CHARTER SCHOOLS

            Parents across the nation have made it clear that there is widespread dissatisfaction with traditional public schools.  Disappointing academic scores, low graduation levels and in-school crime are among a myriad of problems that plague this least successful function of government.  Massive infusions of cash have done little to address the problem.  Many families with available resources have voted with their feet, sending their children to private academies and religious-based schools.

            A key response to this challenge has been the formation of “charter” schools.  The National Education Association defines these institutions as “Publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school’s charter.”  The concept, according to the US Charter Schools Association, may have originated in the 1970s when a New England educator suggested that small groups of teachers be given contracts to explore new ideas.  Over 4,000 charter schools have been established in forty states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.   

Charters can be tailored to the specific needs of a local community, thus avoiding the “cookie-cutter” approach of general public schools.  The “charter,” according to the U.S. Charter School Association, is a “performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success.”  According to the USCA, charter schools were formed to: increase opportunities for access to quality learning for all; create choices; provide accountability; encourage innovation; promote parent and community involvement; and leverage broad educational opportunity. These institutions are accountable to a sponsor—generally, a state or local school board or similar body—and must successfully fulfill their mandate within a fixed period of time, usually a three-to-five year period.  The Center for Education Reform notes that charter schools are judged on how well they perform.  This, of course, differs sharply from regular public schools. 

The essential question is, of course, how well charter schools actually work.  In general, parental satisfaction with charters appears to be higher than in regular public schools.  More innovation was also seen to arise from charters than traditional public schools—and this innovation has a “spillover” effect on the general public school system.  The Center for Education Reform’s August 2001 report summarized 65 research studies performed on charter schools.  The report noted that most charters, particularly those that had matured, moderately outperformed traditional public schools in academic achievement.  Perhaps most tellingly, however, the rate of improvement in charters also exceeded that of regular public schools.

While charter schools are public schools, they have made teachers’ unions nervous, despite official support for the concept.  The American Federation of Teachers states that it “strongly supports charter schools.”  In fact, former AFT President Albert Shanker was one of the first to endorse the concept.  However, while not openly condemning the charter school concept, the current AFT, and large local affiliates such as New York’s United Federation of Teachers, frequently notes that test scores are not that much different in charter schools.  More to the point, however, is AFT President Randy Weingarten’s concern, expressed in her April 23, 2009 statement, that charters may be “a wedge for privatization” of public schools…[that could] eviscerate teacher voice.”

CONCLUSION:  In America’s public schools, everyone—teachers, principals, administrators, janitors, who enters a school building has a contract that guarantees a specific reward for the effort they put in.  Everyone, that is, except the students.  Charter schools attempt to provide students with a guarantee of quality education.