Yes, but only if they actually SERVE the students.
- Charters take kids and money from traditional public Independent School Districts.
- Charters are selective and operate like private schools.
- Public charter schools don’t enroll students from historically underserved families.
- Charter schools are not held accountable.
I do not know if this is true or not. But a LOT of people think this. Even if it is not true this is a terrible image that would have to be addressed before having any chance of selling Charter Schools to the majority.
And are Charter Schools a project of the elite? Remember Charter schools are NOT grass roots, it’s a top down idea that began in Washington DC (after 20 years only 10% of schools are charter). Betsy DeVos Billionaire daughter marries Billionaire, United States Secretary of Education (2017-2021) pushing Charter Schools. The National DeVos
Charter school lobby lives on today (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools) https://publiccharters.org/policy-initiative/. And notice she calls this “Public” charter schools. Really? Is there anything “public” going on besides taking “public” money. They even have their own “State Charter School laws” called “Charter School Model Law” and push for it.
Lets face it the family unit that some of us grew up is not the same family unit of today
like it or not. With that evolution (or de evolution) the schools have had to fill in and BE the family to many of the children of today. And that is simply too much for the current public school system to provide. With all the talk of Charter Schools and the problems of Public schools was the answer just staring us in the face the whole time?
Can Charter Schools be part of the solution to the problems in the public school system?
If Charter schools were designed to serve the “problem” kids that don’t fit the norm and need special attention in some way no matter what that is and at the same time remove this burden from the public schools; That seems like a win-win.
And finally no need to give up on the traditional family! Continue to work on this as well, ideally have fewer and fewer Charter schools as we evolved to a stronger healthier family unit/society and as the public schools improve as well. Plus why not ADD to the public
schooling? I attended Sunday school every Sunday growing up. Clubs, groups whatever can have additional teaching. I understand if you can’t wait that long, you can always join the Amish! Sersly, I admit I used to drive past their one room school houses in Kentucky with the kids happily playing outside with a kind of longing…of course they devoted a lot of time, work and effort to accomplish this.
Note: Idaho State Law Public Charter School shall have “Access to Extra – Curricular and Interscholastic Activities” of public schools. In other words the charter schools can USE THE PUBLC SCHOOLS; Public Schools see this, know this and understandably resent it.
Melina Palken (3-28-2024)
