The financial con game of Charter Schools.

Way, way back in the early 1980's a "reformed" conman was interviewed on the David Letterman Show.  He may have written a book about his various crimes but I really can't remember.  What I do remember is that he was very interesting to listen to.

For his first "job" as a professional conman he rented a cheap looking security guard's uniform and a sturdy looking strong box.  He knew that a dozen or so stores and restaurants dropped off their money at an after hours bank deposit box so he taped an "Out Of Order" sign to the deposit door and stood there for an hour or so next to his box.  He said that he was terrified that the first person to come along would either beat him up or call the police.  Much to his surprise and relief, most of the store and restaurant managers simply looked at the Out Of Order sign, looked at him, and dutifully dropped their money into his box.

It's tempting to react to such stories by asking how people can be so stupid.  Yes, some people really are stupid but that's not what makes confidence tricks work.  He said that after a few months of dreaming up and carrying out similar crimes he began to divide his potential victims into two distinct groups.

Group One consisted of people who appeared to be relatively unsuccessful in life.  They drove old cars, wore plain looking clothes, and worked boring, low paying jobs.  He claimed that it was very hard to gain their confidence and subsequently failed to make much money by tricking them.  These people were accustomed to being disappointed with false promises and instinctively avoided them.  They may not have known how the trick worked, but they knew from experience that no one outside of their inner circle of close friends was going to do anything for them.

Group Two consisted of people who were accustomed to believing that the world was a pretty good place where hard work and education paid off.  The business managers who blindly trusted their day's receipts to a 20 year old in an ill fitting uniform thought of themselves as successful.  They decided who to hire and fire, how to run their business, and of course, they enjoyed the highest salary.  They believed in the system and subsequently, they could be tricked into believing almost anything.

You're wondering about those charter schools...

There are private schools for those who can pay for them.  Private schools do not have to accept your son or daughter simply because you have lots of money.  Like colleges and universities, they can cherry pick the brightest, most well behaved, most mentally stable students and "just say no" to everyone else.  Nancy Reagan was referring to drugs when she said that but the principle is the same.  Private schools can say no to any student they consider to be beneath their lofty standards or otherwise harmful and embarrassing to their image.

Public schools are where you go if you belong in the "everyone else" category.  Public schools are funded by an unpredictable mixture of local, state, and federal taxes.  Some schools seem to have money blowing down the hallways one year and then lay off teachers the next.  If public schools were listed on the stock market they'd be avoided because of their economically chaotic behavior.  As far as the students go, you can be dumber than a bag of donuts and more violent than a rabid dog and you'll still be welcomed with open arms.

Then there are charter schools which appear to be neither fish nor fowl.  From what I've read, they generally accept just about anyone, good, bad, or ugly.  Most of their students come from the population group that would normally attend public school.  And like public schools they receive the majority of their funding from the local public school budget.

But...

Correct me if I'm wrong but when October rolls around they swiftly deselect or unenroll or otherwise eject a significant portion of their students, most of whom are sent back to the local public school system.  The parents who, like their restaurant manager equivalents expect the system to actually work.  SUCKERS!!!  The parents are told by the school that their child has needs that the charter school simply isn't equipped to handle.  I suspect they know who will be tossed to the curb when they accept them but I doubt anyone can prove it.

Here's how I'm going to connect my conman story to the normal business practices of charter schools...

They can send your child back to the public school system, but they don't have to send any of the funding back with him.  SUCKERS!!!

This is pure genius.  The public is conned into believing that charter schools are some sort of wonderful alternative when in reality, they are just sucking money out of the public's pockets.

G-E-N-I-U-S