National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) Throws Parents Out of Their Atlanta Convention, Threatens to Arrest Them

ATLANTA, Oct. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The national group Expose Liberal Charter School Turncoats (ELECT) was joined today by scores of Georgia charter school parents to present NACSA with its "Rotten Apple Award" during NACSA's national conference in Atlanta. The organization also presented a white paper showing how NACSA's school choice policies have a harmful effect on Georgia students, including disproportionately hurting African-American students.

Yet, as the parents walked through the hall of the convention hotel, NACSA staff ordered hotel security to force the parents and children out into the street and then threatened to arrest them for trespassing (even though the parents and ELECT had booked their own conference room in the same hotel). Blocking these charter school families from the NACSA conference is ironic because the data show that NACSA policies in Georgia are also blocking African American students from the schools they've chosen where they can succeed.

ELECT was organized to expose turncoats to the school choice movement. ELECT uncovered evidence that NACSA is funded by some of the same liberal groups that strongly support Common Core, over-reliance on standardized testing and other causes like banning guns and raising consumer costs to pay for extreme environmental agendas. In fact, the opening speaker at the NACSA conference yesterday was a "slam poet" who blamed the recent North Carolina GOP office firebombing on the victims and whose writing and activism fuels the fire of hatred against police officers.

ELECT President Dan Curry said, "At the NACSA conference, they welcomed a speaker who praised a recent North Carolina firebombing and fuels hatred against police but they threatened to arrest parents and children who support charter schools. This is the ugly side of NACSA."

NACSA is a prime target because of the group's policy agreements with teachers unions and due to their advocacy for closing public schools based primarily on the results of standardized tests. NACSA has targeted Georgia legislators for its policy recommendations despite the fact that voters overwhelmingly supported Amendment One in 2012 seeking to expand school choice in the state.

Curry says that NACSA has made clear their disdain for parent choice in education.

"NACSA's CEO has bragged that his organization and teachers unions agree when it comes to the issue of replacing parent empowerment with bureaucrat empowerment," Curry said. "Teachers unions have spent millions fighting to limit the ability of parents to decide the best learning environment for their children. This isn't the sort of group that legislators should be cozying up with in the wake of the 2012 Amendment One in Georgia."

ELECT hosted Georgia education policy expert David Morgan at the event. He has examined the impact of NACSA's proposed policies, which rely primarily on denying parent choice based on an over-reliance on standardized test scores. Morgan's white paper found that NACSA's policy recommendations violate the very elements of the school choice movement. Under NACSA policy, charter schools striving to improve would be shut down while traditional public schools would continue to operate in mediocrity. Parents of children at risk who want to start new charter schools would be blocked by the same NACSA policies.

Morgan also found that NACSA's recommendations for Georgia would disproportionately affect African-American students. He said it represents a return to separate but unequal education policy.

Curry said NACSA was a deserving recipient of the Rotten Apple Award for aligning with organizations funding liberal anti-school choice efforts.

"Scores of parents have joined us at the NACSA conference to express their displeasure with this charter school turncoat," Curry said. "We want everyone to know that we've bestowed this dishonor upon NACSA and will continue to expose their efforts to redline Georgia's minority students by limiting their school choice."

Expose Liberal Charter School Turncoats is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization that was created by free market conservative leaders who trust parents to choose the best learning environment for their children. The group will be posting regular updates on its website www.ExposeTurncoats.org, on Facebook: ExposeTurncoats, and on Twitter: @ExposeTurncoats.

SOURCE Expose Liberal Charter School Turncoats