Hi all. I know that I’m really new to this, so I’m not sure if this is entirely appropriate, but here goes…
I’m doing a report on charter schools for my college writing class. I was wondering if anyone could help me find any good links to a few sites. Any opinions on the topic or horror stories from our oh so wonderful public education system would be great too.
Thanx,
Star Light
I have an opinion that charter schools suck. If you do find any “horror stories” from our education system, there is a major reason for that, LACK OF FUNDING. The answer is not to take money away from 97% of the rest of the kids so that the parents of the 3% going to private schools can get a down payment. It is not helping these inner city kids that it is supposedly doing.
What ends up happening is money is taken away from already underfunded public schools. Then the kids going to those public schools end up with a bad education, so then tax payers end up having to support those kids when they’re older because they aren’t educated!
Giving up on 97% of school kids is not the answer.
Dignan, I think you’re talking about vouchers; parents who send their kids to private schools feel that they should not have to pay the portion of local income tax that funds public education. They shouldn’t have to pay because they aren’t using it - type of idea.
Charter schools, in true form, are just schools with a specific focus, not much different from the Magnet idea of the mid 70’s. However, charter schools vary in adminstration. some have entrance requirements, some do not. Some are funded through the public schools, some are privatized. Think along the lines of Saturn automotive company. They are bankrolled by General Motors, but are not a part of GM. They are mosty autonomous.
The voucher issue is often inextricably linked to charter schools, but is not mutually inclusive with charter schools.
(BTW, I agree; vouchers is like suspending a kid from school because they have too many absences.)
oops, forgot to add the important stuff!
Charter schools run on a charter (duh) as opposed to the set of policies dictated by Boards of Education. This is what provides for the autonomy. The charter is their “constitution” if you will, their list of policies. These may or may not be in line with local school board policies. For example, a charter school’s charter may dictate such things as an established dress code, or that all students will take a specific set of classes in a specific sequence.
Hope this helps.
Crap. I did it again. I’m too trigger happy on the “submit reply” button.
There’s another “aspect” to vouchers. Some systems/states are toying with the idea of giving vouchers to parents of students in failing schools. The idea is like saying “We’re sorry that our schools are not able to give your kid the quality education she deserves, so we’re going to give you a check for $xxxx to apply to private school tuition should you choose to enroll your kid in a private institution.”
This is a bit different than the tax break thing.
Florida (actually, soon-to-be First Brother Jeb Bush) has been pushing this. He sees it as an accountability issue.
If you want to follow up on this aspect of vouchers, let me know, I do a fair amount of work on that in my office and can send you some links/names/email addresses of people in the Florida State Dept. of Education (no names that you couldn’t get off of their web site)
Yeah that’s it. Cheerfully withdrawn.