Philadelphia City Council hearing focuses on alleged bias against Black-led charter schools
While the report did not find intentional bias, it did find issues with the charter process that could lead to concerns of bias.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Advocates for Black-led charter schools in Philadelphia say they're not getting fair treatment when it comes to getting and keeping their charters.
The allegation was the subject of a hearing of the City Council's Education Committee on Wednesday afternoon.
"A significant number of the schools that have been closed, over 80% are Black-led institutions, while Black-led institutions make up less than 25% of the actual schools," said Philadelphia City Councilmember At-Large Isaiah Thomas, who is chair of the Education Committee.
Thomas called the virtual hearing after an investigative report into allegations of racial bias was presented to the Philadelphia School Board.
While the report did not find intentional bias, it did find issues with the charter process that could lead to concerns of bias. It's an issue the African American Charter School Coalition has worked to draw attention to for years.
"Despite the great work these schools are doing, there are inequities between white and Black-led schools when it comes to funding, resources, and support," said Dawn Chavous, spokesperson of the African American Charter School Coalition.
The report, released in October, recommends anti-bias training for the Board of Education and more transparency in the charter approval process. Philadelphia's School Board president says they're already making changes.
"We have already begun implementing some of the recommendations, including taking steps to improve transparency in our renewal and charter approval process," said Reginald Streater, Philadelphia School Board president.
Wednesday's hearing could take that action even further to ensure fairness for Black-led charter schools.
"We want to make sure that, as a city, we're not doing anything to disproportionally hurt those institutions," said Thomas.
Wednesday's hearing served to get the concerns over Black-led and Black-founded charter schools on the record so that when the new council convenes in January, they can continue the issue from there.
