he Valley Labor Report has been keeping an eye on so-called “School Choice” efforts and motions by lawmakers to privatize schools, and we have not kept silent on our strong opposition to these efforts, as we believe that school privatization is a deeply flawed education system built on greed, segregation, control, and more.
One thing that we have noticed in our personal dealings with “School Choice” advocates is a lack of data, a lack of statistical analysis, that supports claims that privatizing schools is “good for our kids.”
“None of the advocates ever actually show you proof-cases,” Jacob said, during a live broadcast in March. “Look for it when you’re reading, and listen for it when you’re listening to these folks. They never tell you any statistics, or even honestly any anecdotes about how ‘School Choice’ works. They’ll give you this fluffy hypothetical stuff; ‘theoretically, maybe somebody’s gonna get a better education, theoretically.’ They never ever give you any data to prove that. And they very rarely give you an anecdote. That’s very rare.”
This discussion came up on a recent broadcast because Jacob and Adam were making the case that there’s a reason you don’t really hear any statistics or anecdotes when speaking with a “School Choice” advocate, despite the fact that the model has been utilized by some schools already. And it’s because what statistics there are… are in fact damning statistics.
And a good “case-in-point” is a recent situation that has unfolded at a privatized school here in Alabama.
“There is an anecdotal case out in Montgomery, of just what happens when you have an unaccountable charter school,” Jacob said, before inviting Adam on to give a quick rundown on what’s unfolding at this charter school in Montgomery.
“This is the infamous LEAD Academy,” Adam started off. “And this is just the latest scandal in a series of scandals, frankly, from this charter school in Montgomery. And in this case we’ve got some, let’s say ‘mismanagement.’ The bottom line is that this Montgomery charter school LEAD Academy is going to have to repay $1.9 million to the Feds… but it doesn’t have the money, they say. An audit found that the school did not accurately track more than six thousand meals served in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 the U.S. Department of Agriculture received an anonymous complaint alleging that Crave Cafeteria Solutions, the vendor supplying meals at LEAD Academy, inflated the number of children and meals served during the ‘21/’22 school year.”
Watch the full discussion for an in-depth look at what the audit found, and what will happen to LEAD Academy after claiming they can’t pay up: