Racial Capitalism and the Proliferation of Charter Schools in Oakland

Authors

Julie Mendoza

Abstract

Over the last thirty years, charter schools have flooded the American public education system. The publicly funded and privately operated alternative to neighborhood district schools is often celebrated as a means for under-resourced students to receive a quality education. However, the effect of charter school growth on districts themselves and the students who remain at traditional district schools requires greater scrutiny. A case study of Oakland reveals that intermingling private enterprise with public education has led to a disparate impact on low-income families of color and students with disabilities.

Under theories of racial capitalism, racial exploitation is central to the operation of capitalism and the free market, rather than an inadvertent side effect. Scholars of racial capitalism assert that economic structures designed to accumulate capital inherently reinforce racial inequality by systematically dispossessing vulnerable communities of essential resources. This Article employs a racial capitalism framework to argue that the economic structure imposed on school districts by charter schools reinforces inequality by divesting resources from district schools, dispossessing Black students and students with disabilities of educational opportunities, and creating conditions that lead to the displacement of Black families.

Recommended Citation

Julie Mendoza, Racial Capitalism and the Proliferation of Charter Schools in Oakland, 22 Hastings Race & Poverty L.J. 183 (2025).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_race_poverty_law_journal/vol22/iss1/7