State of Affairs

At the start of the 2013/2014 school year, South Philadelphia High School's student-body poverty rate was around 90 per cent and funding was cut to the bone. The principal tried to cope with this by having no music teacher, no librarian, and just two counsellors for more than 1,000 students. Meanwhile, just a few miles away, in Center City, students are able to use high-tech tools to allow remote learning via laptop computer. What’s the difference? The school In Center City is a ‘charter school’: a private enterprise that accepts public funding. In Louisiana, religious schools receive public money in the form of ‘vouchers’, but are not held to the same standards as the public schools. This sobering documentary, narrated by actor Matt Damon, explores the rising trend among many parents who, spurred on by politicians and wealthy advocates of privatization, are allowed to spend their child’s ‘backpack full of cash’ – their allotment of public-education dollars – at whichever school they choose.