Charter school “boards” and “commissions” exist in numerous states. They usually consist of unelected individuals who are major promoters of school privatization. These private persons tend to be appointed by state leaders with significant political and economic power.
The main purpose of such capital-centered entities is to trample on democratic governance arrangements (e.g. elected school boards, elected state legislators, State Boards of Education) in order to rapidly impose pay-the-rich schemes on everyone. There is nothing democratic or pro-social about charter school “boards” and “commissions.”
The seven-member Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) is a good example of such a top-down unconstitutional entity. Six of its members are appointed by the Governor or the Lt. Governor
The MCSAB has approved 12 charter schools over the years. Together, these privately-operated schools “receive about $50 million annually in state and local funding, plus additional federal funding, making the Authorizer Board [MCSAB] responsible for more public money than most of Mississippi’s agencies, boards and commissions.”
A key question is this: if privately-operated charter schools are going to be called “public schools,” then why don’t they fall under the authority of the Mississippi State Board of Education, as required by the Mississippi Constitution? Why, in other words, is the MCSAB authorizing these so-called “public schools?” What constitutional authority does it have to do so?
The Natchez Democrat reminds us that, “Section 203 of the Mississippi Constitution, approved by voters in 1982, clearly states that the [appointed] nine-member Mississippi Board of Education, in the old days referred to as a lay Board of Education, would oversee public schools.” It is significant that, “The Charter School Authorizer Board is not in the Mississippi Constitution. It was not approved by voters. It was created by a law passed by the Mississippi Legislature.” So far, “no one has challenged whether it is constitutional for the Authorizer Board instead of the state Board of Education to oversee the charter schools.”
While privatizers, state officials, and various commentators continue to promote confusion about the “publicness”/”privateness” of charter schools, it is still significant that such concerns about the MCSAB have emerged. In a way, the existence of the MCSAB is an admission that charter schools are not public schools. The fact that the word “charter” appears in the phrase “charter schools” is revealing. Charter means contract. Charter schools are created through performance-based contracts. Traditional public schools are not contract schools. Nor are they governed by unelected officials or exempt from many laws, rules, and regulations like charter schools are.
Mississippi, like many other states, finds itself in a legal and constitutional dilemma with the expansion of privatized arrangements.
Privatization is typically carried out under the veneer of high ideals, but it usually results in higher costs, lower quality services, and less accountability. Privatization increases corruption and disempowers the public. It does not serve the general interests of society.
Privatization makes everything worse and reveals the need for democratic renewal that places the public interest above all else. Private interests are only interested in maximizing profit as fast as possible, and they will say and do whatever they have to in order to fulfill this anti-social aim. Both non-profit and for-profit charter schools engage in various forms of profiteering.
It is possible and necessary to oppose privatization in all spheres. The public can score victories against attacks on their rights by private interests. Private firms are often defeated when faced with sustained multi-faceted resistance by working people, women, youth, students, and senior citizens. All kinds of things are possible when people unite and organize to defend the public interest.
Water, healthcare, education, transportation, garbage collection, and more are basic human needs, not profit streams for a handful of people. Such needs must not be commodified.
What is the use of entities that usurp the public’s decision-making authority? Why are narrow private interests being placed above the public interest?
When it comes to the basic needs of humans and society, decisions must be made publicly and democratically. They should not be made by the rich and their political representatives.