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The Columbus parent trigger profit motive

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A smart and interesting post at Plunderbund, discusses which of the Columbus schools might be susceptible to a parental takeover, now that the Ohio house has reduced their statewide parent trigger provision to a trial in Columbus.

So how likely is that to take place? Consider some details:

As reported by ODE for 09-10, 21 percent of the students at Weinland Park are at the school for less than one year. That also means that the number of parents involved enough to sign the petition is around 80%, with the student population constantly changing. So if 50% of the parents need to sign, but only 80% are around, the parent(s) leading this effort must obtain the signatures of approximately 63% of the parents. And Weinland Park serves a population categorized as 93.7% “economically disadvantaged” in a building that already runs a non-standard year-round schedule. For additional perspective, the number of economically disadvantaged students is 43% statewide. I’m going to take a wild guess and project that these families have greater concerns than taking over a school. Just a guess.

This is a smart and reasonable observation, but as we pointed out in an article a while ago, it's not the only consideration to account for. Indeed, other provisions included in the budget bill could have a significant impact too.

The other question to be asked is this;

How much money could a for-profit charter make by sponsoring an effort to take over one of these Columbus schools?

With an empty promise to desperate parents to fix things, and a paid effort to garner the required parental support for the takeover, these schools might be easy marks, with easy profits to follow.