The War That Wasn’t: A Year After Its Much-Hyped Launch, the NAACP’s Push for a Charter School Moratorium Has Run Out of Steam
Social media, live video streams, and intense debates: The NAACP has been embroiled in a heated discussion regarding a moratorium on new charter schools for nearly two years. This demand has sparked intense arguments at both the 2016 and 2017 national conventions, with numerous civil rights organizations pushing back and delegates returning home to promote model legislation.
However, a unified push for a moratorium has failed to materialize. The NAACP’s 2018 national convention, held in July, only featured a single educational workshop led by the American Federation of Teachers. Additionally, there was a screening of the controversial documentary "A Backpack Full of Cash," but hardly any Twitter activity on the topic, except for Julian Vasquez Heilig, the California NAACP Education Chair and main advocate for the moratorium.
Interestingly, in a recent interview with Politico before this year’s convention, the newly appointed NAACP president, Derrick Johnson, adopted a conciliatory stance. He stated that the organization does not oppose charter schools but aims to maintain pressure on a broad range of problems, including the need for increased oversight and transparency.
Johnson expressed, "There are some charter schools that have implemented excellent practices. Why shouldn’t these practices be applied to public schools? There are also some terribly underperforming public schools. How do I know? Because we constantly try to take them to court. Our belief is that all children should have access to a quality education."
How did this contentious issue transform from a blazing hot topic to a lukewarm one? Many education advocates refuse to discuss the shift publicly out of fear of reigniting the debate. However, privately, some argue that this change in tone indicates weak support for the moratorium within the NAACP. Additionally, defending civil and voting rights protections in the Trump era has become a higher priority for the organization.
Several advocates who closely monitor state education policy believe that the resolution faced significant opposition from allied groups such as the UNCF. They also note a lack of support from local NAACP chapters and discreet personal outreach efforts by charter school leaders to NAACP officials at the grassroots level. Many of these local leaders, they say, are unwilling to work against schools launched by individuals within their own communities.
One advocate, who requested anonymity, stated, "They are unable to present a compelling argument, particularly when they have to confront other leaders of color at the local level."
Unfortunately, the NAACP did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
‘Promoting a false narrative’
Resistance to the call for a moratorium emerged immediately following the introduction of the resolution by the NAACP’s California-Hawaii chapter at the 2016 national convention. CEO of the UNCF, Michael Lomax, and over 150 education and community leaders wrote a letter to the NAACP’s national board expressing their opposition. They highlighted the rapid increase in black enrollment in charter schools and cited research from Stanford University that demonstrated significant academic progress among black students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, in charter schools compared to their peers in traditional district schools.
The letter stated, "There is a valid reason for the enthusiastic support in the Black community: parents witness firsthand the flourishing progress of their children in charter schools. For many urban black families, charter schools offer them the opportunity to do what affluent families have long been able to do: rescue their children from failing schools. The NAACP should not support efforts that take away this option from low-income and working-class black families."
In early 2017, a task force organized by the NAACP held hearings in seven cities, leading to protests from parents and complaints from charter school advocates who felt they were not given enough time to present their case.
During one of these hearings in Los Angeles, Margaret Fortune, chair of the California Charter Schools Association board, dismissed the moratorium as a distraction from their efforts to oppose Betsy DeVos’s nomination as U.S. Secretary of Education. Fortune testified that she and Alice Huffman, the president of the California NAACP chapter, had previously sought approval to establish a new charter school named after Huffman, who is considered a prominent figure in the local African-American community. Fortune expressed her surprise when she discovered that the NAACP had adopted a national resolution for a moratorium on all charter schools. Consequently, the Fortune board voted to remove Huffman’s name from the school, which is yet to open.
The number of high-performing schools, whether they be charter or district, is insufficient to cater to the needs of students in New Orleans, according to McKneely’s testimony. He expressed frustration at the frequency of student funerals caused by the ongoing problems in the streets. He urged the community to continue the dialogue and pressure school operators to take appropriate action.
During a task force hearing in Orlando, Rashad Turner, former leader of the St. Paul chapter of Black Lives Matter, was escorted out after protesting that dissenters were not given a fair chance to speak. Turner had resigned the previous year when a faction of the national leadership of Black Lives Matter expressed support for the moratorium.
It came as no surprise when there was immediate opposition following the formal adoption of the resolution at the NAACP convention in July 2017, with draft legislation passed out. In a matter of days, the Tennessee and Memphis chapters of the NAACP voiced their dissent, highlighting that many black educators and advocates had initiated charter schools in those states out of concern for the limited quality options available for children of color.
Lobbyists and observers of education policy eagerly watched to see if the proposed "Accountability and Transparency for Charter Schools Act" would gain traction on state legislative agendas. However, there was limited action, except in Pennsylvania, where a bill freezing new online-only charter schools was introduced but has yet to be reviewed.
McKneely mentioned that there has been little discussion about the issue in Louisiana. Following his testimony, several local NAACP and community leaders reached out to him to discuss ways to improve school performance in New Orleans. He is hopeful that the focus of the conversation will shift towards ensuring quality education for all students, regardless of whether they attend traditional district or charter schools.
Turner, now the community engagement director for the school improvement nonprofit Minnesota Comeback, confirmed that the moratorium was not a point of concern in his state either. He revealed that neither the Minneapolis nor St. Paul chapters of the NAACP supported the measure. He criticized the NAACP for wasting time promoting a false narrative about charter schools instead of dedicating efforts to the Voting Rights Act.
Indeed, the Voting Rights Act and increasing black voter turnout for the upcoming midterm elections were major topics of discussion at the 2018 convention. In May, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over Secretary DeVos’s decision to allow the Office for Civil Rights to dismiss complaints that it finds burdensome, regardless of their merits.
More recently, the California NAACP and the California Charter Schools Association have shown their support for two measures in the state Assembly. One bill aims to redistribute education funding so that the lowest-performing students, particularly African Americans, receive a larger share. The other measure seeks to prohibit for-profit companies from owning or operating public schools in California.
