The Paper Chase: Competition, Race, and the Commodification of Charter School Stakeholders to Secure Private Dollars

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Marketing and Branding in Public Education

Abstract

In exposing the fiscal networks bolstering charter school proliferation, researchers have interrogated the sector’s reliance on private and philanthropic dollars, questioning its influence on decision making and noting the insecurity that charter constituents face if financial support is withdrawn (Reckhow, 2012; Scott, 2009; Wohlstetter et al., 2011). These factors alone force charter leaders to grapple with balancing funder demands and those from community stakeholders—a tension that is further complicated by the demographic differences between charter school funders, many of whom are wealthy, white males, and the low-income communities of color who charters serve (Scott, 2008).

While scholars have delineated the role of private funding in charter reform, less is known about how charter leaders solicit funders to secure monetary support. To compete in educational marketplaces, leaders employ marketing strategies to convey their school vision and effectiveness to varied audiences who maintain disparate values and interests (Author A & Author B, 2014; Jabbar, 2016). Although some highlight the positive effects of marketing efforts (Harvey, 1996; James & Phillips, 1995), others suggest that these tactics have negative consequences, including the circulation of deficit-laden and racialized representations that suggest who is valued in school settings (Gewirtz, 2001; Jennings, 2010; Lubienski, 2007). Much of this literature examines how these representations are conveyed for families navigating choice settings, yet how these depictions are crafted for donors, who typically inhabit positions of economic and social power, remain comparatively less understood.

This paper fills this empirical gap and investigates the dynamics of charter school marketing to funder audiences. I employ an interdisciplinary framework synthesizing concepts from political science and sociology to explore the relational and racial dimensions of marketing efforts implemented by charter management organizations (CMOs)—nonprofits with the mission of replicating ‘what works’ across a network of schools. Drawing upon observational and documentary data, I analyze the donor engagement strategies of a population of 10 CMOs operating in one urban district in California to elucidate how CMOs engage funders and how CMO personnel and families are represented in the process.

Findings suggest that to meet organizational priorities amid competition and dwindling financial resources, CMOs engaged in donor marketing practices that conveyed subtle racial narratives that aligned with the perceived racial norms of this stakeholder group. Through the use of testimonials that were presented at formal galas or circulated via online documents, CMOs advanced individualistic narratives of students and parents beating the odds while derogating communities and their constituents with deficit-laden subtexts. While conveying these representations, CMOs also commodified their constituents by offering teachers and students as resources in return for investment, making the students of color who predominate CMOs a form of currency that could be utilized at the behest of individuals and companies willing to provide financial support. Overall, advancing these characterizations for funder audiences who maintain economic and racial power reifies negative understandings of nondominant racial groups and reveals how competition can drive equity-oriented leaders to employ tactics that undermine their intentions and reify inequity in the pursuit of organizational interest.

Author

• Laura Elena Hernandez, Learning Policy Institute