Students walk out of class to protest new education secretary Local political group hosts student walkout rallying for greater public education
when asked about these contradictory findings. He claimed that the study was only one out of many studies which show a negative impact from charter schools, although he did not specifically list what the studies were. “There’s other studies that look at other voucher programs in other parts of the country,” Thomas said.
Jacob Palmer Investigative/Enterprise Reporter JacobPalmer@u.boisestate.edu
The air swirling around the Idaho Statehouse was filled with the chants of hundreds of students gathering for a demonstration on Thursday, Feb. 16 in support of public education and in opposition of Betsy DeVos—the new secretary of education. Many participants at the rally said that DeVos—an advocate for charter schools and school voucher programs—would be detrimental to funding for public schools. Some students skipped their classes to join in chanting statements such as “Betsy DeVos has got to go!” and “Student power!” The event was organized by People for Unity, a local political group run by two Idaho high schoolers Nora Harren and Colette Raptosh. “We want (students) to come out here and have our voices heard—we love public education. We really want to make sure the State of Idaho understands students will not stand for segregating ideas,” Harren said. Rapthosh furthur explained the group’s issues with charter schools. “School vouchers and advocating for charter schools creates de-facto segregation— we’re not supporting that,” Raptosh said. Differing opinions at the event Many at the rally had concerns about public education, such as Boise resident Michelle
Protest’s effectiveness
Citizens and students gather at the captiol to advocate for public edcation. (Photo by Ellen Fogg / The Arbiter).
Roberts, who took issue with DeVos’s encouragement of private education. “I’m here because I have several siblings, and I want them to have a good future. The key to a good future in America is a good education,” Roberts said. “I can tell there is a strong push to gut (public education) to the point where a private education is the only useful education we have access to.” While the vast majority of the crowd was in attendance to protest DeVos, not everyone who showed up agreed with the protest’s message. Caleb Christensen, a Borah High School student, took issue with perceived anti-Trump mood of the event. “This is just an anti-Trump protest; just another way to say, ‘We don’t like you and we want you out.’ We’re here to say that students are for Trump,” Christensen said. Other students, such as
Rickland Sanchez from Cole Valley Christian School, came to the rally with much simpler motives. “(I’m here) to skip school. (I’m skipping) history and math seminar,” Sanchez said. “(The protest) is pretty cool, but I really could care less who’s in charge of my education.” The debate behind the protest The main points of the protest were written on a fact sheet that organizers made available on People for Unity’s Facebook page. The sheet claimed charter schools create de-facto segregation based on demographics such as race, exclude low-income families and don’t work for rural citizens. The sheet uses an excerpt from a New York Times opinion article, “Betsy DeVos and the Wrong Way to Fix Schools,” which lists DeVos’ experience in the
Detroit charter schools as “the biggest school reform disaster in the country.” Jesse Thomas, an organizer with People for Unity, cited a study the opinion article used as evidence for his claims. “There was a study done in Michigan on the charter school system. Most of the articles you’ll read from the New York Times pull from (that study),” Thomas said. “If you look at the study as a whole, they dumped a bunch of money (into charter schools) and got zero (gains).” The specific study cited by Thomas was conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), called “Charter School Performance in Michigan.” While Thomas cited the study as his supporting evidence, according to the conclusion of the study itself, Thomas’s contentions are directly contradicted within. “Based on the findings pre-
sented here, the typical student in Michigan charter schools gains more learning in a year than his TPS (traditional public school) counterparts,” CREDO stated in their conclusion. “Charter schools have significantly better results than TPS for minority students who are in poverty.” According to CREDO, the charter school system in Michigan helped students get better grades in reading and math, as compared to traditional public schools. 47-49 percent of charter schools got “significantly better” scores in Math and reading, while 44-52 percent saw no significant change, and only 1-7 percent of saw worse scores. Groups who saw some improvement in performance were racial minorities, those in poverty and rural students, groups Thomas claimed were hurt by charter schools. Thomas quickly pivoted away from the study he cited
It remains to be seen whether protests such as this will have any tangible impact on state or federal education. According to Jeffrey Lyons, assistant professor of political science, protests and political organization in general can have varying levels of success based on a variety of factors, especially given Republican majorities in the national and state legislatures. “(Protests) definitely can be effective. But, it doesn’t mean every time you hold a protest you’re going to get what you want.” Lyons said. “If everybody who’s going to vote against me anyways has shown up in protest, that’s probably not going to change my calculus. But if it’s people of a different demographic, people who have supported me or people who I need to win an election, then it can be (effective).” No major education reform plans have been put forward by DeVos currently. The country will have to wait to see what happens in the way of reforms. Students interested in education issues are always welcome to attend public hearings on bills at the Idaho capitol.
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