Mila Tamminga
Mr. Fonash
English 137H
December 6, 2014
Goodbye to Public Education?
In 2000, the Gates Foundation decided to fix education. Two billion dollars,
800,000 students, and eight years later, Gates stood in front of an audience of one
hundred and announced that his effort to break underperforming large schools into
smaller charter schools had failed (Barkan). Instead of a nation-changing initiative, his
work had become a mess of plummeting student performance and teacher satisfaction
(Barkan). Gates’ initiative wasn’t just one lone failure—it reflects a much more massive
shift in public education, exemplified by the rise of charter schools.
A charter school is a school that is publically funded but privately run, usually
with some sort of catch like foreign language immersion or technology innovation.
Charter schools are named as such because they must be given a charter by a public
institution such as a local school district, a public university, or the State Board of
Education. 20 years ago, there was no such thing a charter school in America
(Kuczynski-Brown). Then, in 1991, Minnesota passed the first charter school law
(Kuczynski-Brown). Today, around two and a half million students in America attend
one of these new schools (Kuczynski-Brown). In Pennsylvania alone, there are 154
charter schools open currently (“Charter Schools”).
Number of students enrolled in U.S. public charter schools: 1999 through 2012
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public
Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 1999–2000 through 2011–12.
However, the explosion of charter schools (and the public’s enthusiastic support
for said explosion) is far more than just a demographic change in the public education
system; on a much more fundamental level, it reveals a change in American’s
perception of the relationship between education and the public sphere and reflects
their growing preference for private over public endeavors.
In some ways, the very foundation of a charter school rejects the public
government’s hand in education. Traditionally, schools could be divided cleanly into
public or private--today, that line is blurred. What has destroyed this division the most
significantly is also what many charter school advocates would would consider the
fundamental difference between traditional public schools and charters: freedom from
many government regulations. Charter schools, depending on their home state, do not
have to deal with unionization laws, many curriculum laws, or even basic laws
concerning classroom structure and teacher regulations, for example. Instead, they
have a far higher level of autonomy than any traditional public school--yet they still
operate partially within the public sphere and receive public support. It is the mixing of
public and private that makes charter schools so vastly different from anything that
came before them.
Despite receiving state funds, which makes them a public school, charter are
founded on a basis that much more closely resembles a private business; they make
independent financial decisions, often receiving significant sums of money from private
donors. Take, for example, the reform effort by the Gates Foundation that was
described earlier--private philanthropy money like that adds up to four billion dollars per
year in public K-12 education (Barkan). Many of these foundations have put full faith in
the potential of charter schools to revolutionize American education. Even in the early
days of education, education professor Michael Klonsky recalls, “Gates funding was so
large and so widespread, it seemed for a time as if every initiative in the small-schools
and charter world was being underwritten by the foundation” (Barkan). On the most
literal level, charter’s schools’ new type of “public” education is less publicly funded than
a traditional public school that is purely funded by tax money. On a more ideological
level, private money also means private influence. No longer are public agencies
leading the efforts to fix our schools; instead, groups like the Gates Foundation or the
Broad Foundation are able to use their funds to shape the future of public education
much more directly than ever before.
The involvement of the private sphere points towards the reason why charter
schools have become so popular--and that popularity is certainly not insignificant.
Americans haven’t just sent their kids to charter schools--they have also, for the most
part, wholeheartedly embraced charter schools as a way to fix an education they have
been repeatedly told is broken. In 2014, the Gallup Poll reported that 70% of Americans
support the use of charter schools as a part of education reform, and a majority believe
they provide students with a better education than public schools (Anandwala). In some
ways, this is a shockingly large embracement of a relatively new, untested form of
school. However, looking at the differences between traditional public and private
schools (fewer government regulations, more privatized funding, more private
influence), it becomes apparent that the rising preference for charter schools is
reflective of a broader rise in American mistrust and dislike for their own government.
The American public has previously embraced the need for education reform, but
mostly through specific government efforts. There was the 2001 No Child Left Behind
Act by Congress under then-President George W. Bush, which strengthened federal
government’s hand in education standards. More recently, the 2009 Race to the Top
Initiative and 2010 Common Core standards have come into action. In some cases,
charter schools even make up a part the governmental reforms, such as in Obama’s
Race to the Top initiative, which includes increasing the number of charter schools
allowed in each state. These are efforts that work to raise and unify national standards
for student achievement, turn around low-performing schools, and change evaluations
for teachers and schools: many of the same goals as charter schools.
However, charter schools have grown far bigger than (and broken free from) any
government effort, becoming a fundamentally different kind of change. Most
government efforts could not be called a paradigm shift; they worked within the same
boundaries as everything that came before them. They have also not been backed by
such a massive shift in public opinion. For example, as it matured into its later years, No
Child Left Behind was widely acknowledged as ineffective, if not outright harmful; a
2012 Gallup Poll revealed that 67% of Americans believed the act either harmed or
made no difference in the quality of public education (Zhao). Americans just are not
enthusiastic about government efforts to fix education--and why would they be, when
their overall feelings towards their government are even worse?
In a nation that gives its own elected Congress an 11% approval rating, it only
makes sense that a quasi-private education system gained popularity so quickly
(Jones). Charter schools are not only a step away from traditional public education
itself; they are also a step away from traditional government-run reform efforts.
Americans who no longer have faith in their government’s ability to effectively enact
change are logically more inclined to favor a more privatized alternative in charter
schools. They are supposed to have the allure of what people like about public schools:
no tuition, accountability to the public, responsibility to use funds appropriately, etc. But
they also have an entirely new degree of separation from government control. This step
away from the government is, at the core, what makes charters so appealing to an
America that is disillusioned with its government. It is a compromise that reflects a much
bigger shift in the American psyche than just a change in education policy.
The question, then, becomes whether or not the public’s faith in charter schools
is justified. Are they really the powerful, different new force of change that can save
struggling schools and revolutionize our education system? The answer, unfortunately,
is not that clear. Some charter schools are fabulously successful. Take, for example,
Leadership Prep Ocean Hill Charter School, a Brooklyn elementary school that defies
its rough neighborhood to boast achievement rates over twice the city average ("School
Profile"). Or the Bronx’s Icahn 2 Charter School, which has the small class sizes and
innovative teaching techniques that led to some of the best scores in the city last year
("Icahn Charter School 2" ). Or the South Bronx Classical Charter School, which
teaches every student Latin starting in the third grade ("Classical Charter Schools.").
(That second one, interestingly, was funded primarily by a billion businessman
(Barkan).)
These are undeniably three fantastic schools, exemplifying the best of charter
schools fulfilling their promises. They offer parents and students choice in their
education and provide a way out for kids from neighborhoods whose local public
schools are failing--in fact, minority students and students in poverty are two of the
groups that benefit the most from attending an established charter school (Center for
Research on Education Outcomes). For example, black students gain the equivalent of
seven days of learning in reading performance compared to traditional public schools,
for example, while students in poverty receive an additional twenty two days of overall
learning (Center for Research on Education Outcomes). Charters also let schools and
teachers be innovative with their teaching techniques, without such strict state
legislation. However, this same lack of legislation is at the heart of some of the lesspositive side of charter school progress, as well.
While some charter schools perform better than their traditional counterparts,
others perform worse. Many perform no differently at all--which, while fine, means that
they are not living up to their promises or to the results perceived by the public.
Test scores aren’t the only reflection that charters don’t all live up to their promised
glory. For example, the lack of set curriculum means charters in Texas can teach
thousands of students that evolution is a doubtful theory and that fossil records are not
true (Kopplin); both are statements based in the dogma of a private religious agenda
that would normally be a hard sell in a public school curriculum, but the flexibility in
charter schools allows them to pass. Again, the lines of private schooling and public
education have blurred, with questionable results.
Nevertheless, charter schools continue to grow at breakneck pace. With
endorsements from President Obama and much of the general public, they will only
continue to grow over the next decades, with unknown impact on our education system
in general. Public education is the foundation of democracy and of our nation in general;
with an increasingly privatized education alternative, how will civic education change?
What does it mean that the public is so willing to embrace a step away from the
traditional public education? Can charter schools make the changes necessary to live
up to their promises? 50 million students are going through the American education
system right now—and many more will start soon. Change is needed in this system.
The question to ask now is what direction we want to take America, and if charter
schools will take us that direction.
Works Cited
Anandwala, Riya V. "National Support for Charter Schools Ticks Up in New Poll." Public
Charters. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 4 Dec.
2014.
Barkan, Joann. "Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools." Editorial. Dissent.
Dissent Magazine, Dec. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
Center for Research on Education Outcomes. "National Charter School Study."
CREDO. Stanford University, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
"Charter Schools." Pennsylvania Department of Education. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
"Classical Charter Schools." SBCCS. South Bronx Classical Charter School, 1 Sept.
2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://classicalcharterschools.org/>.
"Icahn Charter School 2." Inside Schools. Center for New York City Affairs, 1 Jan. 2014.
Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
Jones, Jeffrey. "Key Midterm Election Indicators at or Near Historical Lows." Key
Midterm Election Indicators at or Near Historical Lows. Gallup, 14 June 2014.
Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
Kopplin, Zack. "Texas Public Charter Schools Are Teaching Creationism." Slate
Magazine. Graham Holdings, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
Kuczynski-Brown, Alex. "Charter School Movement Turns 20, Amid Criticism And
Success Stories." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Sept. 2012.
Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
"School Profile." Ocean Hill Collegiate. Uncommon Schools, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 6 Dec.
2014.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core
of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 1999–
2000 through 2011–12.
Zhao, Emmeline. "No Child Left Behind Worsened Education, 48 Percent Of Americans
'Very Familiar' With The Law Say In Gallup Poll."TheHuffingtonPost.com. The
Huffington Post, 21 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.