Neoliberal Reforms and the Educational Rights of African American Students and Their Families

• In Event: 64.088 - Sheraton Roundtable 12 - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 64.088-4 - The Social Imaginary of Neoliberalism on the Public Discourse of Urban Education in Indianapolis

Abstract

This paper explores how the privatization and charter school movement has infiltrated public discourse and deceived African American families in Indianapolis regarding school choice options. The 2012 CREDO report revealed inconsistent results on Indianapolis charter school effectiveness, graduation rates, student test scores, and college preparation compared to traditional, public school students. Low-income students of Color perform significantly worse than non-poverty peers in both traditional and charter school settings (CREDO, 2012). Poor children and children of color scored low on standardized testing, and they experienced low graduation rates in both traditional public and charter schools at the same rate (Ravitch, 2014). Therefore, the promise to meet African American families’ need for better public education has not been fulfilled.

In Indianapolis, privatization has created a two-tiered school system with magnet, private, charter schools in gentrified affluent neighborhoods in one tier and segregated charter schools in disinvested neighborhoods and African American communities in the other tier. This system continues to destroy and dismantle the Indianapolis Public School system and take funds away from already under-funded public schools. The growth of charter schools has eroded communities’ trust in public schools while disenfranchising African American students and their families (Conner & Monahan, 2016). Yet, neoliberal reformers and neoconservatives claim they are fighting on behalf of low-income African American children and their families by pushing charter school education in public discourse. Neoliberals have promised that privatizing public education is more efficient, less bureaucratic, and less rigid with higher accountability standards that ensure students’ academic success (Peck, 2015). However, the charter school reform has created more control, increased surveillance and limited access and power for African American families in education (Chapman & Donnor, 2015; Golann, 2015; Sondel, 2016). Educational entrepreneurs and venture philanthropists have manipulated the academic failure of African American students as an opportunity to portray charter schools as “choice” to African American families, but the charter school system disempowers these families (Richardson, 2012). Charter schools have become the vehicle for privatizing public schools as “for profit” corporations that capitalize on the desperation of poor, urban, African American families and communities seeking educational opportunities for their children. Neoliberals have manipulated Black and Latino families into believing that charter schools will bring academic success for their children. School closings are happening without notice, leaving students and families without any choices in their local neighborhoods. Indianapolis Public School parent, Edward Curtis, stated “massive investment in charter schools by the MIND Trust and the IPS board decisions in the district have closed several IPS high schools. The Betsy DeVos influence in Indianapolis has intentionally victimized African American students and parents by kicking some students out after census day in charter schools” (Wang, 2018).

The promise of increased school academic performance as the vehicle for African American students in charter schools should be viewed with skepticism (Pike, 2018). This paper demonstrates how imperative it is for African American families and communities to understand how public discourse is used to manipulate their desire for high-quality schools.

Author

• Latosha M Rowley, Indiana University - IUPUI