Charter Schools: More vs. a Moratorium
August 15, 2006 08:54 AM
It's time to stop creating new charter schools, says D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey. His rationale: "It would be a mistake to continue to grow without having a handle on quality."
Janey's call comes a day after the Washington Post reported that the U.S. attorney's office is "investigating whether the D.C. Board of Education's executive director of charter schools funneled federal funds to personal acquaintances working with the schools that she helped monitor." The chairman of the D.C. Public Charter School Board argues against a moratorium, claiming that parental demand -- 25% of public school students in D.C. attend charter schools -- is cause for the city to allow more charter schools.
This dynamic -- let's build more vs. let's fix the ones we have -- also guides the debate in Ohio, which released achievement data today showing charter school students lagging behind students who attend other public schools.
Charter school advocates, including some who make money from charter schools, have called on Ohio legislators to increase the cap on the number of charter schools. On the other side, because of concerns about ethical violations, mismanagement and poor quality, a coalition of public school advocates, including the Ohio Federation of Teachers, organized a "Keep the Cap" campaign.
Neither Ohio nor D.C. does enough to hold charter school operators accountable for student achievement and the use of tax dollars. Yet charter school advocates continue in both places continue to call for more growth and less oversight, even in light of mediocre student achievement and occasional fraud. That "see no evil" attitude -- not the calls for more accountability -- is the charter school movement's biggest threat.
Comments
Theoretically, the number of charter schools and accountability shouldn't be tied together. Whether there is 1 charter school or 1000, there should be accountability. The only reasons to have the two issues coupled is to build capacity for accountability in an oversight structure and for political (not collective) bargaining. On the other hand, both of those are fairly important.
Posted by: Sherman Dorn | August 15, 2006 03:09 PM
You left out an important piece of information. The charter schools in DC that are under investigation are run by the DC Board of Education, not the DC Public Charter School Board. They are two separate entities.
So, in other words, the ones that are involved in shady dealings are overseen by the same people who run DCPS.
That just adds an element to your post I think the public shouldn't be left in the dark about.
Schools that are run under DCPCSB are held accountable by a hefty compliance review: something I've never seen happen in a traditional public school before.
I agree with this blog on many issues, however, there was some missing information from this post that caused it to be very misleading.
Posted by: Benjamin Whelan-Morin | August 15, 2006 03:49 PM
Benjamin, I'm happy to hear from a charter school teacher and advocate who acknowledges the need for strong oversight. Some charter school supporters, however, do not welcome oversight. For example, the Center on Education Reform ranked DC's charter school law the best in the nation -- even though the law fails to prevent the abuses that led Superintendent Janey to call for a moratorium.
Sherman, you're right that keeping or increasing "the cap" isn't all there is to charter school oversight. Under Ohio state law, a charter authorizer in Toledo with a handful of staffers is allowed to sponsor schools in Youngstown -- 170 miles away. The authorizer can get up to 3% of the Youngtown school's funding. That kind of oversight structure leads to problems.
Posted by: John at AFT | August 15, 2006 04:38 PM
I think you missed my point. Janey is calling for a moratorium on charter schools run by DCPCSB. It is the DCPS School Board that is being investigated. They are two different political entities and you are speaking as if they are one.
Where there has not been enough oversight has been the charter schools run by the traditional school board that runs DCPS, not the DCPCSB. They are two completely different and separate governing bodies. That is an important piece of information.
Posted by: Benjamin Whelan-Morin | August 16, 2006 07:58 AM