Joseph at Plunderbund sure does have a problem with a charter school making a profit and (*gasp*) paying its teachers less than teachers at public schools.
The education of our state’s children in the hands of a for-profit corporation- obligated NOT to the best interests of OUR CHILDREN but the best interests of THEIR STOCKHOLDERS!
This means the company’s primary goal is to make money- not to educate our kids. And they do this by spending less money on students and by paying their teachers…
Socialists like Joseph can be so stubbornly ignorant. If the facts don't fit their preferred narrative ("Powerful teachers' unions and huge education expenditures make for better educated kids!"), they throw temper tantrums about mean corporate interests and their dirty-greedy-money-grubbing-child-hating-wingnut-fascist shareholders.
Allow me to outline the profit motive for Joseph in simple terms, because he obviously hasn't got a clue about this. To serve its shareholders the school must maximize profits. It does this by maximizing revenue and minimizing expenses. Here's how that works.
Revenue
- To maximize revenue (tuition) the school must keep its customers happy.
- Its customers are happy when the quality of their children's education exceeds that available in the public schools.
- If the school charges more for an education than the parents think it's worth, they'll pull their kids out.
- Therefore the school has an incentive to provide a better education than the public schools offer, and at a reasonable price.
Expenses
- To minimize expenses, the school will try to reduce overhead and operate efficiently.
- Among other methods, the school will pay its teachers lower starting salaries than they'd get in a public school.
- Since teachers are free to seek employment elsewhere, the school must find other ways to make its teaching positions attractive.
- Apparently the school has found a way to attract teachers with more than just base salary. Perhaps it's less red tape, a safer and more disciplined classroom environment, merit pay, or some combination of the above.
- If the school cuts salaries too far, the teachers will leave.
- Therefore the school has an incentive to treat its teachers well.
Boy, this free market stuff is tricky. Competition sure isn't neat and orderly, like the typical centrally-planned economy.
Check out the word school in the dictionary you will find 23 definitions- none of which include the word 'revenue'.
That's because it is not now- nor has it ever been- the job of our schools to "maximize revenue"- or earn revenue at all.
Our schools have only one job: to provide a quality education to Ohio's children. And THAT, my friend, has nothing to do with 'free markets'- or any markets at all.
There are certainly some services currently provided by government that can be accomplished better and cheaper by private organizations.
Unfortunately, education is not one of them.
[Ed.: Here are the Adequate Yearly Progress (
PDF) goals Joseph mentioned in his first comment. More here. Ah ... sweet, sweet government regulation ...]