Charter school regulation is a mess

The Explorer -  Opinion > Charter school regulation is a mess

The bad news is, our charter school system is an unregulated mess, and I fear too much of the money will go into the pockets of people more interested in personal profit than educational quality.

The problems with our charter schools began 15 years ago with the original legislation. The people who wrote the law had two basic goals in mind. They wanted lots of charters up and running quickly, and they didn't want them "burdened" by regulation. Good schools would thrive, they reasoned, and the bad ones would fail.

The result of the legislation is, we have more charter schools per capita than any other state in the nation. As for regulation and oversight, our charter schools might as well live in a cow town in the Wild West where the sheriff is asleep with his feet propped up on his desk.

And instead of increasing quality, the lack of regulation has allowed unscrupulous school directors to cheat taxpayers and students while they enrich themselves.

How many charter schools are misusing state funds and giving their students an inferior education? It's impossible to say, because the state's Charter School Board isn't minding the store. But here are some examples I know of, taken from an excellent article in the Star a few Sundays ago, news reports over the past few years and material I've uncovered on my own.