Posted on 10/16/2014 9:30:32 AM PDT by Disgruntled_Voter
How does the Cristo Rey business model work? Here are the words of founder John P. Foley, S.J. of the Cristo Rey schools, “If you can afford to come here, then you can’t come.” Here is the reality of the numbers: Start-up per student costs for the Cristo Rey Columbus school are about $18,000 per year. Once the school reaches enrollment capacity, that will drop to about $12,000-13,000.
Cristo Rey found a creative way to fund most of the tuition. First, in Columbus, $5000 per student per year is potentially available from Ohio’s school choice voucher program; if a student’s home school is designated as a “failing school,” that money can “follow the student” to a school of choice. Right now, 59 percent of Cristo Rey Columbus students are voucher eligible, a number the school expects will rise once the troubled Columbus City School system completes its audit and more schools will likely be classified as “failing”. (For more on some of the troubles of Columbus Public Schools, read here and here)
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
A great new way for the government to pick the winners and the losers.
From just a quick read it seems that the key to their business model is to require students to work and parents to pay at least a ‘token amount’ and to provide sweat equity. This filters out the students who are not serious and/or have parents who are not serious enough about education to be supportive. A higher concentration of serious students and parents create a better environment for all students. I hope this model is successful and replicated further.
I don’t know how the funding is done/picked on the back end but I have first hand experience with the students - very impressive.
They have one in Minneapolis.
100% grad rate and all the students are poor minorities.
No wonder the Dems in Minnesota hate them-they’re escaping the rat plantation.
This is more or less what has happened in many cities already (like Chicago) where, except for a few magnet schools, the public schools are filled with the students of parents who don't give a rat's patooty about education. Of course, they will say they care, but when it comes time to study with their children, find used books or take them to the library, these parents (mainly single mothers and absent fathers) are no where to be found. What they really mean is they expect the school to make up for all the social deficits their own irresponsibility have imposed on their own children, which is of course impossible.
The teacher's unions love this, because they are in effect promising that higher wages and more money for teachers will somehow correct for the awful social conditions created by government subsidized bastardy.
Easier solution: Parents pay for the education of their brood; as in all things service related.
Then, enforce ‘you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to come back’ (IE: kick out the slackers/etc.)
When parents have to pay the bill for Sallie no-show, or Johniie D-grade, THEN you’ll see parents get re-involved...and in a hurry.
‘Teacher’/school sucks? Sign ‘em up for another. Mr. Brain-iac/Biz-Master wants to teach? Here’s the check.
The Free Market will quickly point out what is requested/required (3 R’s) vs. not (sex-ed).
What they really mean is they expect the school to make up for all the social deficits their own irresponsibility have imposed on their own children....
&&&
Bingo!
I will read the article, but I must say, you don’t glean too many points with me claiming the Atlantic does good journalism. To me, they are the most lint-obsessed of navel gazers. That said, I will read the article. Thanks.
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