CER and Education Reform In The News

BITE INTO BIG APPLE MONOPOLY
Investor's Business Daily, July 31, 2000

        New York City at once indicted government and conceded the advantages of market competition last week when it announced plans to privatize some of its worst schools. That's good news for the city's current and future students. It's too bad for those who've already suffered through the failing government schools. It should have been done long ago. 

        Beginning in the fall of 2001, the city's board of education is likely to privatize five to 10 schools; maybe even 20. They will be turned into charter schools, to be run by private firms or nonprofit groups. Parents whose children will escape New York's poorest schools should give the board members a welcome fit for heroes. The Center for Education Reform found that charter schools give parents what they want: smaller schools, academic rigor, basic instruction and academic improvement. Maybe that's why two-thirds of charter schools have, the center said, "significant waiting lists." 

        Students in New York City schools that won't be chartered should not fear being left out. Charter schools' short history shows that their very presence boosts the performance of nearby public schools. Teachers in government schools are clearly challenged by old-fashioned American competition. This begs the question: Why couldn't they do more for students before the charter schools prodded them? While parents will likely welcome charter schools, we don't expect warm greetings from teachers' unions. The president of the city's union has already brought out the tired objection: There's no proof that education privatization would work. Yeah, as if public education does. 

        There's no guarantee that New York's charter schools won't fail. But they can't be any worse than the public schools they're replacing. Any raising of the bar should be deemed a resounding success.

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For more on The Center for Education Reform's charter school findings, see Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education. 

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