Jeanne Allen: Anti-charter groups should stay out of debate (Opinion)

Charlestion Gazette-Mail | June 26, 2019
By Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of CER

Monday night, the West Virginia Legislature passed a bill allowing for the very limited operation of charter schools. It won’t be enough in a state struggling to pass most of its students.

But just the other week, New York-based union president Randi Weingarten was in Charleston, pounding her chest about how great West Virginia public education was doing and how little support charter schools had in the state.

Really Randi?

As John Adams said, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. The state’s education system is rated second to last, and for good reason.

Here are the most recent facts from the National Assessment of Education Progress scores for West Virginia. Only 35 percent of fourth-graders, 24 percent of eighth-graders and 14 percent of high school seniors were rated “proficient” in math. For reading, the “proficient” scores were 32 percent, 28 percent and, again, 28 percent, respectively. Only one grade had 7 percent of its students rated as “advanced.” All the others had “advanced” scores of 1 to 2 percent.

Randi Weingarten thinks those scores are just fine. Do you?

Weingarten says the union “has actually done things” for public schools, and that’s hard to argue with. What they’ve done is keep West Virginia students trapped in underperforming schools with no hope for escape. As the NAEP summation for the state says: “Average scale score for West Virginia is significantly lower than national public schools.”

Weingarten also makes the absurd assertion that most residents oppose charters. She needs to get out of her union-dominated show meetings and talk to real people. There were elections in November 2018, and West Virginians elected legislative majorities strongly supportive of charters and of choice. Vox populi, Randi Weingarten.

Charters are public schools, and they by and large serve students who are economically disadvantaged or are minorities.

Of course, all public schools need sufficient funding. Of course, competent teachers should be paid — and the best ones highly paid. The solution to failing public schools is not in punishing successful public schools, which happen to be charters, but lies in strengthening them all. West Virginians know how to do that better than New York union organizers.

Randi Weingarten needs to butt out of the Mountain State and let its people decide what’s best for their kids. A large charter school network would provide great opportunity for students throughout West Virginia. Unfortunately, the restrictive new bill won’t be able to offer nearly the type of innovative education the students of West Virginia deserve.

Follow Jeanne on Twitter or LinkedIn or some of her other work here. 

Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.