Washington State Court Rejects Charters, Affirms Democratically Governed Public Schools
For many years now, there have been serious questions about whether charter schools are operating in the public interest. The state laws that establish charter schools are designed to reduce what proponents of privatization call the straitjacket of bureaucracy. Charters are free from many of the requirements, rules, and regulations that are said by proponents of privatization to constrain innovation in the public schools.
As the charter sector expands, however, serious questions continue to arise about exactly whose interests charter schools serve. Should tax dollars be spent on schools that are permitted to set enrollment caps when the schools’ operators decide when they are full and then turn children away? Should we be spending tax dollars on schools that fail to provide services for blind or autistic children or children with severe behavior problems, despite that federal law prescribes that well-designed services for all children will be provided by qualified experts? (Such policies too often turn the surrounding public school districts into school districts of last resort for the children who remain in traditional public schools because charters choose not to provide the very expensive services.) Should tax dollars be flowing to schools that forward over 90 percent of revenues to for-profit, nationwide parent Charter Management Organizations, CMOs that, through real estate affiliates, charge the schools themselves outrageous rent—producing added profits for the owners? If a particular charter school is shut down, should the big for-profit Charter Management Organization get to keep all the books and equipment purchased originally with tax dollars? And what about the Charter Management Organizations that essentially select their students by locating their schools in particular neighborhoods or by neglecting to offer transportation or federally subsidized lunch?
School choice through charters is also pretty much limited to the children whose parents are equipped to fill out the applications. Traditional public schools, by contrast, are required by law to serve every child—wherever that child lives and whoever the child’s parents. A democratically elected local school board has traditionally been seen as most able to ensure that each child’s needs are served and rights are protected, but charter schools are Washington State Court Rejects Charters, Affirms Democratically Governed Public Schools | janresseger:
