Charter Schools

May 27, 2004

How charter schools benefit students and teachers

Dear Educators,

As you know, legislators recently passed a law making our state 40th in the nation to approve charter schools. Your union, the Washington Education Association, would like to overturn the law and cites three main concerns. Here is a brief response to the WEA's concerns about the new public schools.

WEA says: "Instead of pouring millions of dollars into expensive experiments like charter schools, we should invest in proven steps to improve the quality of public schools like reducing class sizes and making sure there is a well-qualified teacher in every classroom."

The truth: Charter schools aren't exactly "experiments" anymore. Nearly 3,000 charter schools serve more than 650,000 students around the country. More than half of these schools serve the neediest children, and numerous studies have shown they're doing an excellent job providing specialized educational opportunities.

As for the "proven steps" we're taking toward improvement in traditional public schools:

The factors that are most important to ensure academic achievement for students are 1) excellent teachers, 2) safe and orderly classrooms, 3) high academic standards, 4) strong principal-leaders, 5) academic accountability, and 6) parental involvement. These cannot be achieved if we resist change and cling to the status quo. Flexibility and innovation in professional staff, curriculum, academic sequencing, assessments and location are critical.

Public charter schools provide this opportunity for flexibility and innovation. They drive more dollars to the classroom where teachers and students are doing the hard work of education. By contrast, academic excellence is suffocated in the highly regulated system the WEA wants to preserve.

Unfortunately, the WEA has a financial incentive to oppose charter schools. Unlike traditional public schools, charter school teachers will not be forced to join the union. They will have a choice. This will likely result in less dues for the WEA, but that's no excuse for depriving children and teachers of important academic and professional opportunities.

WEA says: "Voters have rejected charter school initiatives twice in the last eight years. The Legislature should not have passed a law that goes against the clearly expressed will of the people."

The truth: The fact that a new idea isn't immediately understood is a poor reason to discard it. The first resolution calling for women's suffrage was passed at a convention in 1848, a full 70 years before a constitutional amendment finally made it a reality. During those years, the women's suffrage movement was defeated time and time again, but the women leading it never gave up because they knew what they sought was right. Good ideas will stand the test of time and opposition.

The two previous attempts to bring charter schools to our state weren't defeated in a vacuum. WEA officials spent hundreds of thousands of dollars taken from mandatory teacher dues to run massive campaigns that put doubt in the minds of teachers and fear in the minds of voters.

WEA says: "Charter schools would weaken existing public schools by draining more than $100 million a year in funding from existing local schools."

The truth: Charter schools are public schools and they will be funded with dollars that are already earmarked to follow students who transfer from one public school district to another. A new charter school has the same impact on existing public schools that a new traditional public school would have. Moreover, because the federal government provides $450,000 in planning grants and start-up funding for most charter schools, overall public education spending actually increases under the new law.

Charter schools cannot receive any levy or bond money unless local school boards agree to officially sponsor them and local voters approve.

When an existing public school converts to a charter school, the same teachers are serving the same students in the same building. The schools are staffed (and often managed) by certified teachers. The major changes include less bureaucratic red tape, clearly defined goals, and more meaningful accountability.

Only the WEA could look at that situation and say with a straight face that charter schools are "draining money" from public schools.

All that said, the most important reason to support charter schools is that our children desperately need more high quality public school choices. The achievement gap in our state is large and persistent. High school graduation rates for most minority students are less than 50 percent. These facts show that thousands of students in Washington need alternatives to the traditional public school delivery system. A decade's worth of research shows us that public charter schools meet the needs of many students, especially those who are hardest to reach.

Charter schools put students first. The WEA puts itself first, teachers second, and students third. Why not embrace these successful new schools? Good teachers and good students have nothing to fear and everything to gain.

Regards,

Marsha Richards
Director, Education Reform Center
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
PO Box 552
Olympia, WA 98507
Phone: 360-956-3482
Fax: 360-352-1874
Email: mrichards@effwa.org
Web: www.effwa.org

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org