in agencies and courts reflect the continuing breakdown of the public/private distinction in law and policy. Courts and agencies have hinged their decisions about the applicability of federal and state collective bargaining laws on this distinction and have grounded decisions about the basic constitutionality of state charter school laws in this distinction as well. However, there is little consistency in how the public/ private distinction has been applied in legal clashes between teacher unions and charter schools. Conclusion Our analysis underscores the limitations of the current debate over the public/ private nature of charter schools and teacher unions, particularly in the institutional settings of courts and agencies, because this debate is largely untethered from issues of teaching and learning. However, our analysis also suggests that the public or private nature of charter schools still appears “up for grabs” in the legal arena. As such, courts and agencies might offer reformers a useful venue compared to the legislative arena for influencing how the public/private distinction applies to charter schools.

Stakeholder responses to government austerity: what happens when strong stakeholders fail to react?

2016 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Ogata
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Government ◽  
Advocacy Role

Using stakeholder theory and a historical case study, I examine how key stakeholders failed to challenge the Alberta provincial government’s fiscal reforms, leading to the emergence of an unlikely champion in the Calgary hospital laundry workers. Notwithstanding that several prominent and powerful professional groups had the opportunity to oppose the government’s reforms, these groups either acquiesced or sought compromise individually with the government. This case calls into question the professions’ ability to protect public institutions under their domain. Points for practitioners In terms of potential implications for public administrators, this case provides an example of professional failure to intercede in the public interest, despite having the power and legitimacy to act according to stakeholder theory. This raises questions as to the circumstances under which professional groups will exercise their advocacy role. Unaddressed are the conditions under which relatively powerless demanding stakeholders can acquire power and legitimacy. Accordingly, administrators ‘relying’ upon established stakeholders as barometers of public opinion may misread public sentiment.

scholarly journals From means to an end to ends in themselves

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-52
Author(s):  
Mia Høj Mathiasson
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
The Public ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
And Function ◽  
Role And Function ◽  
Source Materials

Offering a variety of activities and events is considered a central part of many public libraries today. Under the term public library programmes, this article presents the findings from an empirical study of the development of publicly available and publicly announced activities and events offered within or in relation to Danish public libraries over a sixty-year period. The aim of the study was to enrich our understanding of these library services from a historical perspective focussing on describing development. Inspired by Historical Case Study (HCS), the study was designed as a diachronic analysis of a broad variety of empirical source materials collected from two case libraries, documenting programmes offered between 1960 and 2020, including interviews with programming librarians. From analysing the source materials, a development is described which shows that while the different types of programmes offered throughout the period have been somewhat consistent, their format and content have expanded in parallel with the expansion of the public library, its collections and services. At the same time, the reasoning behind offering programmes can be described as a development from programmes considered as a means to an end (e.g. education, publicity or community building) to programmes also considered as ends in themselves. By supporting and enriching the knowledge on programmes as services, this study provides an empirical foundation for discussions and debates about the role and function of public library programmes as part of the public library in the future as well as rich empirical examples for further research.

When Management Policies Collide

2017 ◽  
pp. 1179-1191
Author(s):  
Brittany Larkin
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Parent Satisfaction ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Face ◽  
School Laws

The public desire for school choice has led to the staggering growth of charter schools. Yet, charter schools are often criticized for their inability to maintain autonomy in the face of the requirements to provide special education services. This chapter will explore empirical research on charter schools and special education uncovering themes in policy, practice, access, funding, and parent satisfaction. The research recommendations also cluster into themes including governance, service delivery model, operations and technical assistance. Next, the charter school laws in each of the 43 states that allow charter schools were examined for evidence of the four recommended themes. The results indicated how some states were bridging the autonomous nature of charter school laws with the inflexible mandates of special education law.

scholarly journals Publicwashing in Education: Definition, Motives, and Manifestations

2022 ◽  
pp. 0013189X2110708
Author(s):  
Izhak Berkovich ◽  
Lotem Perry-Hazan
Keyword(s):  
Charter Schools ◽  
School Reform ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Symbolic Communication ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communication Approach ◽  
Charter School Reform

This essay coins and conceptualizes the term “publicwashing.” In educational systems and organizations, publicwashing is a symbolic communication that emphasizes organizational publicness for the purpose of a superficial repair of reputation. The essay defines publicwashing and describes its motives and manifestations. Additionally, it illustrates publicwashing by discussing the concept in the context of the U.S. charter school reform. Adopting the lens of symbolic communication in the charter school case illustrates how the discrepancy between the “public” label and private characteristics of charter schools is managed through public relations. Future studies of publicwashing in education can further apply the symbolic communication approach to various cases, contexts, and deceptive strategies.

Beacon Charter School Needs a School: A Case of Capital Outlay of Charters in a Public District

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Meredith L. Wronowski
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
School District ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
District Leadership ◽  
Capital Outlay ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
School District Leadership ◽  
The Public

The case study presented below is a representation of a real-world, ongoing situation involving a public school district’s capital outlay for charter schools within its boundaries. One particular charter, Beacon Charter School, was promised a permanent building by the public school district that also acts as its authorizer. However, recent events have created a statewide revenue failure which has, in return, caused a dramatic decrease in the school district’s available funds. The school district leadership must decide whether they can still provide school facilities to Beacon Charter School. To complicate matters, the political climate surrounding the district’s 12 charter schools has become increasingly contentious. This case study provides ample material for discussion as well as suggests guiding questions and activities.

1. The Neoliberal Logic of Service-Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Snider Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Community Partnerships ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Community Based ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

<?page nr="1"?>Abstract This article investigates the ways in which service-learning manifests within our neoliberal clime, suggesting that service-learning amounts to a foil for neoliberalism, allowing neoliberal political and economic changes while masking their damaging effects. Neoliberalism shifts the relationship between the public and the private, structures higher education, and promotes a façade of community-based university partnerships while facilitating a pervasive regime of control. This article demonstrates that service-learning amounts to an enigma of neoliberalism, making possible the privatization of the public and the individualizing of social problems while masking evidence of market-based societal control. Neoliberal service-learning distances service from teaching and learning, allows market forces to shape university-community partnerships, and privatizes the public through dispossession by accumulation.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Kotzmann
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Historical Perspectives ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Educational Disadvantage ◽  
The World ◽  
Higher Education Teaching

The Introduction highlights the importance of higher education and the existence of educational disadvantage in society, contextualised within current political events and discussions. It describes the intrinsic importance of education in allowing people to learn about themselves and the world they live in. It details the significant instrumental importance of education in the likelihood people will obtain employment and command higher incomes. It also provides a brief outline of different historical perspectives in relation to how best to provide higher education teaching and learning. The importance of law and policy for higher education is discussed, and the purpose and limitations of the research identified.

User Property, User Rights, and User Privileges

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Chapdelaine
Keyword(s):  
Public Law ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
Future Application ◽  
Private Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
User Property

This chapter proposes two principles that should inform the development of copyright law and policy and of user rights. The first calls for more cohesion between copyright law, private law, and public law, and for less exceptionalism in copyright law. The second requires that the balance in copyright law be adjusted for its future application as a mediation tool between the competing interests of copyright holders, users, intermediaries, and the public. Instituting positive obligations for copyright holders in relation to users and steering freedom of contract toward the objectives of copyright law are necessary regulatory changes to rectify ongoing imbalances. The principle of technological neutrality should guide the judiciary in its application of copyright’s objective of promoting a balance in copyright law. The proposed guiding principles lead to the creation of a taxonomy and hierarchy of copyright user rights that take into account the myriad ways users experience copyright works.

Suppressing Black Votes: A Historical Case Study of Voting Restrictions in Louisiana

2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 694-700
Author(s):  
LUKE KEELE ◽  
WILLIAM CUBBISON ◽  
ISMAIL WHITE
Keyword(s):  
Time Series Data ◽  
Voter Registration ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Southern States ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Eligibility Requirements ◽  
State Restrictions

Southern states have used a variety of methods to disenfranchise African American voters. Empirical data on the effectiveness of these measures is rare. We present a unique data source from Louisiana that allows us to empirically document voter registration rates from the end of Reconstruction to the present. Using basic time series data, we document how voter registration rates changed over time in response to state restrictions. We then conduct a second analysis, which focuses on Louisiana’s use of the Understanding Clause to reduce voter registration among Blacks. We show that in parishes that used the Understanding Clause, Black registration rates dropped by nearly 30 percentage points, with little effect on white registration. The findings of this paper have important implications for understanding the potential for discrimination in the enforcement of modern, ostensibly nonracial, voter eligibility requirements, such as voter ID laws, which grant substantial discretion to local officials in determining voter eligibility.

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