EDUCATION
INSIDE THIS ISSUE PG. 3 How Charter Schools operate differently from Public Schools
PG. 4 Advantages and Disadvantages to the Charter School System
PG. 5 The Voucher System: How it Works and the different types of voucher schools
DOES SCHOOL CHOICE HELP OR HURT OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM? SCHOOL REFORM A debate which has been simmering for years now among public education officials and parents across the nation centers around whether school choice in the form of voucher systems and charter schools really improves our educational system. The ultimate goal of these systems is to put families in charge of choosing their child’s education by giving parents and students more choice over where their children attend school.
When Betsy DeVos, an advocate for privatizing our educational system, took over as Secretary of Education in the nascent Trump administration, the discussion over school choice reforms such as charter schools and vouchers intensified. Advocates for school choice heralded her appointment while many people saw her as the proponent of a system which leads to further discrimination and an erosion of the system. Either way, the debate still rages over whether public funds should be diverted from the traditional public-school system and whether it ultimately helps or hurts our children.
CHARTER SCHOOLS In order to understand the nature of the debate, it is helpful to examine what charter schools are and how they tie in to the school system. Charter schools are public schools that are not connected to local school districts, and, instead, maintain contracts through state or local boards. Since they are public, they are free to attend and have no entrance examination although students usually have to fill out an application for admittance. If do not have enough places to fit the demand, students generally must enter through a lottery system. They do, however, participate in statewide testing as well as adhering to federal standards. On the other hand, they are free to create their own “charter� which boils to down to the set of rules and standards which they strive to meet.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHARTER SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Charter schools are different from standard public schools because they are governed by an organization instead of the state education board. For this reason, they are accountable to their own charter instead of state regulations. In addition, their funds are doled out on a per-pupil basis as opposed to a traditional school, which receives funding from a combination of locally assessed taxes and state and federal budgets. As a result, a charter school’s funding depends on how well they meet the standards set forth in that charter. Traditional public schools, however, are subject to standards enacted by the state’s education board. Unlike charter schools, their teachers must be certified by the state. There is also another layer of oversight because each district maintains its own publicly-elected school board which is accountable to the schools in their respective district.
WHO CREATES A CHARTER SCHOOL? A charter school can be founded by a group of parents or teachers, a local school district, or even a for-profit entity. Consequently, some people have objected that this leaves the door open to making a business out of the education process.
ADVANTAGES
One of the central advantages to the charter system is that these schools are not constrained by the regulations which govern public schools. Therefore, each school has the freedom to design its own curriculum. For instance, a high school can specialize in an area such as the arts or the four disciplines of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) which may suit the needs of a particular region or student body. Teachers also enjoy more freedom to design their curriculum and many say that children benefit from their innovative approach to learning. Many families also believe that there are also higher standards of accountability within the charter system. Other proponents claim that community involvement is much greater than in a regular public school.
DISADVANTAGES While some praise charter schools for their ability to impose more rigorous academic standards and higher accountability, others find that a lack of transparency within the system has the opposite effect. Since their board is appointed instead of elected, they may not be as accountable as their public-school counterparts. Moreover, it often becomes difficult to penalize a school that may not be living up to the terms of their charter. The lottery system used to determine admittance to these schools has also received criticism due to the random way it excludes certain students.
VOUCHER SYSTEM In addition to charter schools, the school voucher system has also gained in popularity in recent years. Through this system, parents receive state money which can be allocated towards the cost of a private school. Therefore, funding effectively shifts from the public to the private schools. In a sense, vouchers are coupons that parents can use to send their child to whichever school they choose, even, in some cases, religious ones. This flexibility has led to charges of a lack of separation between church and state since many states still do not allow public funds to be spent on religious schools. Typically, vouchers have been used to support low-income students or ones with disabilities. When the amount of the voucher does not cover the cost of a school’s tuition, however, parents must make up the difference. In some cases, schools agree not to charge the pupil for an amount greater than the voucher. Not all voucher systems are the same, however. They typically break down into three main categories.
VOUCHER PROGRAMS
1.
TRADITIONAL PROGRAM. As discussed above in which states give parents a certain amount that can be used toward private schools of their choosing. Generally, the states set the minimum requirements that schools have to meet in order to accept vouchers.
2.
TAX CREDIT SCHOLARSHIP. In this case states grant tax credits to individuals or businesses who donate money to a scholarship organization. If students qualify for the program, they can apply the scholarship money to the cost of tuition at private schools.
3.
EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (ESA). Individual states redirect money to separate accounts for students. Parents can then apply the money help cover the cost of private school tuition. Another popular option today is to use it for homeschooling costs which can include tutors or online courses.
One thing to remember about the voucher system is that a private school does not have to admit a student just because he or she has a voucher. The student still needs to meet the entrance requirements of that school.
ADVANTAGES Vouchers can overcome segregation problems and lead to better access to quality education for lower income students. They also enable families to avoid school systems plagued by violence and a lack of diversity by sending them to different neighborhoods with better opportunities. Supporters say that more choice improves academic outcomes and enables access to schools in neighborhoods that may normally be unaffordable for many parents. Another benefit to the system may be the increased competition for the public schools. Critics have long questioned why we need to provide tax dollars to public schools without making them more accountable for their results. School vouchers encourage direct competition between schools and could force failing public schools to improve their methods or risk being shut down. Essentially, vouchers give parents the most freedom to choose how and where they want to educate their children. They enable parents to select an institution that is in keeping with their child’s cultural or religious background. Instead of one’s neighborhood or school board being the determinant for a child’s education and welfare, the parent now has the ultimate say.
DISADVANTAGES The flexibility regarding school choice has led to charges of a lack of separation between church and state since parents can use the tax dollars to send their child to a religious school. Many states, however, still do not allow public funds to be spent on religious schools. In addition, many critics agree that public funds should be used only for secular education and not for religious purposes. One of the major drawbacks to the voucher system concerns children with special needs. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees certain rights to kids with disabilities, it doesn’t apply to private schools. Consequently, the support a child receives in a public school won’t necessarily be there for him if he transitions to a nearby private school via a voucher. Furthermore, private schools do not have to admit children with disabilities, and they can charge extra for special services. As a result, parents who send their kids to a private school may be at a disadvantage if they need some of the special services that public schools provide. Another criticism of the voucher system which echoes that of charter schools is that it also draws funding away from the public-school system. Consequently, public school finances are strained even further as these funds are redistributed to private schools. In some states, many of the students using vouchers aren’t from low-income backgrounds and, thus, are taking money away from needier public-school students. One of the biggest criticisms leveled at the voucher system is that it doesn’t lead to better academic performance. Recent studies indicate that students using vouchers to attend private schools did not outperform public school students on standardized tests. In some cases, students even fared worse in private schools than public ones.
NYS SCHOOL REFORM
In the nation’s largest school district, New York City, the topic of education reform has intensified ever since Governor Cuomo pledged to improve the system a little over four years ago. In March 2014, the governor rallied crowds in the Capitol as he spoke about an expansion of the charter school system which had been a goal of reformers for at least the past decade. the reformers also wanted changes to include teacher evaluations to student academic performance and to make it easier to get rid of underperforming educators. In short, New York’s goal was to jumpstart education reform throughout the country. The ensuing years, however, may serve as a cautionary tale for other districts looing to achieve New York’s lofty goals. None of the reforms Gov. Cuomo championed (adding charter schools, evaluation reform, weakening tenure laws) have materialized. Critics charge that the governor has pivoted to appeasement of teachers’ unions instead of holding their feet to the fire on these reforms although getting the unions on board was, perhaps, a much taller order than anyone truly anticipated. Instead of being a paragon for the rest of the nation to follow, other states are looking at New York City to avoid similar pitfalls. New York City had hoped to expand their system by 100 hundred charter schools, which would thrive outside the standard school bureaucracy and wouldn’t be constrained by union regulations. Under the previous mayor, Michael Bloomberg, the city’s charter system grew from a small grouping of about twenty-four schools to become a two hundred strong system that had a number of high-performing school networks. With the governor in the reformers’ corner, the future looked bright for charter school proponents.
POLITICAL OPPOSITION New York City’s next mayor, Bill de Blasio, did not share the governor’s ideas about reform. Indeed, de Blasio has made no secret of his antipathy towards the charter school movement throughout his tenure. Thus, the combination of tenacious teachers’ unions fighting to preserve the status quo and opposition from the city mayor has forced these reforms into a state of limbo from which there seems to be no quick solution. In addition to local political opposition, others maintain that President Trump’s embrace of the voucher system has complicated matters even further. President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have come under attack for trying to privatize the education system by favoring vouchers over reforms such as charter schools.
SILVER LINING Although the governor did not achieve his goal of teacher evaluation reform, there are some who see the chance to continue to expand the charter system without the glare and expectations of a national spotlight as the opportunity to effect a slower but steadier sea change in education. Charter schools can continue their mission without having to bear the brunt of widespread scrutiny of an education system taking on maybe a bit more than it can swallow. Nevertheless, these schools still face the uphill battles of jockeying for space and funding amidst an unfavorable political climate.
BITING OFF MORE THAN HE COULD CHEW Indeed, one of the lingering questions that remains over this lost opportunity is whether Cuomo tackled too many issues in attempting to reform the system. Other cities and states have taken note of the fact that they may be better off focusing on one central issue e.g. more charter schools instead of bundling issues like teacher evaluation reform and tenure changes into the overall package.
LOST IN THE SHUFFLE Meanwhile, critics have continued to weigh in that the emphasis on these reforms has overshadowed other pressing issues which have escalated under de Blasio’s watch such as student harassment and violence in schools. Unfortunately, an unwillingness to suspend problem students coupled with different ideas about school discipline have contributed to a negative climate in the schools. However, it can be difficult to completely separate these issues as critics have characterized Mayor de Blasio’s approach as a reaction to the “no excuses” policy popular among the charter school system against which he actively campaigned.
THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION It may have been a harbinger of things to come when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos hesitated in a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year with Lesley Stahl after she was asked about the evidence in support of school choice reforms. If the person who got her position due to her advocacy of such reforms cannot say whether they’ve had any significant positive impact, it doesn’t bode well for the future of education in America. While education reform isn’t a novel idea among politicians on state and federal levels, it continues to confound policymakers who tackle the issue only to stumble in the ensuing months and years. Nevertheless, we continue to see calls for more charter schools and voucher systems while a growing body of evidence doesn’t show any significant improvement in test scores and student learning on a systemic level. One of the persistent problems seems to be the one-size fits all approach that reformers adopt which doesn’t consider the differences between school systems across the country. In addition, when much of the latest research demonstrates that student performance correlates to family income level more than other factors, school vouchers appear to be little more than a stopgap solution to the systemic poverty that cripples many of our nation’s students.
GOING FORWARD While there is nothing wrong in principal with DeVos’ goal of improving the academic achievement of individual students, she falls into the trap of reformers who preceded her by assuming that school choice reforms can transform an entire system. Regrettably, recent history suggests that federal initiatives from George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind to Barack Obama’s Race to the Top have failed to deliver significant results. Yet billionaire reformers remain staunch advocates of such policies without seriously considering the recent setbacks. As Lesley Stahl pointed out, DeVos’ reforms have led to subpar results in her home state of Michigan. Nevertheless, she still believes in implementing them on a grand scale. What seems to be getting lost in the shuffle is that well-intentioned reformers keep focusing on helping those who have been marginalized or underserved by the system instead of attacking a deficiency in the overall system. On the other hand, some public officials have gone too far the other way by tackling multiple issues simultaneously without making substantial progress on any front. Recent attempts suggest it might be more effective to concentrate on manageable changes to the system that target the student body. Sometimes, significant change happens incrementally instead of by leaps and bounds. In other words, slow and steady reforms will always outpace ambitious plans that never come to fruition.
REFERENCES NEWS AND EDUCATION
http://julienariman.com/articles-and-news/ https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/12/07/504451460/school-choice-101-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-does-it-work https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB8018/index1.html \ https://www.smore.com/wfd1k-education-for-undocumented-students https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/school-vouchers-what-you-need-to-know