Should cops be allowed to start their own charter school using public funds? This is the question facing residents in Ramsey County, Minnesota, the second largest county in the state.
On November 2, Minneapolis voters will weigh in on a ballot amendment that asks whether or not the city’s police department should be replaced with a to-be-determined Department of Public Safety.
Ramsey County is home to Sheriff Bob Fletcher, the purveyor of a self-styled, Cops-like YouTube channel called “Live on Patrol.” Fletcher started the livestream in late July 2020, in the middle of ongoing uprisings over the murder of George Floyd. His alleged intention was to build more trust between law enforcement officers and the public, though he has been accused of uttering racist comments during his broadcasts.
Now, Fletcher and other Ramsey County Sheriff Department staffers have co-founded a charter school. The School of Leadership for Public Service, which is set to open next fall, would enroll students in grades six through ten and has raised a host of red flags.
First, there is much to be said about the parasitic presence of charter schools, especially in St. Paul, where Fletcher’s school would be located. Charter schools have been authorized in the state of Minnesota since 1991, and over time they have grown exponentially in number, in Minnesota and across the country.
These publicly funded, privately run schools have flourished under the banner of innovation and school choice, a benign-sounding concept that has played a major role in the increasing segregation and privatization of public education in the United States.
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Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher (right) with a child wearing a police uniform.
The “choice” narrative also drains students and funds from the public school district, leading to less stability and, research shows, outcomes for marginalized students that typically fall far short of the “beat the odds” promises made by school choice proponents.
It is strange, then, for a public employee such as Fletcher to add to this scattered playing field a charter school of his own. Most charter school staffers are not union members, meaning they are often paid less and afforded fewer benefits and job protections than educators at public schools.
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, under Fletcher’s leadership, has paid six figure salaries to several employees (including Fletcher) who are simultaneously receiving a publicly funded pension. Fletcher has defended this practice as a much-deserved reward for a “lifetime of contributions.”
There have been numerous other allegations of overspending and cost inflation associated with Fletcher’s tenure as sheriff. Recent news reports have shown that Fletcher authorized $35,000 in Ramsey County funds for the creation of the School of Leadership for Public Service, under the tutelage of Donna Swanson, a former teacher who once taught Fletcher’s children.
Swanson is also listed as a lobbyist with the state of Minnesota for her work on behalf of the now-defunct group StudentsFirst, a market-based education reform outfit associated with Michelle Rhee.
The payments to Swanson may amount to an illegal use of county funds, the Star Tribune noted, but they are also just the tip of the iceberg. Fletcher’s new charter school was also announced and promoted via an official Ramsey County email address, even though Fletcher and others claim the two entities are separate.
And then there is the very nature of the Fletcher-crafted charter school. It appears to be organized around directing students toward law enforcement careers, as part of Fletcher’s stated goal to build bridges between community members and the police.
Recently, Fletcher appeared before a Republican-convened legislative hearing on public safety at the Minnesota State Capitol, where he engaged in fear-mongering by warning legislators that the police reform measure currently on the ballot in Minneapolis will lead to an upsurge in crime if it passes in the November election. (Critics of this hearing contend that only law enforcement officers were called to testify, thereby ensuring a one-sided look at these issues.)
“The state of law enforcement in the inner-city metro is not good,” Fletcher told the Republican lawmakers, perhaps referring to reports of an exodus of officers from Minneapolis’s police force. Framing policing as an “inner-city” issue could be seen as another red flag from Fletcher, since critics allege that this is a “racially loaded term” favored by such pro-cop cheerleaders as Donald Trump.
On November 2, Minneapolis voters will weigh in on a ballot amendment that asks whether or not the city’s police department should be replaced with a to-be-determined Department of Public Safety. If the measure passes, public safety funds could be shared among several response teams, including those staffed by mental health providers or community violence prevention experts, in order to decrease the community’s reliance on police officers.
Supporters say this could be an important step toward ending the racist, militarized practices of the Minneapolis Police Department, a move deemed especially necessary in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Just as progress inches closer, in the form of the Minneapolis police reform ballot amendment, Fletcher and his supporters appear to be taking extreme steps, including starting their own pro-police charter school, in order to strengthen and maintain existing law enforcement practices.