President Obama's Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, could not have been more clear.
"I'm not a fan of charter schools. I'm a fan of good charter schools."
To come out for or against a form of school governance regardless of results, particularly for or against a different way of governing various PUBLIC SCHOOLS, is asinine. This is the education equivalent of theologians arguing over how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. The kids don't care. The issue ought to be good schools. The goal ought to be good schools in every neighborhood. And if that isn't happening, then I for one am not defending anything about the status quo.
There is nothing innately worthwhile in a school having a charter. But neither is there anything inherently wrong with it. If a school with a charter is a better school than what is currently in place, then out of what possible concern for children would one cling desperately to what is not working? It boggles the mind.
Those who politicize the question of whether a school is or is not a charter might be smart. They might be experienced, and they might have their reasons. They might even have what they consider to be great and compelling reasons with Power Point's most elaborate special effects. But what can those reasons have to do with children or with education? What possible concern for children would insist that they should wait 'just a few more years' for things to get better? The children who were in primary school at the passage of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century have graduated from (or dropped out of) high school. Meanwhile, the State of Oregon is still modifying the State Standards and the State Assessments. Nearly a decade into No Child Left Behind, 30% of Oregon's 10th graders are scoring LOW or VERY LOW on the State Math Assessment! This means that they are scoring below the 8th grade cutoff score! And 40% (at least) are failing to earn a diploma (it's hard to know the precise number because the federal government is just wrapping up their work on the definition of a dropout!).
This is not a time for dogma. The President and his Secretary of State have put party politics aside and have come out in favor of good charter schools even if it means embracing a possibility that has broad support among conservatives. If this seems odd or makes people feel uncomfortable, I believe it is because we are unused to seeing the well being of kids put front and center regardless of political fallout.
We can't afford to keep planning and wishing for better schools. We can't afford for this to be a left/right issue. A new school year is already started. It will be over before you know it. At its close, will we have made a year's progress toward better schooling for all children, or will we only have generated the next School Improvement Plan?
