Diane Ravitch, professor of education at New York University, speaks out against Bullis Charter School

From: Dave Cortright 
To: Santa Clara County Board of Education
Cc: Santa Clara County Superintendent and Staff
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 2:35 PM
Subject: Diane Ravitch, professor of education at New York University, speaks out against Bullis Charter School

Members of the Santa Clara County Office of Education,

I'd like to draw your attention to this recent news article in the Mountain View Voice. In it, Diane Ravitch—a professor of education at New York University and author of many books on the education system in America—has looked at the Bullis Charter School and called it a private school created with public money. She also say that the Bullis profile does not fit the original purpose of the charter school movement, which is to help the neediest kids in a community.

I am embarrassed to be a member of a community where an unbiased education expert calls out our local charter school out in this way. The BCS mission statement claims they are "a model of educational excellence". Do you really believe this to be true? Are you trying to get all of the other charters in Santa Clara County to follow BCS' model? How would someone like Professor Ravitch respond if an entire county of charter schools followed the Bullis model of (as she puts it) a private school education funded with public school money?

I truly hope the MOU you are working on with BCS will rectify all of these issues and mold BCS into a charter school that follows both the spirit and the letter of California charter school law. I would love to have Professor Ravitch look at BCS a year or two from now and remark at how it has turned into a true model for the charter school system.

Excerpts from the article:

The California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the Los Altos School District on Jan. 18, effectively ending the years-long battle between the district and Bullis Charter School over equitable sharing of the district's facilities and funds.

The court's decision was celebrated by officials at Bullis Charter School who said the ruling was a precedent-setting victory for charter schools across the state.

...

"I hope it's not a precedent," said Diane Ravitch, an author of numerous books on education in America. Ravitch, once in favor of the charter school movement, has changed her mind on the matter. "The original purpose of the charter school was to help the neediest kids in a community. This is not the profile of Bullis. What you have is a group of wealthy parents who have created a private school with public school money."

As always, thank you for your attention and consideration.

Respectfully,
·Dave Cortright