The idea of charter schools has been a controversial topic
since it originated in 1988. Mr. Ray Budde established charter schools in
an attempt to reform public schools. The NJ Department of Education
states the charter school law was passed to give parents a choice for their
children's education and intended to: improve student learning and
achievement, increase the availability of choice to parents and students when
selecting a learning environment, encourage the use of different and innovative
learning methods, establish a new system of accountability for schools, make
the school the unit for educational improvement, and establish new professional
opportunities for teachers. In 1991, Minnesota was the first state to
pass a charter school law and in 1992, California followed. Katherine
Merseth states, in her book entitled Inside
Urban Charter Schools, "Charter schools are similar to traditional
public schools in several ways: they receive government funds to operate, they
may not engage in religious instruction, and they are open to all interested students."
While charter schools have similarities to the traditional
public schools, they also have differences. For example, a group of
private individuals may open and govern a charter school, the leaders of these
organizations may have little or no formal training in education, many charter
school founders are nonprofit entrepreneurs and these are schools of
choice. Charter schools are primary or
secondary schools founded by nonprofit groups, universities, government
entities, teachers, parents, or activist who feel restricted by the traditional
public school setting. These schools are
authorized to function once they have received a charter, a statutorily defined
performance contract outlining and stating the schools vision, mission, goals,
program, methods of assessments and methods to measure success. These
schools make up their own rules and regulations, are not governed by the
statutes that apply to other public schools, and are also considered nonprofit
entities. Students attending charter schools are there by choice and are not
subject to pay tuition. Although their enrollment is based on a
lottery-based system, the lottery is said to be open to all students. In
2008, it was reported by the survey of US charter schools, that 59% of charter
schools had a waiting list averaging 198 students.
There are
many pros and cons to charter schools.
Pros
|
Cons
|
Provide families with public school choice
options giving parents the ability to choose the school best suited for their
child
|
Small in size and have limited numbers so they
can only provide some families with public school choice options, raising
issues of fairness and equity
|
Can act as laboratories of reform identifying
successful practices that could be replicated by traditional district public
schools
|
Successful reform models such as New American
Schools and Core Knowledge have already been identified. Why not attempt these reforms in existing
schools? If rules and regulations are
so burdensome, they should be waived for all public schools.
|
Competition within the school system is
created, pressuring districts to reassess their educational practices
|
Have an unfair advantage when competing
against district public schools since they tend to be smaller and free from
regulations
|
Will lead to overall systemic reform through
the pressure and competition of the choice mechanism
|
Too limited in scope to adequately pressure
the entire public school system
|
Unlike traditional public schools are held
accountable; if they do not perform, they are not renewed
|
Are freed from rules and regulations intended
to ensure quality in traditional public school
|
Charter schools were instituted to reform tradition public
schools, however, it will continue to be an argumentative topic. Even though most charter schools have waiting
list and it seems as if they are better than the traditional public school, as
of March 2009, 12.5%, over 5000 US charter schools have closed due to problems
in one or more of the following areas: academic, financial and managerial. Still as of September 2012, there are over 100
charter schools serving approximately 25,000 students in New Jersey. Each charter school's rate of success is
unique. Therefore, before choosing a charter, it important to learn about
the particular school of interest.
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