I will say this: I do not think it is at the sole fault of the teachers. I think a lot of them really strive to do right by kids. But when you’re required to teach restrictive, preapproved lessons, waste precious time preparing for inane state testing, be declined freedom to alternate teaching methods, and have to cater to 30+ students with different learning styles and interests – you are set up to fail. I also don’t think teachers are blameless Because public schools have some REALLY bad teachers. Worse than charter school teachers. Because public school teachers have the teachers union- and charter schools usually refuse to hire union teachers (and many teachers leave the unions just so they can teach at charters). The teachers unions protect bad teachers from being fired. Plain and simple. Only about 1% of teachers will be fired and it usually costs around $150,000 in litigation fees to fire a union teacher. So most schools don’t bother. They just keep bad teachers around. It is easy to see why union teachers don’t like charters (watch ‘The Lottery’ or ‘Waiting for Superman’ for more info). Protecting bad teachers simply based on tenure does a huge disservice to schools – and public school teachers and their unions let this happen.

Another big thing people have to realize: I keep hearing teachers complain that 1) charter schools are heartless corporations who don’t help kids but are also 2) stealing all the funding from public schools!!! To answer 1) charter schools are usually opened by school districts or non profit organizations. Sometimes, yes, Corporations can manage charter schools. HOWEVER, charter schools are ALWAYS nonprofit organizations & corporate charter schools are ran exactly like CORPORATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 2) Charter schools don’t steal money from public schools. What happens is that funding is based on enrollment and when a child leaves a public school, their funding goes to the school they enroll in. That’s not stealing from public schools – that’s giving the money to who it belongs. The student. It should also be noted that public schools spend on average $2000 more per student than charters (some articles will you tell you otherwise but that is because they’re not taking into account building costs that are absorbed by private funding in charters – public schools outspend charters on ‘educational resources’ by a huge margin). And, you know what happens to a public school that has HORRIBLE testing results? Taxpayers have to toss more money at them. Which doesn’t help. (I.E. New York spends $18,000 a year on public education PER student and 38% of their students are not meeting testing requirements. Utah spends $6,000 a year per student and 20% of their students aren’t meeting standards. Utah spends 1/3rd as much money and gets twice the results). So when public schools fail, we reward them with money. When a charter school doesn’t meet requirements? They shut down. No monetary reward for not doing their job – they lose funding. So far all who say charters are oh so awful – if they we’re really as horrible as you say, they’d be shut down. Can’t say the same about awful public schools.

Another myth brought up was that charters don’t have special Ed kids or poor kids(my public highschool, by the way, had a closed enrollment so that only kids in close proximity could attend – denying the option of the school for kids in surrounding lower-income areas). Charters are not allowed to deny entrance to any child – they usually work by first come, first serve or with a lottery. They accept and work with children with an IEP and special needs. Their “special needs” classes do have a lower percentage of students but only at the end of the year. If you look at the percentage at the beginning of enrollment – it mirrors public schools. What happens is that charters can provide a lot more individual attention and they are able to test students out of special needs classes because they catch them up to grade level. Public schools fail to do this.

Another myth I saw in the comments is that charter schools are not upheld to state standards. This is laughable. They are authorized by the school district or the state education department – and must submit to the same standardized testing. They are also held accountable to parents.

Right now, my 6 year old attends a charter school called Georgia Cyber Academy. It is a corporate ran charter through K12 that works under the overhead of the Georgia Education Department. It is a free Online school that essentially allows parents to homeschool their children while receiving curriculum, teacher guidance, and personalized lesson plans at no cost. It is individually catered to the child. While my “kindergartner” is in history, science and health at a Kindergartner level, she is at a 1st grade level for math and a 2nd grade level for language and phonics. She has a teacher who evaluates her quarterly and whom preformed her required state evaluation. We log required attendance, but also are allowed the flexibility of doing school on week days or taking days off without being penalized or put “behind.” She learns thing in the manner that best helps her learn and she Does not get in trouble for dress code or lapses of Judgment or for Needing to take a break to Regroup. I’d like to see a public school that does that.

However, what most people dont know, is that the biggest benefit to charter schools is liberty. Charter schools tend to allow a lot more freedom of thought and most even insist that the children and parents make their complaints vocal because their charter depends on the happiness of their kids and parents. You also see a lot less ‘required’ forms of writing (MLAA or ‘when I ask what you think, I’m really grading you on your ability to tell me what I want to hear’ papers) and you see far fewer limitations on ‘allowed’ topics because the charters usually don’t push kids away from freedom of expression. They usually offer a lot more alternative classes to cater to kids’ interests or to help them reach future occupational goals. They also usually have open campuses and less arbitary rules (like no cell phones or no soda machines or no PDA or no headphones). Public schools are government schools and oh boy do they push the method of unquestioned obedience. Kids at public schools are not allowed freedom of expression, protection against search and seizure, the ability to gather & protest, etc. They have to obey the sometimes unfair, unjust and unconstitutional demands of educators and directors. There is an obvious de facto ban on students requesting a say in the education they’re receiving. And God forbid the kid is “weird.” They cant read ‘controversial books’ or wear activist apparel or dye their hair ‘funny’ colors. One public school in New York just banned the word freedom to prevent the kids from coming together to protest the establishment. I’m sorry, but as one man said, “a ‘free education’ that enslaves the mind is a high price to pay.”

Not all charters do this and not all of them are super amazing, and some are basically public schools with uniforms, but a huge chunk of them are way better than theyre made out to be. I can’t believe that the naive and passionate devotion people have to public schools is so clouded by misinformation that they will defend their failing system at the expense of the children.

Charters are privately managed entities whose only claim to the word public is the fact that they drain public funds. Dozens of court cases have ruled that charter schools are not “public entities.” Two well known examples include the following:

The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals (2010-01-04) which ruled that charter-voucher schools are NOT “public actors.”
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/01/04/08-15245.pdf

The California Court of Appeals (2007-01-10) which ruled that charter-voucher schools are NOT “public agents.”
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1435567.html

Moreover, the US Census Department expressed difficulty in obtaining information from charter-voucher schools because the aren’t public entities.
http://shankerblog.org/?p=2756

I know in the light of all the scandals and bad press (http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/) that supporters of lucrative charters are desperate to paint them as public schools, but outside the corporate spin cycle that is the the school privatization camp, charters have been found to be anything but public.

So to me, the charter school looks to be a very good alternative to public school but everyone’s opinion and experience is different. Also, there is no reason why anyone cannot try either if they think they might get a better result elsewhere. :)

For reference, I’m currently a senior at a USNWR Top-50 public school.