Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice
Several weeks ago I was asked by Northeast Ohio Media Group (The Plain Dealer), as part of a point-counterpoint series on charter schools—pro and con, to contribute a short article. The person who requested the column knew of my concern that it is not possible to create a school system based on school choice that does a good job of serving the needs and protecting the rights of all children.
She asked me to write a piece that summarizes my concerns. I did not know who would be writing the pro-charter piece. Yesterday cleveland.com published the articles. Here is mine:Charter Schools Fail the Test of Justice. You’ll find a link to the pro-charter article following my piece.
My goal was to examine the role of charter schools in the context of what we have traditionally believed is the mission of public education—to serve all of our society’s children for their benefit and as the foundation of our democratic society.
The piece published yesterday declares: “Justice in education—the idea that schools distribute opportunity to all children—must be systemic. A public education system like ours in the United States—publicly funded, universally available, and accountable to the public—is the best way I know to balance the needs of each particular child with society’s responsibility to protect the rights of all children. While there are some excellent charter schools, I believe the growing charter school movement threatens our system of public education.”
You can read the rest here.