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Class Segregation and Educational Opportunity

July 1, 2015 By

I recently attended a discussion at the American Enterprise Institute with Robert Putnam of Harvard University, Charles Murray, who is a W.H. Bradley Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and William Julius Wilson, a sociologist and Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University. Each speaker presented their criticism of Putnam’s newest book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, and offered insight into the increasing opportunity gap among children.

Putnam spoke candidly about the segregation deeply embedded in our society—religious, ethnic, and racial disparities have improved, while classist assumptions have led to greater segregation between the lower, middle, and upper social strata. He briefly explored the implications of these treAEI Putnam Event - Demographicsnds by explaining the terms “summer camp gap” and “Goodnight Moon time” and also called for extensive policy changes to help fix these inconsistencies.

The “summer camp gap” refers to the amount of benefits parents are able to provide for their children, such as piano lessons, sports camps, or vacations, and “Goodnight Moon time” is the portion of the day dedicated to parent-child interaction. Children acquire valuable developmental skills during extracurricular activities and from stable, close contact and socialization with a parental figure. Putnam argues, however, that children in high school-educated homes versus college-educated homes possess fewer resources to hone these skills, which further stratifies social classes.

Murray strongly disagreed with Putnam’s approach to policy implementation, and Wilson believed Putnam’s book did not focus nearly enough on interracial differences.

I believe that the discussion centered largely on the social sphere, and the panelists did not integrate education into the conversation as much as they could have. A child’s social environment is inextricably linked to his or her educational access. This connection can either accelerate or hamper a child’s progress in the social milieu.

Education should have been at the forefront of this discussion, rather than a topic mentioned in passing.

Hayley Nicholas, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

NEWSWIRE: June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015 By

Vol. 17, No. 26

UNCONSTITUTIONAL. As battles for civil rights are going on all across the country, a group that should be leading the charge for civil rights is actually playing a role in blocking civil rights for parents and families in Colorado. In 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) together with other organizations, filed a lawsuit against the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, rendering this vehicle intended to give parents the ability to choose the best education for their child inactive. The program has been embroiled in legal battles since, with the latest decision coming from the Colorado State Supreme Court yesterday, ruling the program unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the state’s Blaine Amendment provisions, which place constitutional restrictions on aid to religious schools. Douglas County parents and leaders have said they will take this battle to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2002 ruled that the state of Ohio was within its constitutional power to enact a school choice program for Cleveland children. Although this case differs in that it would be based on the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment whereas the Ohio case was based on the 1st Amendment, CER stands with leaders and parents fighting for parent and student rights in education, and we’ll be watching as this story unfolds.

UNION MADNESS. USA Today reported that the U.S. Supreme court may be prepared to strike down laws forcing public employees to pay union dues. “Exciting and encouraging news” said a member of the Association of American Educators (AAE), the nation’s largest non-union, professional educators’ organization, as it would eliminate requirements that forcibly collect fees from teachers simply because they choose to work in public schools. Take Massachusetts for example, where Newswire got wind of a young educator who recently decided she did not want to join the local teachers union, but had over $600 deducted from her paycheck anyway. Unfortunately, Massachusetts is a compulsory union state, and when it comes down to it, teachers there don’t have much control over their hard-earned dollars. They can either join the union and have dues deducted from their paycheck, or decide not to join the union and still have dues deducted from their paycheck anyway because law requires them to pay the union an “agency fee.” Gee, what a choice. It’s time the U.S. put their “money where their mouth is” when it comes to treating teachers like the professionals that they are and give them the freedom to decide if belonging to a union matches their own budget and beliefs, especially as CER knows teachers unions long ago outlived their usefulness as professional associations.

ROOTS. At the end of the 2009-10 school year, a rural Michigan district saw the closure of St. Helen Elementary school. The community decided to take matters into their own hands, and in true grassroots fashion, a charter school was born to serve as another option for parents in place of the shuttered school. But the path to create Charlton Heston Academy (CHA) was not an easy one, as the school had to fight to have a cap lifted and figure out how to meet funding and facility challenges, nor is the day-in and day-out work to ensure the school’s 85 percent economically disadvantaged student population has access to an excellent education. Newswire spoke with Jason Sarsfield, VP of the National Charter Schools Institute who grew up in the rural Michigan community and will be returning to his role as Chief Academic Officer for CHA, who stressed that rural poverty comes with its own set of unique challenges and circumstances, but upward mobility is possible when you give children living in poverty the skills and knowledge to take control of their own destiny. Get the full scoop on the school’s amazing story here.

SURVEY SAYS. A survey by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice indicates support for school choice in the form of vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and Education Savings Accounts is on the rise. Specifically, twice as many Americans support school vouchers than oppose them, with respondents citing more freedom and flexibility as their main reasons why. CER President Kara Kerwin was on deck to discuss the findings today at the American Enterprise Institute, stressing the importance of keeping parents informed about education options available to them. Indeed, CER’s own polling points to similar support for school choice, with 74 percent of Americans supporting the term, and 72 percent of Americans supporting the notion of parent choice. It’s difficult to find an issue that most Americans agree on, but the myriad of poll results plus growing number of students in seats of choice are an indication that Parent Power and accountability is it.

ICYMI. While CER has always held the media’s feet to the fire when it comes to getting the facts right and reporting fairly on education issues, it will be interesting to see how the media reports on K-12 education issues in conjunction with the upcoming 2016 presidential election. A new report, Leading the News: 25 years of Education Coverage, by Andrew Campanella reveals that coverage of education policies in presidential election years dropped by an average of 6.5 percent each year since 1992. But it’s clear that with the election getting closer combined with the innate desire by the media to be the outlet that breaks the most interesting news angle on a story that there’s even more room for instances of inaccuracies. For example, Politico “missed the mark on some historical realities in its recent assessment of Jeb Bush’s education work,” CER Senior Fellow and president emeritus Jeanne Allen points out. And speaking of Jeb Bush, Florida is one of the latest states where there have been reports in the media, particularly about charter schools, that are just plain wrong. Thankfully, papers are giving ink to truth-tellers aiming to set the record straight.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

A Charter School is Born

June 30, 2015 By

A story of how a charter school started out as an idea to meet a need, the struggles it encountered trying to come into being, and the amazing impact it’s had so far on its community now that it is open and serving students.

St. Helen Elementary School, part of the Roscommon Area Public Schools (RAPS) closed its doors at the conclusion of the 2009-10 school year.

The school was located in St. Helen, Michigan, a rural village with a population of less than 3,000 residents. St. Helen, along with the adjacent community of Roscommon, comprised the geographic boundaries of RAPS, with an elementary, middle and high school also located in Roscommon. Until the conclusion of the 2009-10 school year, students from St. Helen attended middle school and high school in Roscommon. The decision of the RAPS Board of Education to close St. Helen Elementary School, due in large part to its perceived lack of financial viability, and consolidate it along with Roscommon Elementary school, resulted in a strong community without a single school. Soon thereafter, RAPS placed the building and the 24 acres of land it was located on up for sale.

A group of community members led by Jennifer Jarosz, a mother of two and owner of the local diner where she waits tables, decided to pursue the idea of establishing a charter school to replace their closed elementary school. Soon thereafter, Rural Education Matters (REM), a non-profit organization whose charge it was to support the idea of establishing a public charter school to serve the children of St. Helen and all others who wished to enroll, was born.

After failing to convince the local community college to grant the group a charter, REM was at an unfortunate crossroads due to the statutorily imposed cap on university-based charter school authorizers being met. Jarosz and REM organized a grassroots effort in support of raising that cap, visiting Lansing and testifying at legislative hearings, and on December 20, 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Synder signed a charter school reform bill that lifted the cap on charter schools in Michigan.

The following April, REM and community leaders from St. Helen were successful in securing a charter from Lake Superior State University. What followed was a profound effort that reflects the power of community collaboration, committed parents and professional willingness to take a risk on a new and exciting public charter school to replace the closed St. Helen Elementary School.

After establishing a Board of Trustees for the new public charter school, the school was named the Charlton Heston Academy (CHA), school leaders were recruited, a team of educators selected, and the former St. Helen Elementary school facility purchased in preparation for a September launch.

While the school was named after an individual who grew up in the community and whose family still has property in the area, the school was not given any financial help from the family or the estate. In fact, the only funds available to get the school off the ground were those granted through the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) Start-Up and Implementation Grants. However, these funds could not be used for facility renovation, and roughly $100,000 was needed to correct 21 facility code violations before opening the school.

Small businesses and individuals throughout the St. Helen community came together and worked around the clock to get the school open in time, and in a few short weeks the school was able to make the necessary renovations and put a physical school building and educational program in place and open its doors to approximately 200 students in grades K-8.

The former St. Helen Elementary School enrolled approximately 135 students in grades K-6 when it closed.

This grassroots effort, including round-the-clock preparations (literally community members driving their tractors to the school to help with landscaping, grandparents cleaning old desks, etc.) throughout the Labor Day weekend directly preceding the opening of the school, actually made the entire school community more inclusive, strong and resolved.

For the first time, parents in the area had a real choice in where they sent their children to school.

Enrollment continued to increase in the school’s first year of operation, and parents from neighboring communities were enrolling their children in the school. A pre-Kindergarten program was added late fall, and CHA added a 9th grade in the fall of 2013 and a 10th grade in the fall of 2014. The school recently completed a facility expansion in order to accommodate the increased demand for its seats, and has already begun plans for a second facility expansion. Amazingly, CHA is poised to enroll approximately 500 students in grades PreK-11 in September, with plans to add a 12th grade in the fall of 2016, celebrating its first graduating class in the spring of 2017.

The school’s educational program is based on a strong core academic program, extended school day and year-round calendar. While the State of Michigan requires 1098 instructional hours each year of public schools, CHA provides 200 instructional days and approximately 1600 instructional hours.

Interestingly, other traditional schools are responding and trying to implement year-round calendars, but are struggling due to union restrictions and other financial barriers. The freedom and autonomy allowed by schools of choice, and the fact that parents are indeed exercising their right to choose the educational environment they feel is best for their child, is creating a ripple effect that is improving all schools for all children.

The school focuses heavily on experiential learning, community collaboration and engagement, and the incorporation of American democratic values throughout the academic program and school culture. In fact, one reason why the school was named after Charlton Heston was because of this vision of teaching core democratic values as part of the school’s culture, and that Heston was considered by many to be a “patriot” of sorts.

The name isn’t the only local connection, however; many of the school’s leaders know first-hand what it’s like to grow up in the rural Michigan community.

Jennifer Jarosz, who led the effort to get the charter school started in the first place, has served as the President of the Board of Directors of CHA since the school’s charter was approved. And in fact, her efforts have led to her recently being asked to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. Both David Patterson and Jason Sarsfield, life-long friends and RAPS graduates who grew up in significant poverty but thanks to supportive families and great educators along the way both lead successful adult lives, returned to play a role in the charter school. David Patterson, a graduate of RAPS, successfully lead a charter school in Detroit, returned home to serve as Superintendent and has done so since the launch of the charter school. Jason Sarsfield, after a successful career in teaching and charter school authorizing, returned from his role at the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute to serve as Chief Academic Officer. After helping to lead the pre-optional phase of the school, first year of operation and transition into year two, Sarsfield went on to serve as Vice President of the National Charter Schools Institute, and will return to service again as Chief Academic Officer on July 1, 2015.

For these folks, the charge is personal to ensure families have access to an excellent education. In the charter school realm, much of the focus is on urban areas, yet many forget that urban poverty and rural poverty actually look quite similar.

Approximately 85 percent of CHA students are economically disadvantaged. This fact drives CHA educators and leaders to relentlessly pursue excellence for each and every single one of its students. They know upward mobility is created when children living in poverty are equipped with skills and knowledge that allow them to take control of their own destiny.

Now, the St. Helen community is equipping its children to have that control, by launching a charter school that delivers the promise of an excellent education for all students.

To learn more about the school, you can visit www.charltonhestonacademy.com or email its leaders at dpatterson@charltonhestonacademy.com or jsarsfield@charltonhestonacademy.com.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso

Nation’s Only District-Level Voucher Program Ruled Unconstitutional

June 29, 2015 By

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
June 29, 2015

The Colorado State Supreme Court in a 4-3 vote today ruled the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program unconstitutional.

“While the program was limited, only serving 500 students, it’s extremely disappointing that this option is no longer available to parents as a means for them to choose the best education for their child,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform.

The program was set up to allow parents to choose where 75 percent, or approximately $6,000, of the district’s per-pupil funding should be sent as a scholarship to a non-religious or religious private school of their choice.

Although the court decided that voucher opponents lacked standing to challenge the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program under the Public School Finance Act, it ruled the voucher program violated the state’s Blaine Amendment provisions, which place constitutional restrictions on aid to religious schools.

The program has been tied up in legal challenges since its creation in 2011. Opponents prevailed in their initial challenge, but the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, upholding the constitutionality of the program in late February 2013.

“With a Parent Power Index score of 76 percent, Colorado still has a long way to go in meeting the demand that exists for parents to be able to choose from a portfolio of education options,” said Kerwin. “While the state does permit parents to choose among traditional public schools within the state if there’s room, it’s essential Colorado create more avenues so more parents are able to access excellent learning environments of all kinds. We stand with Douglas County leaders and parents who will continue to fight for parent choice in education by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider this case.”

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Zelman v. Simmons-Harris case ruled that the state of Ohio was within its constitutional power to enact a school choice program for Cleveland children.

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: ,

Douglas County Colorado’s Choice Scholarship Program Ruled Unconstitutional

June 29, 2015 By

The Colorado Supreme Court today ruled the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program unconstitutional, meaning district families will no longer be able to use this program as a means to access education that best meets their child’s unique individual learning needs.

For a full rundown, visit the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice here.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Entrepreneurship as Innovation in Education

June 29, 2015 By

When I heard the word entrepreneur, the field of education was quite possibly the last thing that entered into my mind. To me, an entrepreneur was always someone who created a new business against a great deal of resistance from outside forces. Think Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook or Steve Jobs and Apple. I never before thought of classroom teachers as entrepreneurs. However, I realized today that teachers are entrepreneurs in every sense of the word thanks to the research presentation held by AEI entitled “The State of Entrepreneurship in K-12 Education.” Teachers work in a variety of ways to ensure that every student who enters their classroom leaves as something more than they were. The goal of every teacher is for students to leave their class more enriched and engaged than they were when they entered.

I would argue that teachers want innovation in their classrooms beyond just an iPad or laptop given to every student. Teachers need more support than that. On one hand, technology can provide that innovation if it is made in a way that supports both the teacher and the student. However, when teachers are unable to access this technology because of slow broadband, limited/no Wi-Fi or impossible to remember passwords, the technology becomes more of a head wind than a tail wind, to use the analogy that was repeated throughout the conference. Tail winds are things that create more “smooth sailing” for teachers, whereas head winds are the issues they are coming up against. For example, school choice can be seen as a tailwind because parents and students are finally able to make their own choices about where they want to attend school. On the other hand, one head wind can be the restrictions currently being placed on teachers that prevent them from having full autonomy over their classrooms and therefore limiting their ability to experiment with new ways of teaching.

The innovations happening in schools today are only the beginning. Parents have more choice than ever before to get their children the best possible education they can. The responsibility now lies on the next generation of teachers and teacher preparation programs. These programs hold the ability to change the way teachers are educated and in turn, change the face of the education system across the nation. In a dream world, for example, every teacher prep program would educate their students on how to find the best apps to provide them with the best resources in their subject field. These teachers would then be able to apply these skills that they’re constantly learning and re-learning to have the greatest impact on their students. It is the next generation of educators who can have the greatest influence on the next generation of students.

Ciara O’Sullivan, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

Leading The News: 25 Years of Education Coverage

June 26, 2015 By

Where’s the first place you would go to hear updated information on education? What’s the source that you trust the most? What was the last educational topic you heard about in the media? These are all questions that were raised by educational advocate Andrew R. Campanella in his report Leading The News: 25 Years of Education Coverage.

Campanella analyzed the coverage of K-12 education in the media over the last 25 years, and he found that education coverage is declining, with only 4 percent of Americans saying that education was the most important topic to them in 2014.

Local television is where I hear about education the most and it’s my go-to source, and also my most trusted source, coinciding with what others said in the report. Campanella found that local coverage of education is on the rise. In fact, he saw that the highest percentage of mentions of education-related stories focus on sports. The report found that 13.6 percent of local, regional, and state coverage focuses on athletics. Sports are an attention grabber and local news stations know that sports are more interesting for some than hearing about stories that focus on curriculum, budgets or reforms that may have taken place. Unfortunately, focusing on sports takes away from teaching the general public about those important issues in education that affect how their children are learning.

The study also revealed that when education is mentioned in articles, they are almost always focused on a specific policy. In my personal experience, one of the few policies that I have seen written about frequently in news articles is No Child Left Behind (NCLB). NCLB is the “poster child” for education and it’s pushed heavily almost everywhere, and if you were a millennial child you experienced it first hand.

Campanella uncovered that education funding and school choice remain the most covered policies. Last year, these two topics received two and a half times more coverage than the coverage received by an additional 10 educational policies combined. With the opening of many charter schools, online schools, and other alternative methods, I can see why these two topics are emerging ahead of the others.

It’s interesting to see how K-12 education coverage has changed over the past 25 years. With CER being around for the majority of that time we have examined many of the issues around education. With school choice being the top priority, it is great to see how this has become one of the prevalent topics in education today. It has been a long road to even opening the discussion on the topic, so I would like to think of this report as being a milestone in the education reform movement highlighting how the work of CER and other reform organizations have changed the discussion around education.

Rahdaysha Cummings, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

My First Day

June 25, 2015 By

As I approach my final year at Wake Forest University, I reflect on the amazing opportunities I have been given and the wonderful education I have been lucky enough to receive. It was not until my sophomore year however, when I took a class on the policy of public education, that I realized just how fortunate I was. After taking this course both my interest and curiosity were piqued and my passion for education reform ignited. I learned about the educational gaps all over the country and became more and more appalled by the inequality in education opportunities.

I have always been a believer in the American dream and a supporter of the notion that with hard work anything is possible. However, it became increasingly clear to me that the idea that I had always believed in and held close is being threatened by lack of opportunity and equality.

At CER I hope to gain a wider understanding of the various kinds of education and school choice and learn about policies that work to close the equality and achievement gap. Even after one day, I can already see that I am surrounded by experienced professionals who are dedicated to, and passionate about, education quality and equality. I am looking forward to what my time at CER will bring!

Madeline Ryan, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

NEWSWIRE: June 23, 2015

June 23, 2015 By

Vol. 17, No. 25
Special Charter Schools Conference Edition

Team @edreform is on the ground at the National Charter Schools Conference in New Orleans, where school leaders, educators, parents, and activists are discussing how charter schools can provide a “Chance For Every Child,” the theme of this year’s gathering. A fitting one too, given the fact that New Orleans, post-Katrina, is now 100 percent public charter schools.

Pass rates for minority and low-income students have doubled since charter schools became the norm in New Orleans, and graduation rates have gone from 55 to 75 percent.

But it shouldn’t take a hurricane for our school system to change so that more parents have the power to choose an education that best fits their children’s needs. Although charter schools have grown at a steady, linear pace, it’s vital we continue conversations that help us understand what it takes to accelerate that pace, and accelerate it quickly, in order for charter schools to play an even bigger role in meeting the demand that exists for more excellent education options.

Here are a few highlights so far from the 2015 National Charter Schools Conference:

Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, calls on charter schools to #LeaveNoSeatBehind by backfilling and enrolling students at all grade levels, as there are over 1 million kids on charter school waitlists across the country.

“Charter school reforms in New Orleans have worked. End of story.” – Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White, challenging the rhetoric that still exists in many media reports on charter schools today. “Charter schools are at the heart of rebirth and creating a chance for every child.”

“There are kids out there like me who need you, and they too can go to Harvard or whatever school will rock their world” -Actress Ashley Judd, speaking about the power of education in her life.

Edreform pioneer Deborah McGriff, accepting her induction into the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ Hall of Fame, emphasizes that we must empower parents and community leaders, and continue to fight for bolder changes for our kids.

Charter schools should focus on responsibility before accountability, because then accountability takes care of itself, notes Jim Goenner, President and CEO of National Charter Schools Institute and CER Board Member during his session, Authorizers: Change Agents, Market Makers, and Forces of Quality.

FOR THE LATEST CONFERENCE QUOTES, PICS and updates be sure to follow the hashtag #NCSC15 on Twitter, and the handles @edreform, @chartercon, @CERKaraKerwin and @JeanneAllen.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

Charter schools provide choice, high standards

June 23, 2015 By

by Jim Horne
Sun Sentinel
June 18, 2015

As someone who has spent more than three decades working in both public and private sectors to improve the lives of Florida’s families, it’s impossible for me to sit idly and let rhetoric trump reality in recent Sun Sentinel coverage of the Palm Beach School District’s war on charter schools.

At the heart of the legal battle the district has mounted against one charter school applicant is this notion that charters must prove they are “innovative” and different from traditional district school programs. District officials aren’t necessarily concerned about “innovation,” but instead are threatened by competition from charter schools and the fact that 19,000 students over the past five years have opted to make a choice. This debate is about power and control and the district’s ultimate goal to take parents back who have fled and deny them their rights to choose the best fit for their children.

School districts by nature are conflicted when it comes to approving charter schools because they view new schools — charter schools — as competition and a drain on their finances. That’s why strong charter school laws, such as Florida’s, set provisions that prevent these conflicting interests from getting in the way of what’s best for our children, such as an appeal process to the state Board of Education when a charter school feels it was unfairly denied.

It’s a pretty simple premise. Parent choice in and of itself is one of the most promising and proven innovations in our great state. Further, state law demands public charter schools be held to the same or even higher standards, assessments and grades as district-managed public schools.

If charter schools fail to meet the terms of their agreement, they are closed. When is the last time you heard a district school was closed for poor performance? Never! As the recent coverage in the Sun Sentinel has demonstrated, charters also operate under heightened scrutiny by the media, general public and even our elected officials. Unfortunately for the majority of students in Florida, traditional public schools do not face the same circumstances.

Palm Beach County’s justification for denying South Palm Beach Charter School is that it’s no different or better than what they offer. To demand charters be innovative is to assume that charters and district schools are on equal footing from the beginning. We know that isn’t true. On statewide metrics, charters perform better and provide solid academic results. Forty-one percent of Florida charter schools earn an “A” compared with 34 percent of traditional public schools according to the Florida Department of Education.

Consider that the South Palm Beach Charter School partnered with Fort Lauderdale-based Charter Schools USA, which manages 48 schools statewide, 18 of which earn “A” grades. If you take all CSUSA Florida schools as a network, they exceed net proficiency growth rates of every district in which they operate.

Both the legal challenge and the changing of Palm Beach County School Board policy to tighten rules for charters are clear signals the district is looking to protect the status quo. When districts lose students to charter schools, they see it as a loss in funding, despite the fact they’re no longer responsible for educating those students. In fact, districts actually end up with more per student money for the students they have, despite the fact they have lost students to charters due to increasing parent dissatisfaction.

That dissatisfaction is visible in the nearly 100,000 students on charter school wait lists in Florida annually. Most of these students are from low-income families and are desperately seeking a chance to escape their assigned schools, discrediting the notion that charter schools cherry pick students. Parents of all types of children are choosing charters because they offer something new or different, and that in and of itself is “innovation.”

The goal of charter schools isn’t simply just to be different, but to be better. And indeed, the data reveal charter schools get results. If they do not, they are closed. At the end of the day, requiring one to be “innovative” is a subjective excuse that’s a result of fear that when given a choice, parents choose something different than the school assigned by their ZIP code.

Jim Horne is the former Florida commissioner of education and also served in the state Senate. Horne is the chairman of the Florida Charter School Alliance.

Filed Under: Opinions
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