The Center for Education Reform, a pro-school choice group, is launching a $100,000 contest to rebut a John Oliver segment on charter schools.
“Oliver went way out of bounds and far beyond simple entertainment when he used examples of a few poorly run schools to paint all charters, and the whole concept of charter schools, as failures,” Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the group, said in a statement. “The program was so misleading and reached so many people with truly damaging misinformation that it’s important to correct the record.”
The contest will be open to all, 6,600 charter schools in the United States, and all entries will be posted online. A panel of judges will review the entries and pick the $100,000 prizewinner.
Despite the big prize, the contest isn’t looking for a big production. Videos are supposed to be shot on a smartphone or tablet and be shorter than three minutes.
While Oliver did mention that charters have bipartisan support and that some produce amazing results, he focused most of his segment on several examples of corrupt charter school leaders. The Aug. 21 segment now has 5.3 million views on YouTube, plus viewers who watched it on HBO.
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Charter schools are publicly funded and do not charge tuition fees. Compared to traditional public schools, charters have more independence and flexibility in their operations and curricula, which is why many families find them desirable. They are open to all students, but due to demand they often must often use a lottery system to allocate spaces.
“It’s very frustrating for anyone associated with a charter school or the charter school movement to see charters take such an unfair beating – especially when the program’s distortions are picked up by critics and foisted off as ‘news’ or impartial ‘analysis,'” Allen said. “Our contest gives everyone a way to combat that frustration and fight back against an unfair and unwarranted attack.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
