Charter Schools

Every parent wants the best education for their child. Most parents have no idea where to get it. If you live in a low income neighborhood odds are the public schools in your area are terrible. So they think, Private school! But that’s too expensive and chances are they can’t afford it. The next best thing is a charter school. So they think.                            

Charter schools are independently run schools that are funded by the government. Charter schools are free but like private schools, spaces in charter schools are very limited. By law Charter schools most hold a lottery. Anyone can start a charter school. Parents, teachers and even community leaders may submit a proposal to open a school. “In New York there are three authorities: the New York State Board of Regents, the State University of New York Board of Trustees, and the local board of education”  (“Frequently Asked”) they approve the opening of a new charter school.

Let’s be honest parents are running to the opportunity to anything other than their zone school. Charter schools are smaller than public schools, have less students, therefore offer smaller class sizes. That also means your child has more one on one time with their teacher. Charter schools tend to cater to the locals. For example if the community the school is in, is big on baseball, the charter school will have emphasis on their baseball team. Charter schools have to meet certain public school guidelines but not all of them. Mainly they have the keep the authorities that approved them happy by maintaining high score and leading the school properly. Other than that they are free to teach the student in different ways to help obtain their goals (“GreatSchool”). Any parent would jump to that opportunity.

Unlike public schools, charter school teachers lack a union. So teachers are forced to work a ton of hours for very little pay. Because of that most charter school teachers tend to change profession. Furthermore, most teachers in charter school are new hires and have little to no experience teaching (Russom). This then compromises the grades in charter school. Not saying that the quality of teachers aren’t good because they are new but older teachers normally know what works for them, while new teachers are still “figuring it out”. Differing from many peoples beliefs, charter schools don’t always produce better grades than public schools. In fact many charters schools close down due to academic failures (and many more reason).

Parents need a better understanding of what a charter school is. They need to do a deeper study into the schools they are sending their children too. Just because it’s a charter school doesn’t mean it the best.

Work cited

“Frequently Asked Questions About Public, Charter Schools”. uncommonschools.org. N.p. N.d. Web. April 24, 2014

GreatSchool Staff. “Seven Essentials about Charter Schools”. Greatschools.org. GreatSchools Inc. N.d. Web. April 24, 2014

Russom, Gillian. “The case against charter schools”. International Socialist Review. N.p. May 2010. Web. April 24, 2014