Magna Charters and Obama's Direction
The President is Driving Education Reform With Charters
Jun 23, 2009
A charter is a lease and the word is used most frequently with private transportation: Buses, planes, boats. It is confusing to associate the word with public schools, but charter schools have been around since 1991, and President Barack Obama loves them. In the 2008 third presidential debate against John McCain, Obama said, “Sen. McCain and I actually agree on charter schools. I doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois.”
Obama doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois? That would make the state a Magna Charter, funding scores of chartered public schools authorized by the legislature and paid for with tax-payer dollars. Theoretically, organizers, usually businesses, submit their educational plan to a school board where they are presented with a “charter.” Once these schools receive their charters they are classified as a separate authorized school body - or a nonprofit business. They are not accountable to any district or the state. There is no more accountability than there is at any other independent school; which is to say it’s strictly voluntary.
In fact, a law, promoted by then-governor Jeb Bush and passed in 2006, allowed Florida charter-school chiefs to consult a self-made agency; The Florida Schools of Excellence Commission , which permitted even more relaxed accountability and approval for starting charter schools. Is it worth it? To determine the answer, take a look at President Obama’s charter school models for the country.
Obama’s touted Charter Schools in Chicago, do not, in fact, demonstrate any measurable educational gains according to a 2008 technical report, titled," Achievement and Attainment in Chicago Charter Schools." A few facts highlighted from the report, include:
- On average, the prior achievement levels of students transferring to charter schools differ only slightly from the citywide average and from the achievement levels of peers in the district-managed CPS schools they exited
- Transfers from traditional public schools to charter schools in Chicago do not increase racial stratification across the schools
- Consistent with similar studies in other locations, only small differences in average achievement gains were found between charter schools and CPS schools, and these differences do not point in consistent directions.
Worse, the possibilities of corruption and the lack of education standards in charter schools are self evident to anyone willing to take a close look. According to a June 2009 in-depth report, titled “Missing the Grade,” by Orlando Sentinel staff writers Vicki McClure and Mary Shanklin, “Florida is home to 300 charter schools…scores of them continue getting education dollars despite records of low student achievement and financial mismanagement.”
The article cites facts stating that nearly half of Florida’s charters have operating deficits and that charter schools remain open despite rampant theft, bungled grades and falsified attendance records. Charter schools are not required to hire certified teachers or administrators nor are they required to administer standardized tests. Most charter schools in Florida report students who reach acceptable grade levels in Reading and Math at nearly 50% below the percentages comparable students score in public schools.
Why does Obama like charter schools? Probably for the same reason he likes across-the-board merit pay for teachers, even if their students are poor, migrant, and mentally or emotionally handicapped. Education leaders, particularly education unions, have waited to outline the challenges educators. According to a May 2009 blog published by The New York Times, titled ,"Obama Takes on Teacher Unions," by Nicholas Kristof, teacher unions have hestitated to take a stand even when Obama's proposed policies, "make teacher unions nervous." The time has come for education professionals, union and nonunion, to begin the job of writing letters, publishing articles, and making their voices heard. That is the only way to provide the president with a balanced viewpoint.
In short, it is time for the president to get some direction from educators and to stop driving chartered education instead of ethical school reform. The best place for him to learn is the cornerstone of a free society: Public schools.
