Why does everyone want charter schools?

[Neurotica]

This is one of the hot-button items in our county's school board races this fall. Our county is wealthy and well-educated as a whole, and we do not really have underperforming schools.

Republicans and Democrats alike are pushing for charter schools, as are the education PACs that have formed. They seem to think that charter schools will relieve financial pressure on the public school system to some degree (while potentially offering options for more specialized education). They are also claiming that competition will improve the public school system.

Why are some of our progressive educators focusing on charter schools as the answer? From all the research I have previously done, I can't understand how charter schools would solve our problems. In fact, they seem to potentially create more problems than they solve.

(Interesting note--Imagine Schools is trying to get a foothold in our county. I don't know how this plays into this scenario politically.)

[and-justice-for-all]

1. I do not want my tax dollars to go to private charter schools....

to me, that is just criminal.

[Neurotica]

2. What really concerns me are my tax dollars potentially supporting private religious schools

The conservative candidates want everything, including tuition tax credits for private schools.

I am very worried about the future of our school board/school system. I don't think enough people are paying attention and frankly this year it's become very confusing with the way that the education PACs are outlining issues and endorsing candidates. There are definitely a few stealth Tea Party candidates and if they're elected, we could be in for a lot of trouble.

[and-justice-for-all]

26. one of their main agenda items to is destroy public education..

along with everything.

[thereismore]

3. Not everyone. nt

[Neurotica]

4. I know.

I'm trying to understand why people, particularly Democrats(!), are supporting this to such a large extent this fall in my county. I think it's going to create a lot of problems both during the election cycle and afterwards.

I've been involved in school system policy discussions for quite a while and I have never before heard such strong support for charter schools.

[pitohui]

5. pay offs?

there is always some noisy argument being made as to why the few should get all the money, it really makes me tired

nothing makes me more discouraged than the systematic destruction of public schools that we have seen in our lifetime, with the obvious purpose to get public money into private and religious hands

[wtmusic]

6. Define "underperforming".

Our schools are terrible for a country with the other trappings that define our standard of living.

The answer is not to hand them off to private enterprise, however.

[JCMach1]

7. Politicians latch on to anything that sounds like a good idea for education...

It is easier to sell this than quality teachers, first rate curriculum and the involvement of parents.

So yeah, they are selling the snake oil of charter schools.

[mwrguy]

8. Union busting

This is why repugs love charter skools.

[GreenTea]

28. Exactlly!

[moondust]

9. They believe in the elitist corporate model?

Cut-throat competition, efficiency, no-nonsense-we-mean-business, winning is everything, etc., will better prepare THEIR kids for the corporate world?

(Just a wild guess.)

[Rex]

10. Very few people do, it is the M$M that wants charter schools

and so do big corporations. Actual people don't want charter schools and would like more money put into the public school system. Don't believe the corporate propaganda on the corporate run 'news' organizations.

[ellisonz]

11. Union busting.

Since most states rejected voucher programs.

[DrunkenBoat]

12. everyone doesn't. mainly the ruling financial class.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. I don't - I want to improve public school education.

[demmiblue]

14. Greed and the move towards privatization. n/t

[ellisonz]

15. People forget that this started in part with the "Edison schools"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Schools

[NNN0LHI]

16. It is obvious the goal is to eventually privatize all public schools and destroy the unions

They want them all to become for profit private schools. If someone has a lot of money their kids will go to very nice private schools. If someone doesn't have a lot of money they will only be able to send their kids to inferior private schools. And I don't like it either. It is just another way of punishing the poor.

Problem is I don't see how to stop it. Camel got its nose under this tent a long time ago.

Notice when this began?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school

History

The charter school idea in the United States was originated by Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and embraced by Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers, in 1988 when he called for the reform of the public schools by establishing "charter schools" or "schools of choice". At the time, a few schools already existed that were not called charter schools but embodied some of their principles, such as H-B Woodlawn. As originally conceived, the ideal model of a charter school was as a legally and financially autonomous public school (without tuition, religious affiliation, or selective student admissions) that would operate much like a private business—free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs (such as Carnegie Units and teacher certification requirements).

Minnesota was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991. California was second, in 1992. As of 2009, 41 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws.

Don

[ellisonz]

17. You stop it one household at a time.

Gotta have hope :cry:

[Neurotica]

18. That's why I'm trying to understand the basis for support...so I can help educate my friends

It all sounds very good on the surface, which makes it that much harder to explain to people why it isn't.

[ellisonz]

22. It's like outsourcing but for kids.

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter.<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_schools

Instead of investing in the schools we already have - instead they create a new school with stricter requirements. The result is essentially a separate school system within a district. How would you feel if there was a new charter school in your district - and it could only take so many kids - what happens to the one's who stay in the public school? Do we not try to fix them at all? Why should the charter school have better academic offerings than the public school down the street? What if they suck up the available resources? It's a basis for inequality.

Those in a poor school district who can afford it of course send their kids to private schools. We already have highly separate and unequal private schools - do we really need the same dynamic between public schools and "charter schools?" If the school district is failing the community should take a greater stake in the system they already have in place.

[Neurotica]

23. That's why I can't understand why Dems, including a prominent Democratic SB member, are in support

I have worked on issues with this particular person in the past, and when I asked him why choice, he said that every child should be able to choose what school he/she goes to!

In a perfect world, that would be lovely. However, that's not how it really works and it certainly wouldn't work like that here.

So anyway, he's jumped on the charter school bandwagon, as have other Democrats in our area and seemingly all the SB candidates, and it's all getting mixed up.

[ellisonz]

25. Political expediency...

...it's not easy to admit that we've failed at least one generation already and we are in the process of failing another. If they think literacy and math scores are bad, they should try actually testing for scientific and civic knowledge. The kid's with resources are okay, it's the rest that we should really be worried about. Even then, I still see many of my friends (I'm in my 20's) who don't know the difference between stair and stare or there and their. We are culture of wealth and not intellect.

You're friend has no idea how long and hard educational reformers in this country fought for a single public educational system with opportunity for all.

[Neurotica]

19. I know what you're saying, but we don't have unions in VA

And in the past, charter schools have had difficulty getting approvals in VA. With McDonnell now in office, however, there has been a movement to expedite and increase the number of approvals.

Interesting history bit on charter schools. Thanks.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

20. Not "Everyone" wants charter schools. Also, "Everyone" is just a GOP keyword.

[seabeyond]

21. decades of blaming societal failure on schools, and people buying into it to

justify their own kids failure.

[Sancho]

24. Two big reasons: both hidden agendas

1.) There are a lot of dollars going to education - and there has been an active campaign for years to tap into those dollars for profit. Charter schools are seen by some as a way to get their hands on the dough. There has been a concerted effort to privatize the public schools over the last couple decades.

2.) Behind the closed doors - there are others who want don't like integrated schools. That is not just black students; but hispanic, etc. Some groups want an all minority schools. Even if a charter school has an integrated population - it often is not as integrated as the surrounding population plus the students you integrate with are "self-selected" or selected to be more "acceptable". If you sneak into the back yard wine and cheese parties of some gated communities advocating charter schools, you'll hear the racial comments and plans.

[Name removed]

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[mrmpa]

29. Because they have been brainwashed...............

Charter schools don't relieve financial pressure at all, they don't offer options for specialized education (special ed) these students will be funneled back to the public schools. More teachers will lose the opportunity for a living wage.

I once interviewed at a charter school, their requirements for me to be in the building from
7 am to 5 pm, 5 days a week with the possibility of later hours if parents had to come in or I was in charge of an extra curricular activity.

I have a masters degree in education, their offer of salary $24,000 per year. It came out to about $12.65 an hour. No way. Got hired at a city school, salary went to $42,000 per year. 8 a.m. to 3 pm, occasional later hours usually once a month.

[Johonny]

30. I agree

You have two sides and the media all pushing the same agenda. There is only the teachers unions fighting for our public schools. The result is more and more people convinced our schools are a "problem". Schools have always been a political soft target for the politically motivated. As we create more for profit-schooling, we get worse in worse at education as a nation. Which is used to drive the message we need more of them to fix the growing problem. By the time society catches (if they ever do) on the infrastructure of the old school system is gone.

[SoCalDem]

31. The ones who want it, are probably just parents desperate to find a school

that will be "better" than the one their kids now attend. Every "new" thing always seems to be the solution. I remember when "team teaching" was all the rage...and then we had "new math"..and a lot of other new things.. but when push comes to shove, kids need a safe, clean place to go to, and a teacher who is motivated & well-paid..and class sizes that are conducive to learning.