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CHARTER SCHOOL REPORT SHORT ON TRUTH, LONG ON RHETORIC
Charter School Leadership Council Rebukes PACE "Analysis" as Biased, Politically Motivated

WASHINGTON, DC, April 9, 2003 - The Charter School Leadership Council today released the following statement in response to a new report on charter schools from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) titled Charter Schools and Inequality: National Disparities in Funding, Teacher Quality, and Student Support:

"The PACE report is yet another so-called scholarly analysis of charter schools that is neither scholarly nor an analysis. Culling information on charter schools from previously published reports and articles, and data from the National Center on Educational Statistics, PACE offers nothing new about charter schools other than the "spin" the authors want to give them. It fails to make a legitimate or compelling argument on the effectiveness of charter schools, leaping instead to spurious conclusions about "input" and "process" data that reflect not only a lack of understanding about charters, but also an obvious anti-charter bias.

"The PACE report claims to have 'analyzed' disparities in teacher quality between public charter schools and their traditional counterparts, for example, but in fact it does nothing more than cite a lower number of certified teachers in charter schools than in traditional public schools, then declares the charter system a failure. This misguided focus on the number of certified teachers misses the point that there is no correlation between teacher certification and teacher certification-and also misses the point that the freedom to hire the best people they can find, regardless of state certification status, is one of the most important differences between charter schools and conventional public schools. (The PACE paper admits that, 'a complete teaching credential is an imperfect indication of a teacher's classroom effectiveness,' but then goes right ahead and makes this the standard for predetermining that charters are somehow inferior.)

"Using intentionally loaded language, the authors also seek to portray charters as miserly underspenders, compromising education in the name of saving a buck or two. 'If charter schools drew down Title I funding for low-achieving students at the same rate as regular public schools, matching demographic profiles,' the report says in incredulous tones, 'at least one-fifth additional charter students would benefit from this instructional support.' What the report doesn't tell you is that charter schools are impeded almost from the start from drawing down their Title I funds when they are required to go hat in hand to a school district that publicly accuses charters of 'taking' money from the public school system. Under such conditions, is it any wonder that charters often don't bother to draw down all the funding they are entitled to? Or try to draw it down but are rebuffed?

"Finally, we are extremely distressed by the report's offensive, condescending tone toward African American and Latino students who choose to attend charter schools. The authors accuse families of intentionally segregating minority students, brand as divisive any schools that cater specifically to the desires of minority parents, and tweak charters for failing to look after their needs as 'disabled' students, as if being poor or minority automatically makes one disabled. When a family chooses which school its child will attend, that is hardly segregation. It is, in fact, freedom. We find the report's assumptions about minorities to be not only misguided but completely out of touch with reality.

"When it comes to education, we need to be brutally honest with ourselves about what works and what doesn't. We need to be open to new policies, new ideas, and new definitions. We fully support a careful, scholarly, unbiased analysis of charter schools and their effectiveness - but the PACE report isn't it."

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The Charter School Leadership Council is comprised of national education associations dedicated to supporting the continued development of the charter school movement. Founding members include: Black Alliance of Educational Options, Center for Education Reform, Charter Friends National Network, Education Leaders Council, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, National Council of La Raza, and Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

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