It’s time to end the charter school experiment.
Put successful charters under the supervision of the nearby school district. Charters not working well should close. No charter school should get tax dollars without oversight. This should be for both for-profit and nonprofit charter schools.
Charter School Scandals
On twitter, educators and parents can follow the Network of Public Education’s (NPE) #AnotherDayAnotherCharterScandal. Executive Director Carol Burris and her team also have several reports outlining how taxpayers lose their money to corruption involving charter schools.
More recently Burris and Jeff Bryant provided a new NPE report “Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for A Ride” showing more proof that this nation wastes money on corrupt charter schools.
It is appalling we permit these schools to run without oversight.
A Recent Charter School Scandal
In California, eleven people responsible for an online charter school serving students in 13 charter schools were recently indicted on criminal charges of conspiracy. They put the money into their bank accounts instead of the schools! It looks like A3 Education bilked the public $50 million.
As this scandal continues to unfold, somewhere in California’s public schools, teachers are going without resources, schools lack counselors and nurses, and buildings are old and need remodeling or rebuilding.
But public schools will never see that $50 million again.
Last year, In the Public Interest did a report “Breaking Point: The Cost of Charter Schools for Public School Districts.” They describe how charter schools create a funding crisis for local public schools.
How many negative reports like this do we need? How many scandals must take place before we recognize that the majority of charter schools in this country are not working?
Good Charter Schools
Charter schools have not been innovative labs. They’re either strict schools that screen students and parents, and push those with disabilities and differences out, or unproven virtual schools.
It is unbelievable these schools get away with calling themselves “public” since there is nothing public about them.
But there are some good charters. Most of these are run by committed educators with education degrees who fill students’ academic and social needs. Some students might benefit from a smaller school with more personalized interactions with other students and educators.
Groups of teachers were supposed to run charter schools in Ray Budde’s original plan.
If these charters are running well, there’s no reason why they should not continue but also have oversight by the local school district.
Alternative Schools
Most school districts have always included alternative schools. A well-run charter school has little difference from a well-run alternative school. Both have freedom to try different creative approaches to learning.
Alternative schools, like some charters, are run by creative teachers and principals. They are given the freedom to help students who need an alternative way to learn.
But while teachers enjoy freedom to be creative with instruction, they still have the oversight of the school district.
If the term alternative school bothers some, use the word magnet.
Magnet Schools
Magnet schools are like alternative schools. They work under the oversight of the local school district.
Some parents don’t like that magnet schools are sometimes selective. Stuyvesant, a high school for gifted students in New York City, came under fire recently for its admissions process.
But as facts are analyzed it should become clear that parents and school boards can work out a plan for magnet schools that satisfies everyone. This is the purpose of a school board.
Magnet schools hold great potential for bringing students together.
In the meantime, how much money must be lost to charter schemes and corruption before America says enough?
It’s time to end the flow of tax dollars to unproven, unaccountable for-profit and nonprofit charter schools.
Americans must demand that they oversee how their tax dollars are spent. We must ensure that all students get a quality public school that provides them with a good education.
We have the same issues here. See this article by Janet Downs
https://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2019/05/exclusive-dfe-won-t-say-which-academies-received-exceptional-grants-or-loans-in-financial-year-201819
Academy Trusts are our equivalent of your companies that run Charter Schools. We don’t (yet) have ‘for profit’ Academy Trusts, but Dominic Raab, one of the front runners to become the next PM is in favour of this.
Yes you do! Always interesting to compare notes with you, Roger. I’m sad to hear they are considering for-profit schools. The UK should learn from the U.S.’s mistakes and scandals.
Generalization is NEVER appropriate for a knowledgeable columnist/reporter. I would expect more research before committing to a piece like this. Our children’s education is paramount to everything. Let’s respect that and speak the truth. Just as there are strong & poor district schools, there are strong and poor charter schools. The question we should be asking is, “why are more and more parents choosing charter schools?”
Granted it’s a small piece not heavy with research. But I provide links to many charter school scandals, esp. the recent one in the news–The A3 $50 million charter scam in California.
If you read my blog you will know that I agree that our children’s education is important, But charter school scandals need to stop. Why would you want to continue throwing money at these schools without oversight?
I think saying that good charters should swing under the supervision of the local school district was quite gracious.
I also think a lot of parents are supporting well-funded traditional public schools.
But thank you for your comment.
Several studies the NPE has made recently suggest that numbers showing parents choosing charters are inflated as are waiting lists. Moreover, given the fact that all the students in charters are there by choice, should their victory over not be more pronounced?
I’m not sure that much choice is involved in inner cities like Detroit where the proliferation of charters has taken so much money from public schools and more and more public schools are closed due to low enrollment and low test scores. Some of these charters close mid-year and parents panic trying to find a place for their kids, change transportation plans and perhaps find new before-and/or after-school childcare. Students are often forced out of charter schools after the school has received funding for the student. The funding stays with the original school, other charters won’t accept them because they won’t get the funding so the public school that must accept them has to make do with overcrowded classrooms and less money.
Absolutely! Excellent description of exactly what occurs. Thank you, Tanya!
I agree that it is unconscionable that scandal after scandal at charter schools has not resulted in a fearless stock-taking by our public officials. Lip service to choice and equity does not translate into quality education for all. It is also true that small charters can provide an educationally rich environment for students. I like your idea of having them under the jurisdiction of the local public schools. If they are providing truly effective, creative approaches, the public schools should benefit from them. That was supposedly the idea in the first place. (Disclaimer: that is the case with my daughter’s highly successful approach to teaching physical ed, music, and health in an elementary charter school.) But please, please do not judge any schools by the students’ scores on mass administered standardized tests!
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Research. School districts are already holding charter’s accountable in certain states.
This is not the solution either. Mass reform is needed in our educational system nation wide. Charter schools may not be the single handed solution, but anyone with knowledge on the topic at hand would also agree that charter schools are not the sole problem either. Our public school system started failing students way before charter schools.
“School districts are already holding charter’s accountable in certain states.”
Where? Brian, I’m wondering if you read the links in the article.
And why would you argue? Why not put all charters under the supervision of the local school district?
Charter schools offer no solutions; charter leaders have not developed a single innovative or unique idea that could help to significantly improve public schools. If you are a charter cheerleader and disagree. please list the top three programs or policies that are scalable and workable for the 50 million public school students, including the kids that are chronically absent, the students who are uncooperative, non-compliant, belligerent, and frequently disruptive, and the students who receive little to no support from their parents. Cherry picking fully cooperative and compliant students with near perfect attendance would makes anyone look like a teaching genius. get back to me when your charter school accepts and retains any and all students but I won’t hold my breath.
Your generalizations are sad and show a complete ignorance on the topic. When you are close minded to a topic, then you truly begin to generate a sense that “all are bad.” It’s really sad. Just as there are public district schools that have struggled, there are charter schools that have struggled. There are great public district schools, and there are great public charters. Generalizations on either side get us absolutely nowhere.
And all should get oversight. If it’s a great charter school it will survive under the umbrella of the local school district.
Your comment is nothing but a generalization. Good public, bad public; good charters bad charters. My comment asked for specifics. Where’s the beef? And don’t worry, I’m not expecting even one unique or innovative feature that is scalable and workable and legal for the public schools. So-called “public” charter schools offer nothing special other than exclusion of the most challenging students, while creating redundant services that drain money from the true public schools. School choice is only about schools choosing who they want to accept and retain, noting more and nothing less. Now, how about some of those superior charter teaching methods and programs?
I can provide specifics to this debate; I work at an urban charter school in Mass. We absolutely do not provide services for our neediest kids. We give them meager support, they do poorly, and the parents eventually pull them out. This is the m/o for all severe social/emotional and behavioral kid, and there are many. Eventually they are enrolled in the public schools. Students who have autism or learning disabilities are treated better, but the most needy are definitely not given adequate services to overcome their disabilities, such as ABA or paraprofessionals.