I agree with my colleague, Dr. DeMatthews that much more oversight is needed.  I heard yesterday from people in the East Austin arts community that IDEA curricula is very regimented and assimilationist.  The specific comment by well-meaning people who work regularly with our youth was, 

"When we get these students, they are not very creative.  They are very regimented."  

This is serious, my friends.  Not a good report.  The public, especially communities of color, need to know what is getting taught and perhaps especially, how they are teaching.  Higher test scores, as we know, often mean the good teaching, curriculum, and good opportunities are getting sacrificed to the detriment of these youth.

So yes, how they spend their money is important, but also the extent to which they are promoting creativity, the arts, culturally relevant, and culturally sustaining pedagogies must also be a focus of this oversight.


-Angela Valenzuela

Charter school backlash shows why oversight is needed in Texas [Opinion]

By David DeMatthews and David S. Knight Feb. 6, 2020

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A celebration was held at the construction site of a new charter school affiliated with the IDEA Public Schools system in Houston near Hardy Toll Road, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. Superintendent JoAnn Gama, expressing her excitement over breaking ground for the new IDEA Hardy campus.

Photo: Gustavo Huerta, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

IDEA Public Schools recently cancelled a multimillion-dollar lease for a private jet and San Antonio Spurs tickets after a wave of negative backlash. State officials should dig a bit deeper to ensure IDEA and other charter management organizations, or CMOs, operating in Texas are behaving ethically and in the best interest of all Texas students.

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