The Philadelphia Board of Education has had enough with abysmal academic records — sort of.
The school board recently voted not to renew the charter for KIPP North Philadelphia. The vote doesn’t immediately close the school but begins a deliberative process to decide whether to do so.
“At some point, we have to say, ‘No more,’” said Joan Stern, a board member, citing the school’s lack of scholastic achievement, according to The Inquirer. At KIPP, only 24 percent and 10 percent of students are proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) and math, respectively.
However, about a mile-and-a-half away from KIPP is another school that doesn’t seem to be performing very well, either: the James G. Blaine School.
Now, before I go any further, I want to make something clear: I’m not picking on Blaine, and I’m only using the school as an example. Blaine isn’t the issue. Also, I acknowledge that the process for closing a charter school differs from that for closing a District school, which can be more complicated.
That said, it’s the school board’s questionable decision-making that I take issue with.
“Our role is to oversee outcomes, not operations,” said Board President Reginald Streater during the discussion about KIPP’s charter renewal.
Yet, the outcomes of Blaine and KIPP suggest otherwise.
In fact, Blaine is doing worse than KIPP. Only 15 percent and 6 percent of its students are proficient in ELA and math, respectively. Also, Blaine is among Pennsylvania’s bottom 15 percent of schools based on statewide testing.
Undoubtedly, both schools have struggled academically, but their enrollment numbers tell a different story.
From 2019 to 2024, enrollment at Blaine shrank by about 31 percent. KIPP, on the other hand, has grown. From 2019 to 2024, the charter school’s enrollment more than tripled, growing from 200 students to 670.
This isn’t entirely surprising: District school enrollment has dropped nationwide, while charter schools continue to grow. Since the Covid pandemic, public school enrollment has lost about 1.2 million students; meanwhile, charter schools have gained about 400,000 students nationwide.
Despite their growing popularity, charter schools face several structural roadblocks. Currently, almost 20,000 Philadelphia students are on the waiting list to transfer to a charter school.
It’s also worth noting that the Charter Schools Office (CSO) — the District’s department primarily responsible for managing and overseeing District charters — recommended that the school board adopt a “five-year renewal with conditions” for KIPP.
But the school board chose to ignore the CSO’s recommendation. In fact, they barely deliberated on the question of KIPP’s charter renewal, dedicating only five minutes to a process that resembled a kangaroo court without public input.
KIPP and any other charter school deserve scrutiny and accountability. After all, they are public schools, too. But the same also applies to any other failing school in the Philadelphia school district.
It’s more than apparent that charters are low in the pecking order for the Philadelphia Board of Education. Last May, the board approved a charter for the Early College Charter School of Philadelphia. This was the first charter school that the board had approved in nearly a decade.
“You spoke of excellence,” Streater said to the charter applicants. “Please prove it.”
Yet, Streater, Stern, and the rest of the school board haven’t demanded the same proof from other underperforming schools. The Nation’s Report Card shows that four out of five Philadelphia fourth graders aren’t proficient in reading or math, and only 6 percent of District eighth graders are proficient in science. More than half of Philadelphia students attend a state-designated low-achieving school.
So, why lambast KIPP and not Blaine? Why not the dozens of other Philly schools producing similar — or often worse — results?
The answer to these questions is simple: Charter schools threaten the District’s monopoly on education. Public school jobs are on the line when these schools — along with homeschooling, private schools, and micro-schools — attract more kids.
Plus, the District is sending a clear message: Poor Black and Brown kids don’t deserve school choice. Instead, the District believes they must stay put in their neighborhood schools — no matter how bad they are.
Where are these KIPP students going to go? There isn’t a neighborhood school for them. When KIPP opened in 2018, it set up shop in the preexisting neighborhood school, the M. Hall Stanton School. Interestingly, in 2013, the Philadelphia Board of Education voted to close M. Hall Stanton due to its declining enrollment and academic performance. Go figure!
KIPP students and families aren’t left with many alternatives. Some may transfer to one of the other KIPP schools in the city, but those schools are miles away. Some may transfer to Blaine and other underperforming neighborhood schools.
If these kids and families thought their options were limited before, imagine how they feel now.
No school deserves a free pass, especially if it is failing its students. KIPP and any other charter school deserve scrutiny and accountability. After all, they are public schools, too.
But the same also applies to any other failing school in the Philadelphia school district. If academic performance is the yardstick, the board must not be selective in its outrage. Moreover, the District must honor the choice made by students attending KIPP and other charter schools.
Anything less is a double standard.
David Hardy is president of Girard College and a distinguished senior fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank. He was co-founder and longtime CEO of Boys’ Latin Charter School.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.
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