Seven Ways to Make School Reopening Plans Work for the Koch Network

Everyone is concerned about how schools will safely reopen due to COVID-19. Ideally, funds and energy would go into helping public schools identify ways to keep students and teachers safe, while understanding the varied realities of different families. While we wait and see what will happen this fall, many folks are sharing their visions for best education practices during a pandemic. In fact, the Charles Koch Institute recently published a piece detailing seven ways to make school reopening work for everyone. While at first glance these may seem like helpful suggestions, some of the points are cleverly worded ways to push the Koch agenda. 

Koch Idea #1:  Create small learning communities and give educators more autonomy. 

On the surface this sounds like an ideal solution - smaller settings and teacher autonomy means more opportunities for individualized learning while minimizing the spread of COVID-19. However, this idea also suggests that “New schools can be authorized through existing charter school laws.” Charter schools are a Koch cornerstone when it comes to K-12 education. 

The trouble is we know that overall, charter schools (which are an integral part of Trump’s school choice) are failing children. Particularly kids who are most at risk of falling behind when it comes to education: those living in poverty, as well as Black and Latinx students. A recent report from the Network for Public Education looked at the results of taxpayer-funded grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program from 2006 to 2014. It found 1,779 grantee schools that either never opened or have since shut down—a failure rate of 37% (at a waste of over half a billion dollars!). 

Another issue with the promotion of small learning communities is that part of the Koch's agenda is to reduce taxes and make government more inefficient. This has resulted in the severe defunding of education, forcing an increase in class sizes over the past few decades - the complete opposite for what they’re proposing.

Koch Idea #2.  Partner with community organizations such as libraries, museums, Boys & Girls Clubs, 4H, and other organizations to ensure there are enriching learning opportunities for kids, which will also free up the space to enable smaller schools and class sizes to exist.  

This is complicated on a number of levels. Who gets to set the standard for what organizations are allowed to partner with schools? It’s also prudent to note that Koch campaigns to defund public services mean that a lot of areas don't have libraries, or those that they have aren't well stocked or well suited to replace education. The same for museums as many are government funded. Also, these institutions would need extra staff to take on this endeavor - who would be paying for that

There’s also the issue of access. How are students getting to these off site partners? If bussing is required, where does funding come from? While on the surface this might seem like an easy fix, there are many potential roadblocks to be considered. 

Koch Idea #3:  Unbundle education funding to allow families to direct their education funds to a variety of schools, providers, and services. 

While there are certainly problems with the way schools are funded now, this idea is essentially advocating for school vouchers - allowing parents in underperforming districts to allow their children to go to other schools, taking their federal money with them (thus weakening the already struggling schools). This also allows for private schools with questionable ideology and lack of public oversight, as well as charter schools to be funded at the same rate as public schools. 

The Kochs also have their hand in homeschooling curriculum, so this would benefit them. Taking funds that would otherwise go to public schools and handing them over to ideologically driven private (homeschool) curriculums is antithetical to the concept of academic freedom. 

The Koch’s have shown their disregard for public schools in general and public school funding in particular. These suggestions are largely rooted in removing children from public schools all together, even after the pandemic ends.

#4.  Provide credit for learning, wherever it occurs through policies that allow students to earn course credit for learning opportunities that take place at community organizations, after-school clubs, and similar locations. 

Learning outside the public school setting can oftentimes be about accessibility - who is (and isn’t) able to access these enrichment activities? Not all parents have the ability to shuttle kids around to various activities after school due to working. If the schools are the ones helping students get to these opportunities, where does the funding for extra bussing come from?  

While it would be ideal for all areas  to have robust community organizations and after-school programs that don't come from their public schools, this is simply not the case, especially for those in impoverished areas. This idea sets up more division between those with access and more free time and those with full time working parents. 

#5.  Open enrollment policies allow families to attend public schools other than their zoned school. 

If all schools were funded properly and fairly, there would be no reason for families to seek out schools beyond their zoned ones. This idea only serves to further widen the gap between families that can afford to shuttle their kids to higher quality schools instead of helping schools that are struggling. Shipping children to different schools doesn’t fix the issues at underperforming schools.

#6.  Distance learning districts are wholly new Local Education Associations that serve students across the state regardless of geographic residence. 

Virtual learning sounds like a great idea in theory, especially when it comes to providing safe spaces for education amidst COVID-19. However, not all families can afford to keep their children at home supervised in order to engage in distance learning. Some families rely on their kids going to school because they are essential workers or otherwise have to work for fear of losing their jobs. Distance learning would be great in an ideal world where parents are being paid to stay home with their children, but that is clearly not the case. 

There’s also the problem of not everyone having access to the technology needed for distance learning to work. Due to underfunding of schools, not all localities can provide every child with internet and/or computers, making distance learning not possible. 

 #7.  Regulatory relief to allow for innovations. 

We agree here! Unfortunately, we most likely don’t agree with what this actually means. Who are the innovators and what are their motives? When dealing with a pandemic level crisis, the sole focus should focus first on the safety of children and staff and second, on ensuring that children are able to access quality public education. Unfortunately, our current administration has already tightened their grip on public schools, making it more challenging to strive for true equity and equality in the classroom. 

However, what regulatory relief shouldn't mean is the removal of oversight practices for curriculum, allowing just about anyone to create and promote learning agendas, regardless of harmful ideologies.