The St. Louis Observer: Capitalism fails Black students every time
A plan for the future of SLPS must fully reject the expansion of the charter school system
By Isaac Moore1
The American education system is inherently racist. In St. Louis, the racist nature of education manifests itself with mounting racial disparities in access and achievement. Saint Louis Public Schools have been under attack for years while politicians, business owners, doctoral candidates, trust fund babies, “nonprofits”, and many other non-educational entities try time and again to present their ideas for educational reform. In the sea of conflict surrounding the role charters should play, if any, in St. Louis education, few acknowledge the racist history of American education and how it manifests itself in St. Louis’ charter school movement.
While proponents of “school choice” have made their presence known in recent weeks, it is vital to understand the history of charter schools as a whole and critique the system that makes complex school navigation “necessary” to begin with. Rather than reinvent the wheel by rewriting pre-existing research, I suggest you read Rachel Cohen’s article on the origins of the charter movement.
Manipulated data & the misleading rhetoric of “choice” of the charter school movement
While many advocates of charter schooling claim their opponents are mostly white, many people of color have been raising hell over the racism that exists within the charter movement for years. One of SLPS’ Latina teachers, who was substantially influential in keeping Monroe Elementary School open, wrote about the harm charters were doing in her neighborhood school. Ryan Miller wrote an exceptional piece concerning racism in the structure of the charter school movement. Beth Hatt-Echeverria & Ji-Yeon Jo found in their study that procedures in certain charter schools exacerbate racism. If people are only hearing white voices speaking against charter schools, then they have been ignoring the diverse array of intelligent, knowledgeable, and experienced voices of color opposing the charter movement.
One of the misconceptions being thrown around is the notion that Saint Louis Public Schools is failing on all accounts. In the last normal testing cycle, SLPS had five schools with proficient scores in ELA for 84% or more of their students. In contrast, none of the charter schools in St Louis have more than 66% of their students reading and writing proficiently. Unquestionably, the best schools in SLPS are far and away better than the best charter schools the City has to offer.
Despite all of its faults, SLPS is a Black-run organization that has some of the best public schools, teachers, and students in the state. The fact that wealthy politicians, local media, and inexperienced charter school directors and employees are discrediting the tremendous abilities of the Black leadership, teachers, and students in SLPS with decades of experience demonstrates how deep racism leaves Black people open for undeserved criticism regardless of their success.
While the best schools in SLPS are run incredibly well, the worst schools in the district are performing terribly. As someone who taught for three years in one of the lowest-performing schools in SLPS, I am comfortable saying that the reason schools struggle is not because of a lack of trying, accountability, or teacher shortcomings, but solely due to racism. Choice is not inherently good, especially when the choices are given nearly exclusively to children of color. Black students and parents are forced to navigate racist educational systems while many white neighborhoods don’t have to.
The racist legacy of charter schools
Charter schools target Black and brown communities while capitalizing and scapegoating the victims of racism. Nearly all of the charter schools in the St. Louis region are in the City. The only charter school in the county is opening in Normandy, much to the chagrin of the local community, a district with a population that is over 95% African-American. White neighborhoods in the St. Louis region don’t have people clamoring for school choice, because the educational system is designed to protect white students and experiment on African-American students.
The charter school movement was promoted and implemented under the Reagan administration as a way to blame poor neighborhoods rather than the racist systems that plague(d) American society. The last thing Black students need is to try harder to overcome systemic inequities that have existed since before America was even conceptualized. The reason schools struggle in St. Louis is because of racism rather than a lack of innovation and effort. The neoliberal experiment of school choice has failed and will continue to fail because it puts a bandaid of creative experimentation on the gaping wound of educational racism that poisons America to the core.
Blaming administrations, funding, teacher apathy, curriculum, and/or whatever else while ignoring racism is a colossal waste of time, energy, and resources. White business owners, charter school directors, families, and politicians who created a system where educational resources were hoarded and public schools made unequally are now trying to capitalize on the conditions they created.
Do what the suburbs do: Fully fund SLPS
As Mayor Tishaura Jones asks users on Twitter for their best ideas towards a citywide educational plan, Black students deserve nothing short of radical abolition from the racism that plagues American education. An exceptional public school district is a prerequisite for just about every wealthy white neighborhood in America. The mayor needs to look no further than the white districts that surround St. Louis City to have a comprehensive citywide plan for education: radically advocate for and fund public schools.
Parents and children who live in wealthy, white neighborhoods have the opportunity for school choice in a world without charter schools. The difference between districts that benefit from racism and those that are the targets of racism is the quality of choices given to parents and students. More choices lead to more students left behind in a world where gifted Black children are asked to leave their own communities in order to access an exceptional education. Students in Ladue, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, and a plethora of other communities surrounding the City are seldom asked to leave their communities for educational access; St. Louis kids shouldn’t have to either.
SLPS runs the best schools in the City. While the neoliberal charter school experiment pushed heavily by Republicans from the Reagan administration through the Trump administration has led to the disinvestment of parents and students with very few options at their disposal, the last thing parents and kids need is more choices. It is time to ensure that the neighborhood schools that have been serving the truant, hospitalized, immigrant, homeless, disabled, and struggling students are given any and every resource necessary to adequately serve their students.
Asking Black citizens to venture into the treacherous seas of a racist educational system by choosing their best bad option is not the answer. It is time for the most radical support for a district that serves 99% of students coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Working with systems created by racist politicians forty years ago is not the solution for a citywide plan. Wealthy suburbs have quality public schools; SLPS kids deserve them too. The citywide plan should be to eliminate racist systems, not create new ones.
Isaac Moore is a former SLPS middle school teacher, currently teaches high schoolers in a St. Louis County school district.