What the "Free" Means in Free (Charter) School
I am beginning to think "free" school is a better descriptor than charter school. For Brits looking at the American model for inspiration, "free" most often means
free to collect public dollars without public oversight,
free from democratic governance,
free to not admit special ed or ELL children,
free to push out low scorers or those who challenge the totalitarian regimen,
free to not offer children libraries or gyms or lunch rooms or school nurses or art facilities,
free to hire and fire at will with no due process rights for teachers,
free to pay CEO principals 4 to 5 times as much as public school principals,
free to set up penal pedagogy systems that middle class parents would never allow for their children,
free to offer the lowest cognitive levels of test prep curriculum,
free to hire teachers who aren't certified or qualified,
free to ignore accounting rules that public schools must abide by,