MYTH:

Currently there is an ad that is airing on major channels in the Philadelphia area that states:

“We teach our kids to play fair with others.  But is it playing fair with our kids when public school budgets are slashed to pay for private charter schools and programs that help public school students make the most of their talents and abilities are eliminated?  Our kids deserve a fair chance to achieve their full potential.  That’s why public dollars should go to public schools.  It’s only fair – a message from the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools.”

This same ad can be viewed on YouTube:

http://ytchannelembed.com/video.php?id=J-A3qgPHubw&t=#.U4EkCHb3FTt

and is linked there from the website of the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools that created and sponsored the ad:

http://friendsofpubliced.org/about-us/social-media/

TRUTH:

The Council for the Advancement of Public Schools knows that PA Charter Schools are not “private” schools.  On their own website, they state that Charter Schools are 501c3 non-profit organizations and  compare them to “traditional other public schools”.*  Nonetheless, in their public ads the Council portrays charter schools as private profit making entities in an attempt to persuade the uninformed public that PA Charter Schools are not Public Schools.

This website boasts that “the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools is made up of more than 16,000 educators and the Friends of Public Education Network in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.”  There are no names attached to the site but the address listed on the site is: 601 Bethlehem Pike, Building “C” – the Mideastern Region of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).

Questions:

  • Why does the teacher’s union have to create a shell of an organization to represent them?
  • Also, why does that organization feel compelled to blatantly lie about Pennsylvania Public Charter Schools in their television ads?

* http://friendsofpubliced.org/resources/charter-schools/for-profit-charter-schools/

http://friendsofpubliced.org/resources/charter-schools/charter-school-accountability/

 

MYTH / TRUTH prepared by:

Dr. James Hanak, CEO, PA Leadership (Cyber) Charter School