64 INVITED CHAPTERS
2005). This figure is not purported by a leftist group of ideologues (as I am often referred to)
but rather from the non-partisan Government Accounting Office (GAO)—a group that almost
all of us would describe as strictly centrist in both composition and mission. If that statistic
was not enough to bring forth some degree of pause in the audience, let me continue with
another – according to Gordon (2005), the new federal budget abandons the pretense of
adequately funding NCLB. At present, requests fall $12 billion short of required spending
levels for successful implementation—this $12 billion represents fully one-third of an earlier
authorization level. I believe it is important to recognize here that Gordon’s writings
represent a budget for 2005—I urge all of you to investigate the continuation of that loss in
financial support as it is extrapolated to 2006 and beyond.
Another area that I have written extensively on in recent years is about charter school
development and support. The heading of “contrary behaviors” is a perfect fit for this topic.
A rather vivid example of the fictive nature of charter school success exists in my home state
of Ohio. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a newspaper that no Ohio resident would categorize as
counter-cultural, reported not long ago that only 6% of fourth and sixth grade students
enrolled in Ohio Charter Schools passed all five of the standardized tests mandated by the
Ohio Legislature. Conversely, Ohio public school students passed all five tests at a rate of
43% at both fourth and sixth grade levels—providing evidence that public school students,
even those residing in the most abhorrent of center-city environments, when aggregated,
produced more than seven times greater success on said examinations (Welsh-Huggins,
2002). I have frequently noted that this desire to support charter school expansion is best
described with the old adage, “the emperor has no clothes.” Accounts like that presented in
The Cincinnati Enquirer are not atypical, nor are more recent news reports concerning the
violation, by charter school ownership/leadership, with respect to state charitable trust laws
(McGreevy, 2007). These stories make one wonder why the movement for charter school
development is so great. Wyatt (1999) who posited that greed might be the answer described
his belief that the goal of many business/corporate enthusiasts is their desire to transform
large portions of publicly controlled education institutions into a “consolidated, professionally
managed, money-making set of businesses that include all levels of education” (p. A1).
Apple (2001), supporting the thoughts of Wyatt, contended that charter school and voucher
legislation is supported by the political right largely because education is “the next health care
- that is, as a sphere to be mined for huge profits” (p. 7).
This seems counterintuitive—for the better part of the past century, education
administration faculty and other social scientists have described public education as the
egalitarian key to a pathway for success in a capitalistic society. Why would we, then, as
noted by Wyatt and Apple, abandon those thoughts or, at the very least, not publicly challenge
those who purport the opposite? Could it be that the finances and the greed associated with
financial largess have simply overpowered us? The Great State of Ohio, as noted by the
Cleveland Plain Dealer (2006), has allowed David L. Brennan to collect approximately $350
million in tax monies since charter legislation was enacted for the Buckeye State. While
Brennan and his company, White Hat Management, were collecting and depositing those tax
dollars, 15,700 students enrolled in White Hat schools and produced test scores lagging
behind those generated by the Cleveland Municipal School District (Paynter, Livingston, &
Stephens, 2006). Let me assure you, Cleveland Municipal Schools are not, and in recent
memory have never been, referred to as an aspirational set of elementary, middle, or
secondary schools. So, success is certainly not the metric in play here. Could the issue really
be that Mr. Brennan has profited handsomely from 16 years of Republican leadership in the
Governor’s Mansion in Columbus (see Smith, 2005)? As a related point, David L. Brennan