A new report from the Arizona ACLU slams charter school enrollment policies. The civil rights group says charter schools in Arizona are engaging in illegal and exclusionary practices.
“It absolutely has to stop. Charter schools have to be available [to] accept all comers,” said Arizona ACLU Communications Director Steve Kilar.
The report claims hundreds of state-funded schools use discriminatory policies to “weed out” certain kids. Kilar said the investigation found many schools had admission requirements or procedures in place to limit the number of kids with academic and disciplinary issues, along with disabilities.
“One of those ways is by requiring interviews and essays and visits with the parents,” Kilar said.
The Arizona Charter Schools Association ripped the report immediately after it was released on the ACLU website, calling it a “hit piece” with misleading information.
The president of The Arizona Charter School Association said laws are in place to prevent any discrimination.
“I’m looking at this as an attack by an out-of-touch organization that is really not understanding Arizona families choose every day and our charter schools are outperforming the state average,” said President Eileen Sigmund.
The ACLU told 12 News the report was instigated after a high number of complaints about charter schools. Kilar said he received more than 50 complaints in the past two years from parents.
“There is a problem in many of our charter schools where they screen out kids that are difficult to deal with. It is absolutely discrimination,” Kilar said.
12 News reached out to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools and was told that only a handful of those 50 complaints dealt with admission issues.
The ACLU says it looked at 471 charter schools statewide and found roughly 260 had enrollment policies that could be discriminatory.
Sigmund reiterated that many of the charter schools are set up to help certain kids and that if not for those schools, kids would have no other option.
“What real enrollment suppression looks like is a student stuck in a failing school without any options,” said Sigmund.
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools says it was not provided the report after it was completed. They had to download it from the ACLU website to read it.
At this time, it is unclear what if any impact this report will have on charter school policy and procedures moving forward.