I'm a huge fan of Charter Schools. Read Sowell's book (review of the major studies done on the subject) & you'll agree that these schools are the single most powerful tool to transform the lives of minorities. No sheet baby!
Charter Schools’ Success Makes Them a Political Target
An educational innovation that once had bipartisan support faces adversity in Washington and the courts.
Jason L. Riley , WSJ
Dec. 13, 2022 5:48 pm ET
We’ve reached a point in journalism where major news outlets can earn praise for doing something that ought to be the norm: offering even-handed coverage of controversial topics.
A recent news article in the New York Times about the growing popularity of charter schools in New York City was remarkable for its balance. The story stated matter-of-factly that the “vast majority of students in charters are Black or Latino” and that charters “receive less per-pupil funding than district schools” but nevertheless “typically outperform district schools in math and reading on state standardized tests.” The cap on the number of charter schools allowed to open in New York was reached three years ago, but Democrats oppose lifting it. So do the teachers unions, which “are major political players and disapprove of the schools, which tend not to be unionized.”
None of that is news to regular readers of these opinion pages, but it’s not the type of coverage you read often in news articles, let alone in the New York Times. And the timing is superb because attacks on school choice have escalated. It’s hard to believe, given today’s hyper-divisive political climate, but after their inception in the early 1990s charter schools enjoyed bipartisan support that spanned four presidential administrations.
Bill Clinton set up the federal Charter Schools Program in 1994 to fund charter startups. George W. Bush said charters “encourage educational entrepreneurs to try innovative methods” and “break up the monopoly of one-size-fits-all education.” Barack Obama praised them for giving “educators the freedom to cultivate new teaching models and develop creative methods to meet students’ needs.” Donald Trump chose an education secretary, Betsy DeVos, whose family had started a charter school and who was easily the strongest school-choice advocate ever to hold the position.
Under Joe Biden, however, this trend has been broken. The president has called for banning some types of charter schools outright, increasing regulations for others, and giving school boards dominated by union allies more power to block their expansion. Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced new rules that make it far more difficult for charter operators to receive funding from the Charter Schools Program.
Charter schools are also fighting for survival in the courts, where activist judges are undermining state charter laws and limiting the ability of the schools to operate independently, which is the source of their success. In 2015 Charter Day School, a public charter school in Leland, N.C., was sued by the parents of three female students who objected to the school’s dress code for girls. Charter Day requires all students to wear navy-blue tops and khaki or blue bottoms. Boys must wear a belt and can’t wear jewelry. Girls must wear skirts, jumpers or skirt-like shorts known as skorts.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union with notable backing from the nation’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The plaintiffs argued that the dress code was based on gender stereotypes and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They won, and earlier this year the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower-court ruling in a 10-6 decision. North Carolina passed a charter school law in 1996 that says charters may “operate independently of existing schools” and are “exempt from statutes and rules” that apply to government-run schools in the state. Despite the clear wording and intent of the law, the appellate court ruled that Charter Day is a “state actor” under North Carolina law and therefore is constrained by the U.S. Constitution.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum took issue with the novel characterization of charter schools as “state actors,” which he noted is something that neither the Supreme Court nor any other federal appellate court had ever concluded when addressing similar issues in the past. Judge Quattlebaum’s dissent also stressed what is at stake if the majority opinion is allowed to stand.
“The immediate casualty of the majority’s decision is a small part of a dress code at a particular charter school. That is the least of my concerns,” he wrote. “My worry is that the majority’s reasoning transforms all charter schools in North Carolina, and likely all charter schools in the other states that form our circuit, into state actors. As a result, the innovative alternatives to traditional public education envisioned by North Carolina when it passed the Charter Schools Act, and thus the choices available to parents, will be limited.”
Next month, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear Charter Day’s appeal, and charter advocates have their fingers crossed. Like Judge Quattlebaum, they understand that this isn’t really about school uniforms. It’s about school choice.
Comments