KARE: Why public charter schools are important

Wayne Lewis and Hal Heiner of Kentuckians Advocating Reform in Education (KARE) described their vision for charter schools in Kentucky this week, but with regrettable hypernbole.

This from Wayne Lewis and Hal Heiner in C-J:

For Kentucky, we want a charter school law that has a high threshold; meaning applicants wanting to open charter schools will have to meet a rigorous standard before being granted a charter. We also want the law written so that charter schools that fail to meet their agreed upon expectations will be shut down with minimal difficulty.

Good. Having a strong law is crucial. But then...

In addition to this outcomes-based accountability that comes with charter schools, any parent that is unhappy with the charter school that their child attends simply takes the child out of the charter school and sends him/her to another school.

Another school? It might have been more honest to suggest that such students would be returned to the traditional public school, which is an important consideration since it relates to the issue of charters "creaming" students from the traditional public schools. Then there's this...

Charter schools provide additional school options for parents. We believe firmly that every parent should have public school options when deciding on a school for his/her child. No parent should be forced to continue to send his or her child to a school that cannot or does not serve that child’s needs. But unfortunately, tens of thousands of parents in Kentucky are forced to do just that. As we work to improve our traditional public school systems in Kentucky, we must also work to increase the availability of public school options for parents, both inside and outside of our traditional public school systems.

I agree with the general notion, but "tens of thousands of parents in Kentucky" !? I think KARE should be required to tell us which parents these are. All of the parents in which schools? This exaggerated number is inflammatory and untrue. While I agree that there is a good argument for allowing charters is some limited situations such hyperbole only serves to undermine the credibility of the writers.

All parents deserve quality school options; regardless of their ZIP code, education level, income, or social capital.

Not only true, but if we substitute the word "education" for "school options" it is guaranteed by the Kentucky constitution.

Quality public charter schools can be instrumental in giving parents across Kentucky access to quality public school options.

Not hardly, but it could be one vehicle, which if judiciously applied in limited cases of long-standing failure, that can be justified. The problem is that the way one organized for instruction is never the main ingredient in school success.

Lewis Offers One More Argument in Favor of Charters

Over at Education Policy Matters blog, Wayne Lewis has advanced his second and third arguments in favor of charter schools for Kentucky. His first was that charters offer parents choice.

His second installment asserts "a simple truth," that "the only children who attend public charter schools are those whose parents decided to enroll them in one."

So, charters are better because the folks who enroll their children in charters "are people who were believe that their children are be better served by the program(s) avaiable at their chosen charter school"(sic)? Even if the school is not performing poorly, so long as "parents are not satisfied" that the school is meeting their childrens' "specific needs" then charter schools ought to be available, Lewis argues.

"That's it. Nothing more. Public charter schools give parents options," Lewis writes, making school choice his first argument and his second argument.

Later he proposes Horace Mann's original conception of what the common schools should be: that is, as well supported as the best private schools. Alas, it didn't work out that way. Lewis argues that,

Saying no to the creation of public charter schools in Kentucky says to those Kentucky parents that because they don't have the resources that more affluent and connected Kentuckians have, their children don't deserve access to the same educational opportunities as other children.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the public has said for decades. The public has long shown its desire to place limits on the amount of funding schools receive. Public schools never operated as though they were private. If they had things would have been different.

Argument number three is different, at least.

"In exchange for the increased autonomy or independence that charter schools receive they are held to high accountability standards," Lewis writes.

The phrase "in exchange" is curious. Traditional public schools are held to the very same high standards in exchange for...doing their jobs.

But charter schools have an important advantage, Lewis argues."The benefit of the charter school...is that if it does not work we can close it down."

There is mounting evidence that this is just not done in far too many cases where charters fail to meet their goals, so I'm suspicious. The suggestion seems to be that the market place will create good schools in response to demand, but it doesn't seem to always happen. And my guess is that options are fewest in more economically depressed neighborhoods. Besides, how strong of an argument is that?

In the present preschool market (including private preschools), parents are able to switch schools anytime they are unsatisfied with the school. Yet I hear preschool parents complain about their inability to find good options for their kids. Worse, I hear preschool teachers complain about the quality of care in some preschools. Apparently, it's not at all guaranteed that - if left to the marketplace - an adequate school will be within easy reach of every community.

There is also an historical "property rights" argument related to schools that have been chartered by the state. But I don't know if today's courts see that issue the same way they once did.

For Kentucky, we want a charter school law that has a high threshold; meaning applicants wanting to open charter schools will have to meet a rigorous standard before being granted a charter. We also want the law written so that charter schools that fail to meet their agreed upon expectations will be shut down with minimal difficulty. In addition to this outcomes-based accountability that comes with charter schools, any parent that is unhappy with the charter school that their child attends simply takes the child out of the charter school and sends him/her to another school. That's consumer accountability (Lewis & Fusarelli, 2010).

I'm not sold on the consumer accountability argument but I certainly agree that Kentucky ought to have a strong charter school law.

In Defense of Charter Schools

Over at Education Policy Matters blog, UK's Dr. Wayne Lewis has launched a defense of charter schools for Kentucky. Lewis began by simply laying out some charter basics, which he follows with his opening argument: Choice.

Charter schools provide additional school options for parents. I firmly believe that every parent should have public school options when deciding on a school for his/her child. No parent should be forced to send his or her child to a school that cannot adequately serve his/her child's needs; yet hundreds of thousands of parents across the country and tens of thousands of parents right here in Kentucky are forced to do just that. Parental options in the form of magnet schools, intradistrict and interdistrict public school choice, and charter schools all provide public school options for parents. I believe that as we work to improve our traditional public school systems we must also work to increase the availability of options for Kentucky parents both inside our traditional systems and outside. All parents deserve school options; regardless of their zip code, education level, income, or social capital. Quality public charter schools can be instrumental in giving parents across Kentucky access to public school options.

We'll keep an eye out as his rationale develops.

Lewis is an Outreach Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). BAEO is a national pro-voucher, pro-charter, pro-tuition tax credit group that has recently targeted Kentucky for activism.