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What about charter schools?

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What about Charter Schools? by Patricia C. Behnke

A charter school may be opening my own small town. It will bring a positive influence into the community, but many of my neighbors believe that it is a negative move because the public confuses charter schools and vouchers. There is a difference.

Vouchers, an attempt to privatize public education, run the risk of draining funds from our public schools. Charter schools have the potential to save public schools by lessening the overload on the traditional school and offering a choice to students by promoting studies which specialize and cater to a particular student's special needs. Charter schools are still public schools in the sense that they use public school dollars allocated by either the states or the districts. Charter schools are given more flexibility in how they implement and present their programs while promising school boards accountability in increasing student performance. The verdict is out on whether or not the charter school movement is working. It may be too early to assess the success of these schools that are embraced by proponents as giving more choice to students and parents. One thing is certain; this movement has been growing at a rapid rate from two schools in 1992 to over two thousand in 2001 in 34 states. One of the major problems for charter schools is finances. Not all states provide a budget for facilities, and so in addition to starting a new school, they also have to figure out how to house the students. The state of Florida offers up to $70,000 in grant money for charters after they have been approved by individual school districts. Some of the same problems plague these schools as they do traditional public schools; however, the problems can be worse because of that part of the charter school guidelines that says they may set their own course for implementation. This individual path could mean that teachers within a school do not need to hold teaching certificates if that is what the school has decided. This practice concerns the National Education Association. In fact, during their recent national convention they adopted a new policy on charter schools which recommends that states require that charters hire state-certified teachers who are allowed to keep their collective bargaining rights. NEA has also recommended that charter schools are given adequate start-up funds. In addition, NEA worries that accountability systems across the nation remain inconsistent. And charter schools may be encouraging a type of segregation by creating homogeneous student bodies. North Carolina has passed standards for their charter schools which state that the racial make-up for a charter school must resemble that of the state-wide population.