The Charter School Wars --- Why Public Schools Hate Charter School

Many public school bureaucrats hate charter schools. It is not difficult to see why.

Charter schools embarrass local public schools. These schools often do a better job of educating students for less money. For example, in school year 1999-2000, the Ohio charter schools got $ 2,300 per pupil less in tax funds that the local public schools. Charter schools therefore spotlight no regular public schools' to provide students a decent education with more tax money owed to them.

Charter schools also taxpayers' money away from public schools. Each time a child moves to a charter school, a former public school child loses an average of $ 7,500 per year in taxes.

So what local school districts do in response? School authorities often harass charter schools by reducing funding, denying them access to educational services or equipment, putting new restrictions on existing charter schools by limiting the number of new schools, or weaken the charter-school laws.

They harass charter schools in other ways. For example, create convoluted application procedures or provide new school applicants sufficient time to process their applications. They also use city agencies, zoning commissions, fire or harass the schools with regulations. For example, Washington DC school district harassed a local charter school with a theme of asbestos which has forced the school to spend more than $ 10 million in restructuring costs. Local school districts have an arsenal of regulatory weapons with which to harass charter schools or reduce their number.

Unions initially opposed charter schools. However, when charter schools became popular, the unions changed tactics. Now grudgingly give approval to charter schools under certain conditions. Often push for control over local schools, collective bargaining for teachers, charter school, or other restrictions.

Some teacher unions have renewed their opposition to open these schools with their usual causes. The Ohio Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit seeking to declare Ohio charter school laws unconstitutional. Ohio charter schools have been dragged into this lawsuit in order to force them to lose valuable time, money and resources on legal battles. Unions use these processes to try to stop or slow down the movement of the charter school. In addition, Washington State, and some other states still have laws Charter School in part because of strong opposition from teacher unions and other interest groups who oppose charter schools.

As a result of this harassment by state education bureaucrats, local school districts and teacher unions, there are still enough charter schools to meet demand. There is a constant waiting list of these schools, especially in low-income minority neighborhoods. In the school year 2001-02, the average charter school enrolled about 242 students. Approximately 69 percent of these schools had waiting lists average of 166 students per school, or more than half of schooling.

More than 750,000 students currently enrolled in the Charter may seem like much, but this number represents just over 1.7 per cent of forty-five million children who attend public school each year. But charter schools have been around for over ten years.

As with the good, how long will it take, if ever, for charter schools to come to your neighborhood? Fifty years? Parents should consider whether they want to wait that long while their children suffer through twelve years of public school.

Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.