[ThomPete]

Charter schools dont skirt special needs kids they take them in.

Whats really absurd is that a lot of people are against the lottery but totally fine with public schools zipcode method.

Edit: why the downvotes? My two sons are at a charter school they take special needs children. They have to by law.

[dashundchen]

There are plenty of reports of charter schools pushing out low-performing students to get the student population they want. Labeling students with disabilities and claiming they don't have enough services to support them is very common. Unequal punishment leading to expulsion is another.

http://gothamist.com/2015/10/30/success_academy_charter.php

Another common tactic is to play games with the lottery/application process to get the student population they want.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-charters-admissions-i...

Anecdotally the teachers I know working in a local charter tell me the administration definitely makes it known they want low performers out transferred out before testing is performed.

[sidlls]

> Labeling students with disabilities and claiming they don't have enough services to support them is very common. Unequal punishment leading to expulsion is another.

This happens at public schools, too. My family recently had a huge tussle with the public school our kids attend because one of our children there was being punished for behavior stemming from his condition (autism). They kept pushing back on our requests for resources because of how strapped they are for cash and staff and all that. The length we had to go to get a public school in a well-funded Bay Area district to just obey the law was astounding. I have the deepest sympathy for parents in districts without the means ours has.

[Someone1234]

> They kept pushing back on our requests for resources because of how strapped they are for cash and staff and all that.

May I ask: Are they IEP or 504? Because if they're IEP the school should receive funding to cover his additional needs. If he is 504, have you looked into if he'd be eligible for an IEP?

[ThomPete]

There are plenty of reports about all sorts of things. That doesn't mean they are true. In the case of Success Academy I have two boys who go there, the school have all sorts of children including special needs children.

There is so much hate around charter schools that you should be careful with what you read into these reports. Much of what is written is either blatantly false or completely out of context.

Like every other thing in this world there are good and bad charter schools just like there are good and bad public and private schools. Everything has tradeoffs. Personally I think the lottery is more fair than whether you live in a specific zone for your kids. Each to their own.

[brians]

There are huge variations in what each state requires of “charter schools”. Where I am they’re nonprofit, take all kids, and seem to work well to let invested parents get their kids out of broken districts—with little interest from functional districts.

In other states, they’re private for-profit schools, like U Phoenix for kindergarteners.

[mac01021]

I don't like the lottery because it inhibits life planning. I'm not going to move near a charter school based on a 1/2 chance that my kid will get into the school. But I can shop around different zip codes, move to a house near the school in the one I choose, and know just what I'm getting.

Obviously, this might price me out of the very best zip codes, but at least in my case it still leaves many good options on the table.

The story may be quite different for someone in the bottom 50% of income. Maybe they should prefer a lottery. Maybe they do?

[ThomPete]

That's not really how it works. People don't move to the zip code many of my sons' classmates comes from Harlem, Bronx and other places (we are in Williamsburg). You don't have to move, whereas if you want to get into a specific public school you have to be zoned for it which is much harder if you want to get into the good schools. Tribecca has great public schools because it's a rich zip code.

And that's why it's puzzling to me that so many people oppose the lottery.

Success Academy was started in Harlem exactly to try and provide better schools for children even though they were born in a poor zipcode. It's a success is mostly stems from a very hardcore curriculum and the focus on work ethics and by keeping children away from their parents (often bad influence).

You are actually arguing exactly for why the lottery is a better (but not perfect) solution than zip code, it's fairer.