[Local-Maine-Schools] Response to critique of public charter school legislation

[Rick Barter]

Charter schools that focus on particular interests, talents etc sound
enticing, but the record of charter schools, to date, often do not appear to
meet hopes and expectations.

 Diane Ravitch, an education historian who had worked in the George H Bush
Education department, (and author of *The Death and Life of the Great
American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education,")
* has a lot to say about charter school, and whether they are the best way
to better our public education.

*Independent* research done on charter schools over recent years showing
pretty negative results, may surprise many, and the fact that charter
schools often can cherry-pick their students makes them sound very
un-democratic.

When these charter schools are not under the supervision of local elected
officials, or local administrators, (rather they answer only to this
governor's hand-picked directors)  why must local school districts bear the
financial burden of what might be described as experiments that already have
an uncertain academic record at best, and also have a record of leaving
behind those students who are needy?

As a parent, I am happy to have my tax dollars go towards maintaining and
improving our public schools and improving public education in general, but
I hesitate to support educational experiments that already have a dubious
track record.

*"The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and
Choice Are Undermining Education"* by Diane Ravitch ... is a worthwhile read
for anyone concerned with the future of public education.

Here's a short quote from a Wall Street Journal Piece by Ravitch:
Why I Changed My Mind About School Reform Federal testing has narrowed
education and charter schools have failed to live up to their promise.*"When
charter schools started in the early 1990s, their supporters promised that
they would unleash a new era of innovation and effectiveness. Now there are
some 5,000 charter schools, which serve about 3% of the nation's students,
and the Obama administration is pushing for many more.*

*But the promise has not been fulfilled. Most studies of charter schools
acknowledge that they vary widely in quality. The only major national
evaluation of charter schools was carried out by Stanford economist Margaret
Raymond and funded by pro-charter foundations. Her group found that compared
to regular public schools, 17% of charters got higher test scores, 46% had
gains that were no different than their public counterparts, and 37% were
significantly worse.*
**

*Charter evaluations frequently note that as compared to neighboring public
schools, charters enroll smaller proportions of students whose English is
limited and students with disabilities. The students who are hardest to
educate are left to regular public schools, which makes comparisons between
the two sectors unfair. The higher graduation rate posted by charters often
reflects the fact that they are able to "counsel out" the lowest performing
students; many charters have very high attrition rates (in some, 50%-60% of
those who start fall away). Those who survive do well, but this is not a
model for public education, which must educate all children."*
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On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 1:27 PM, judith d jones <jdjones at tidewater.net>wrote:

>              Many people are proposing ways to introduce new ideas,
> approaches, and reforms in Maine to address this lack of student
> achievement. LD 1188 suggests a new grant program to help superintendents
> bring back kids who have dropped out.  LD 1488 proposes to allow
> “innovative schools and districts.”
>
>      LD 1553 would allow public charter schools, which are a proven
> mechanism for developing innovative public options.  They are voluntary,
> open to all children without admissions tests, free to parents and
> affordable for families of all income levels.  More than 5,000 chartered
> schools in 40 states now enroll 1.6 million children.
>
>              With more than 15 years of experience in other states and a
> continued commitment to identifying best practices, LD 1553 builds a solid
> foundation for public charter schools in Maine.
>
> One of the big lessons learned from other states is the importance of the
> agencies that authorize charter schools and hold them accountable for
> performance.  The Maine bill provides for a rigorous application process,
> continuous monitoring by the authorizer, and a detailed process for renewal
> and revocation decisions.  Three types of authorizers would be allowed:  local
> school boards, Maine colleges and universities that offer an education
> degree, and a state charter authorizing commission under the State Board of
> Education.
>
>             We frequently hear concerns about the role of local school
> boards and their relationships with public charter schools.  Traditional
> school boards are an important part of a state’s education system.  Under
> the proposed Maine public charter school enabling legislation, local school
> boards could choose to act as authorizers and contract with nonprofit
> charter schools to offer various education programs.  They could also
> collaborate with each other to develop regional programs to meet the needs
> of more students.  They could use the charter school mechanism to convert
> an existing school to a chartered school, to allow more flexibility in
> operations, and even to save a small school from closure.  Examples of
> this approach exist in rural areas in several other states.
>
>             Everyone should know that the wording of the bill he analyzed
> was published by the Legislature’s Revisor’s Office without several
> substantive changes that the sponsor, Senator Garrett Mason, had submitted.
> Senator Mason plans to submit a “replacement” bill at the hearing on May
> 12.  We have compiled those amendments in a clean version of the bill,
> which can be downloaded from our web site, www.mainecharterschools.org.  Several
> of these changes address points raised in Brian’s critique.  Among other
> changes, they clarify that public charter schools will be responsible for
> all aspects of special education; that public charter schools will
> contribute to costs of any extracurricular programs their students
> participate in at local district schools; and that public charter schools
> need to include discussions with the SAU where they might locate in their
> application to a chartering authority.
>
>             We are all working for the same goal: To improve public
> education in Maine and give all of our students the best chance for success.
> Public schools are an important tool that can give educators the room they
> need to innovate, increase parental involvement and choice, and help our
> children reach their fullest potential. It is our hope that the people
> concerned with improving public education will consider public charter
> schools with an open mind.
>
>             Judith Jones, Maine Association for Public Charter Schools
>
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