Charters can save education

The Herald-Times ran a guest opinion piece titled, “Efforts for charters hurt public schools” Wednesday, warning us of the evils of charter schools, further educational accountability and the private school voucher system.
Unfortunately, I was not able to read the entire column as it required a subscription. And if there is one publication I would rather not pay for, it’s the Herald-Times.

The guest columnist is a local mother and a self-acclaimed advocate of public education with a child who attends Templeton Elementary. From what I could glean, she believes competition, in any sense, hampers the public education system from undertaking its noble role of schooling the general population.
I ardently disagree. But first I need to clarify in what ways I support, and what ways I don’t support, the three evils she mentioned.

In terms of increased accountability, I am all for it. The education of children cannot be taken lightly.

Of course, the rebuttal is that teachers need to be free from often one-dimensional standards that don’t accurately reflect their ability as an educator.

Though this may be true in certain instances, the overall benefit of higher standards to the student outweigh the possible hardship placed on the teacher. I
think most of us could agree on this.

I also support the existence of private schools as a matter of principle. However, I would never make the incredibly foolish claim that they are the sole answer to our educational needs as a society.

They do not possess the power to change the undereducated and underprivileged segment of our country because of the price tag of private education.

You might argue for the enactment of a voucher system, like the one we have in Indiana. But you then run into a problem of affiliation.

Private schools have the power to affiliate and operate under the banner of any sect or group they wish, be it religious or not. That means to offer a suitable environment for every student you would need several, if not more, different types of private schools in every community. It simply isn’t feasible.

That being said, I should make clear that I support the voucher system fully, just not as an end all, be all solution.

That leaves only her third evil, the charter school. The charter school is interesting.

Charter schools resemble public schools in that they are funded by the public and are required to be non-sectarian — meaning they can’t affiliate with any group or sect — yet also have a similarity with private schools in that they are independent.
They have more freedom to create standards and manage their educators, and reflect the wishes of the immediate local community.

In many ways, they are the best of both worlds. This is why I can’t agree with the Herald-Times’ guest columnist. They shouldn’t be seen as a threat to the public school system, but an extension of it.

Perhaps this new avenue of learning will solve many of the problems facing the current system like falling academic achievement, ballooning budget deficits and teacher administration conflicts. We shouldn’t forget that at one point public schools were seen as novel and threatening. Today, they represent many of our most valued democratic beliefs.

I don’t want an end to the public school system. I want a reawakening.

cgerst@indiana.edu