Charter Schools – a “Gotcha” Game in Education By Cris Shardelman As parents, teachers, students, and voters rightfully attempt to repeal use of Common Core–the assessments, Achieve, Data Gathering, a National Curriculum, and a career/work certificate, they are led to believe Charter Schools are the escape route from each of these policies or issues.  They […]

Here’s another good example of an expression that means different things to different people: School Choice.

Of course people want choices. Who wouldn’t? However, often various education choices are either deliberately or unintentionally mixed together. Private school, homeschooling, online schools, vouchers,  and charter schools are often mixed together as “choices,” but there are big differences.

Private school, homeschooling, online schools, vouchers,  and charter schools are often mixed together as “choices,” but there are big differences. Within these choices, private schools, homeschools, and non-government online schools are independent of government money. In homeschooling and independent online schooling the parents are free to choose a curriculum that fits the child and the parents’ goals for that child. In private schools, the directors of the school choose the curriculum, but must be responsive to the parents’ wishes. However with government online schools, vouchers, and charter schools, all funded by government money, there are strings attached. Various aspects of the education the child receives will be dictated by the state. For example, currently in Washington State, all charter schools must follow the Common Core Standards.

There is a more insidious difference with government-funded education options. They work to destroy representative government. With charter schools, the school board members may be chosen by the charter corporation, not elected by the parents or taxpaying citizens, and thus they are really not accountable to the parents or taxpayers. Some say parents can “vote with their feet” and withdraw their children, but what about taxpayers who don’t have children in that school? They still have to pay taxes for that school.  In New Orleans, all the schools are charter schools, so the people there are disenfranchised with respect to the schools.

I rarely defend the current public school system, but at least the structure is compatible with representative government. The people elect the school board, and the school board makes education decisions for the district. If the people are dissatisfied, they can elect different school board members. I admit, in reality different political interests tug in multiple directions and a sort of stalemate often occurs, but the structure still honors representative government. In the Charter school system the parents’ voting input is so indirect that they are effectively out of the governance structure.

Many people think charter schools are akin to a free-market option. If the government is funding the school and controlling the curriculum, how can it be a free market option?

Please read Anita Hoge’s commentary, “Common Core, Choice, and Charter Schools.” Please be aware that even though the Obama administration is directing the development of Charter Schools, as well as promoting the Common Core and data collection, these concepts have been promoted by people from both parties for decades.

The Gulen schools use US taxpayer money, yet bring in Turkish teachers from Turkey to replace American teachers, and also have construction work done, not by local contractors but by workers brought in from Turkey.

The recently passed Washington State Charter Schools Initiative creates the potential for foreign owned charter schools. See how this can happen.

“Charter schools have become a parallel school system unto themselves, a system controlled largely by for-profit management companies and private landlords — one and the same, in many cases — and rife with insider deals and potential conflicts of interest.” — Miami Herald

The Charter School Initiative has passed in Washington State, but we should still inform ourselves about them, just as we need to keep informed about what is happening in the regular public schools.

All Charter schools must follow the same learning standards as each other and as the public schools, according to the initiative. Read more about this….

“This is important because the endless back-and-forth about whether charter schools “work” – whether there is something about “charterness” that usually leads to fantastic results – has become a massive distraction in our education debates. The evidence makes it abundantly clear that that is not the case, and the goal at this point should be to look at the schools of both types that do well, figure out why, and use that information to improve all schools.” – Matthew Di Carlo

Charters may not offer the solutions parents seek. Charters, with government strings attached, could not offer true choice and can exert control over secular private schools. Meanwhile, religious private schools would be at a disadvantage, with respect to funding.

Charter Schools are not the perfect solution. Here is an example of a worst-case scenario. Granted, most charter schools do not end up this way, but things could go wrong.