Ten Reasons to Say No to Charter Schools (No on I-1240)

1) Funding

The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that the state has never fulfilled its paramount duty to fully fund public education. The charter schools initiative does not provide additional funding for new schools. It simply aims to siphon off per student funding to additional schools, leaving the schools that are already here even more desperately underfinanced. Those of us in education know how critical those first day counts are to get funding for the entire year. Sixty students under projected enrollment could mean a loss of two staff members. In states with charter schools, reporters have documented the practice of charters enrolling as many students as possible (in some cases teachers had caseloads well above 250 students).  Many of these students were weeded out very quickly after their funding was secured from the state. These students ended up in regular public schools that did not receive any funding for them.

2) Privatization

Although Initiative 1240 states that charter schools are public and nonprofit, there are no restrictions on school operators who wish to contract with private organizations for any and all services. In many other states, “public” charters are managed by CEOs who earn very high salaries (in some cases charter school managers have been paid well over a million dollars a year). High administrative fees lead to less money for students and teachers.

            I find myself dumbfounded that in the wake of a devastating financial crisis resulting from private market actions and deregulation there are many who still believe that the market will always do better than the government. There is a reason Rupert Murdoch is investing heavily in education and promoting education investment. I don’t think it’s because he cares about the achievement gap.

3) Teacher Turnover

Personal individual anecdotes aside, evidence clearly shows that experienced teachers are better for students, and novice teachers perform better with experienced mentors. I am a much better teacher now than I was in my first year, and the teachers I respect the most continue to improve their practice no matter how skilled and experienced they are now. Many charter schools experience very high teacher turnover for a variety of reasons, including poor working conditions and low salaries. Something we often forget amid the union bashing is that teaching conditions are learning conditions.

4) Inequity

Even with a lottery system, students whose parents are unaware of or unable to sign up for the lottery will not have the opportunity to be considered for a charter. The location of a charter school will limit the ability of some interested parents who will have scheduling or transportation challenges. The most disadvantaged students will get the least benefit from any changes in the school system.

5) Resegregation

In states where charter schools have been implemented, there is a clear trend toward racial as well as economic segregation. This nation fought a painful and bloody battle many years ago for civil rights and desegregation. While one can argue that we are already on the path to increased segregation in public schools, charter schools are hastening and facilitating this process. Some have argued for segregation as a way to help close the achievement gap. I have seen no studies that support this approach, and returning to the path of “separate but equal” should be fought at all costs.

6) Disrupting communities

The sad reality in our country is that the schools that struggle the most are in the communities with the greatest poverty. Neighborhood schools are often the cornerstones of these communities that are damaged by school turnaround models which dismantle schools and send students in different directions. The parent trigger component of the charter school initiative could create a similar dismantling of public schools. Rather than disrupt a community, why not support and nurture a school and its students on the path to improvement?

7) Accountability and Transparency

In many states, charter schools are not held to the same standards of accountability and transparency as public schools. I have read reports from other states (Florida is one example that comes to mind) where the legislators have actually passed laws to make it easier for well-heeled charter school boards to skirt some of the state auditing requirements, and in some states charter school test scores are not reported to the media or made available to the public.

8) Narrowing the Curriculum

If there is transparency in reporting, charter schools (along with many traditional public schools) prize high test scores above all else, and a significant amount of time is spent on prepping for tests in core subjects at the expense of music, art, shop classes, and similar electives. Many people call such classes enrichment; I think they are fundamental, and they are being lost at a phenomenal rate throughout the country.

9) Performance

If charter schools were consistently doing a better job than public schools as measured by high test scores, challenging and rewarding course options, high graduation and college acceptance rates, low student and teacher turnover, a diverse student population and no achievement gap, I think I would be a strong supporter of charters. The reality is that on average charter schools do no better and many do worse than the schools they are supposedly competing with, even though their student population is less diverse than that of nearby public schools. This has been documented in many studies. Charter school supporters will point to a few shining examples of successful charter schools while ignoring the far from stellar truth about the vast majority. 41 states now have charter schools. They have been operating in some states for decades. We have plenty of data to show that charter schools clearly have not delivered on their early vision and promise.

10) The Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem

In order to decide if charter schools are the solution, we must first define the problem. One argument is that charter schools are needed because public schools are failing, and (in a free market mindset) charters will provide competition that will force public schools to improve. I have never read of any study anywhere that supports the market competition approach to improving public schools. Some schools are struggling for reasons that have more to do with factors outside the school environment. For more on this please see How about reform based on evidence and data?

            Another argument for charter schools is parental choice. If X number of dollars is attached to my child, shouldn’t I get to choose where that money is spent? If parental choice is the primary motivation for charter schools, then it makes more sense to give parents vouchers for schools (public or private) with a track record than to implement costly new schools that may not succeed. Vouchers are still problematic for many of the reasons already described. Public schools are part of the social contract and people with no school-age children pay taxes that support public schools. For more on this, please see 7 Reasons why public school dollars should stay with public school students.

Please vote No on I-1240.

Disclosure: I am not a journalist or a researcher, and my statements have not been footnoted. My views are based on hundreds of articles I have read over the years. If you would like to see some of these source articles you may find some of them here and here.