The Case Against Charter Schools

School Administrator, May, 2001 by Bruno V. Manno

Preserving Democracy

* Allegation No. 7: Traditional public schools are required for the preservation and cultivation of democracy. Independent charter schools balkanize American society, weaken the principal institution that knits us together and portend a rebirth of segregation.

Do charter schools invite divisiveness? Most charters, if oversubscribed, are required to use a lottery or other random method to admit students. But the nature of some schools is such that they are designed for specific children and consequently attract members of individual ethnic or affinity groups. For example, when a school's founders are Hispanic community activists, the surrounding community is almost entirely Hispanic and the school's mission stresses bilingual education, it should not be surprising that 95 percent of the applicants are Hispanic.

When does specialization become balkanization? Your opinion depends on whether you are more taken with schools that have internal coherence of program and community combined with homogeneous demographics or with schools that boast a rainbow of students but do not engage a particular community or feature a clearcut educational orientation. Which approach does students more good?

In reality, when it comes to race, charter schools as a group are at least as well integrated as regular public schools. The federal analysts who conducted the study of charter schools funded by the U.S. Department of Education concluded: "Our data contain no evidence that charter schools disproportionately serve white and economically advantaged students. ...[C]harrer schools generally mirror the state's racial composition" of students in all public schools.

While the "one best system" view of public education would have everyone pass through standardized institutions and similar experiences, a different vision of public education regards it as a decentralized array of self-governing, results-oriented schools run by all sorts of different providers.

Finally, the chartering process contains some built-in safeguards against divisive schools. First is the requirement that schools admit anyone who applies (or, if oversubscribed, use random selection) and not discriminate on grounds of race, ethnicity, religion, etc. Another is the due diligence that responsible sponsors perform before issuing (or renewing) a charter. Recognizing that all public schools have a civic mission, sponsors can--and should--refuse to issue charters to schools that they believe will be divisive or discriminatory. By this reasoning, public money should not flow to schools that preach segregation, racial superiority or hatred, even if there is a market for such things.

* Allegation No. 8: Charter schools invite profiteering from public education. Many people are out to make a quick buck, and charter schools allow them to stuff their pockets with taxpayer dollars while shortchanging kids.

Yes, charter schools can cause dollar signs to light up in people's eyes. Some charter heads pay themselves generously. Some contract with their own firms or their relatives to furnish instructional or management services.