CER Op-Ed

HIGH MARKS FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
By Jeanne Allen
Bangor News, November 18, 1999

        Maine may very well join 36 other states and the District of Columbia in bringing about charter schools. Because this is an important step to reinvigorate public education, lawmakers and citizens alike must take the time to understand what the fuss is all about.

        First, the evidence suggests that the only charter law worth fighting for is that which provides maximum flexibility to schools. This flexibility allows schools to create their own programs, set higher standards and bypass nonsensical rules and regulations.

        What are charter schools? Charter schools are open enrollment public schools operating on three principles:

• Accountability: Charter schools are held accountable for how well they educate pupils, not how well they comply with district regulations.
  
• Choice: Parents, teachers, community groups or individuals interested in better education for children can start charter schools. This is a recipe for innovation and community accountability.
  
• Autonomy: Correctly structured charter schools are relatively unhindered by traditional bureaucracy and regulations that divert public schools¹ resources toward compliance rather than excellence.

        Charter schools are legally and fiscally autonomous so they can focus on their academic mission. They provide choice, child-centered education and school accountability -- putting the needs of children and parents before the system.

        Charters serve those that traditional public schools often cannot, thus benefiting parents, schools, the community and, most important, children. Charter schools are public schools contracted (chartered) by a designated public body to educate schools to agreed-upon standards. The schools are paid based on the number of students they attract. This gives them a built-in incentive to devise good programs. Their livelihood depends on it. Free of bureaucratic and regulatory micro-management, they can design and deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and community needs.

        As a parent of four, I know how hard my children's teachers work. I also know that teachers are often frustrated by the constraints that traditional public school systems force on them. As the head of one of the nation's leading education foundations, I speak to hundreds of educators each week and echo the sentiments of the teachers who are close to me.

        But in charter schools, you'll find teachers who are there because they want to be, because they have more authority over the programs and approaches they use than they did in all their years in traditional public schools. The research and evidence from more than 50 studies are clear: Charters yield higher teacher and parent satisfaction and involvement, and bring together higher percentages of diverse children, including children of color and children with special needs.

        Charters are also seeing their contracts renewed, and each passing day more and more educators and civic groups are saying goodbye to the status quo and hello to the freedom that is the hallmark of charters.

        Even with the abundance of evidence to date, there are still several misconceptions and myths:

• Charters drain money away from public schools. In reality, the money for public schools follows children to their public school of choice -- with a charter law, this could be a charter school. Charter schools are public schools, yet they are freed from the superintendent's vast power structure. That is the essence of the opposition of most school administrators and many school boards. Charters give power to those who currently don't have it -- parents and teachers.
  
• Why not extend the mandate relief common to charters to regulated public schools? Actually, many states have, to no avail. Relieving school systems of mandates without the incentives or consequences to do so results in the status quo. But what does get school districts to loosen bureaucratic rules and stifling policies is outside pressure -- the knowledge that someone else is doing it better and easier.
  
• There is no evidence that charter schools can succeed, and public schools are improving. Charters offer an abundance of evidence that achievement gains are more prevalent for children being served than in traditional public schools. Despite the best intentions of today, public school improvement is minuscule, which is why more and more people want charter schools, and the majority of parents and teachers nationwide want choices. Internal public school reform moves at a snail's pace. Charters, on the other hand, cause district superintendents to pick up the pace and, just as important, give children a place to go to succeed.

        Charter school proposals will be hot in Maine next legislative session. The Maine School Choice Coalition is sponsoring a roundtable tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Bangor Mall Borders bookstore. Charter schools will be discussed, and I encourage all to attend, listen to both sides and ask lots of questions.

For more information,
Link to: About Charter Schools
Link to: Charter School Myths and Realities

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Jeanne Allen is president of The Center for Education Reform, a national, independent, nonprofit advocacy organization. Founded in 1993, the center provides support and guidance to individuals, community and civic groups, policy-makers and others who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools.

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