MESA, AZ -- Mesa resident Michele Spahr says race didn’t play any part in her choice to put her kids into a Phoenix charter school.
“I have two in charter school now and he also went to charter school,” said Michele of her three children.
But she has noticed something.
“I know that this school has always been a predominantly Latino Hispanic school,” said Michele.
A UCLA study,
Choice without Equity, says the increase in charter schools is widening the race gap in Arizona and other states, because the schools are more racially isolated.
The Arizona Charter Schools Association doesn’t deny that but tries to clarify the situation.
“What’s happening is parents are choosing a demographic fit for their child or a school fit for their child,” said Eileen Sigmund, CEO Arizona Charter Schools Association.
The study says whites are over represented in charter schools in Arizona’s metropolitan areas and suggests that charter schools are “havens for white re-segregation from public schools.”
Something the charter association takes offense to.
“We think it’s a report that’s just meant to grab headlines and the issue they put in there is that charters allegedly segregate and they don’t understand the difference between segregation and choice,” said Sigmund.
The report suggests new regulations to prevent race isolation in charter schools. The association says they would consider any regulations that would move students ahead.
Michele says while she’s never had a problem with her kids' mostly Latino school, regulations couldn’t hurt.
“Absolutely, I think that’s what our children need these days otherwise we turn back the hands of time,” said Michele.
