Universal Access and Public Ownership: Charter Schools Don’t Meet These Criteria
This past weekend a friend, realizing some of my concerns about charter schools, said, “Look. You should go visit my friend’s charter school. He is doing a terrific job. You shouldn’t write off charter schools.”
Let me take this opportunity to go on record: I realize there are a whole range of charter schools including some that do a fine job of providing opportunities for their students. There are quality charter schools.
But I also know that public school policy must be systemic. Society can never balance the needs of each individual child and the rights of all children one charter school at a time. Nor can we possibly achieve justice by creating a set of “escapes from the public schools,” charter school by charter school. There is a problem of scale for one thing. Public schools in America educate 50 million children. The more promising alternative is to set about improving the public schools that struggle. Struggling public schools are usually located in the poorest neighborhoods of our big cities, and they are almost always underfunded by their state legislatures.
Let me outline more specifically my concerns about relying on charters for school reform. My first concern is about access. Charter schools serve about 6 percent of our students. Quality charter schools that provide excellent education are doing so for a tiny percentage of the children who need opportunity. The great advantage of public education is that it is systemic. No matter where you live—whatever state, city, suburb, small town, or rural area—you are promised a public school for your child. Yes public schools have reflected the racism and
