Charter schools, race, and urban space : where the market meets grassroots resistance

Charter schools have been promoted as an equitable and innovative solution to the problems plaguing urban schools. Advocates claim that charter schools benefit working-class students of color by offering them access to a "portfolio" of school choices. In __Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space__, Kristen Buras presents a very different account. Her case study of New Orleans―where veteran teachers were fired en masse and the nation's first all-charter school district was developed―shows that such reform is less about the needs of racially oppressed communities and more about the production of an urban space economy in which white entrepreneurs capitalize on black children and neighborhoods. In this revealing book, Buras draws on critical theories of race, political economy, and space, as well as a decade of research on the ground to expose the criminal dispossession of black teachers and students who have contributed to New Orleans' culture and history. Mapping federal, state, and local policy networks, she shows how the city's landscape has been reshaped by a strategic venture to privatize public education. She likewise chronicles grassroots efforts to defend historic schools and neighborhoods against this assault, revealing a commitment to equity and place and articulating a vision of change that is sure to inspire heated debate among communities nationwide. Charter schools have been promoted as an equitable and innovative solution to the problems plaguing urban schools. Advocates claim that charter schools benefit working-class students of color by offering them access to a "portfolio" of school choices. In Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space, Kristen Buras presents a very different account. Her case study of New Orleans--where veteran teachers were fired en masse and the nation's first all-charter school district was developed--shows that such reform is less about the needs of racially oppressed communities and more about the production of an urban space economy in which white entrepreneurs capitalize on black children and neighborhoods. In this revealing book, Buras draws on critical theories of race, political economy, and space, as well as a decade of research on the ground to expose the criminal dispossession of black teachers and students who have contributed to New Orleans' culture and history. Mapping federal, state, and local policy networks, she shows how the city's landscape has been reshaped by a strategic venture to privatize public education. She likewise chronicles grassroots efforts to defend historic schools and neighborhoods against this assault, revealing a commitment to equity and place and articulating a vision of change that is sure to inspire heated debate among communities nationwide. -- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Credits 12 Abbreviations 14 1 Black Education in the South: Critical Race Reflections on the Historic Policy Landscape 16 2 The Assault on Black Children by Education Entrepreneurs: Charter Schools, Whiteness, and Accumulation by Dispossession 50 3 Keeping King Elementary School on the Map: Racial Resistance and the Politics of Place in the Lower 9th Ward 82 4 The Closing of Douglass High School: Counterstories on the Master's Plan for Reconstruction 107 5 The Culture of the Education Market: Teach for America, Union Busting, and the Displacement of Black Veteran Teachers 140 6 New Orleans—A Guide for Cities or a Warning for Communities? Lessons Learned from the Bottom-Up (with Urban South Grassroots Research Collective) 175 Appendix: Methodology 216 Index 222 In Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space, Kristen Buras maps federal, state, and local policy networks to show how the New Orleans' education landscape has been reshaped by a strategic venture to privatize public education.