Do Charter Schools Skim the Best Students?

Once in awhile someone thinks of a clever name to call a rival, and it sticks. So it seems that 'skimming' is a charge that sticks to charter schools...at least among those who don't stop to think about it.

What is skimming? It's the practice of choosing only the most desirable students and screening out the others. Kind of a mean-spirited notion, that there are undesirable students out there whose access to a quality education one might want to limit.

Do Charter Schools skim? What about other, non-charter schools? I suppose it depends to some degree on one's perspective.

Do private schools 'skim'? Well, the easiest way into many private schools is to have enough money to pay tuition. Many private schools offer tuition assistance, and they might be considered to be skimming if they only give assistance to those students who are deemed 'worthy'...perhaps a good athlete or someone who they are sure won't cause any disruptions, or someone with a good GPA...I have no idea what they do. But I wouldn't call it skimming. I'd call it being private.

Wealthy school districts certainly could be said to skim 'skim', if simply by virtue of the cost of moving into the district! If wealth correlates to achievement (which is what the 'skimmer' epitaph is based on) then real estate costs are probably the most ubiquitous skimming method in the country. And what about the fact that some students are tempted to 'pretend' to live in a wealthy district in order to attend a great school...is that school guilty of skimming?

When schools allow inter-district transfers, students are usually changing districts for a very specific reason. Is that skimming? Is it skimming if a student is allowed an inter-district transfer in order to attend a great dance program?

Some large districts allow transfers among neighborhood schools. Are the more successful schools skimming the best students from the other neighborhoods? When they are all done, do all of the schools exhibit the same demographics and the same achievement levels? Nobody from one of those districts should ever utter the 'sk...' word!

After even limited review, one would have to say that skimming, if that's what it should be called, is rampant. Of course there is skimming going on. Anywhere two schools are within commuting distance of the same house and one is out-performing the other, some amount of 'skimming' is going to happen.

Is this a fair charge to level against charter schools? So far as I can see, charter schools are the only institutions in Oregon in which skimming is effectively eliminated by legal and procedural safeguards. All charter school admissions are determined by lottery! How many other schools do that? Is that how scholarships are granted? Is that how banks decide who can move into what neighborhoods?

Charters don't have a wealthy neighborhood to do the skimming for them, they can't offer tuition breaks as incentives to attract desirable families, and they can't legally screen applicants. If we put name calling aside and just look at the facts, charters are literally the least likely 'skimmers' in the entire system!

Skimmers. Nice piece of rhetoric for those who want to take choices away from parents. Let's not fall for it.