Charter Schools

Charter Schools
Allyson Gamboa
College of Dupage

Charter Schools

A charter school is a school that is an independent publicly funded school

established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a
local or national authority. Charter schools are schools that are funded by the government
but run by the local citizens in the communities. Because charter schools are government
funded, there is no tuition that needs to be paid by the students that go there. Also they
have open enrollment, meaning anyone can enroll to go there, and if there are too much
children enrolled, then a lottery would be held (this is when children are chosen at
random). The schools have less of restriction on these types of schools making the
programs and services offered more flexible. Some of the schools are tailored towards a
specific interest or talent, while other schools are closely linked to the curriculum of a
regularly funded school.
The first charter school opened in Minnesota, a year after the charter school law
was passed. Since the first law was passed in Minnesota, 40 other states have adopted the
charter law. Across the country there roughly 5,000 charter schools with about 1.5
million students enrolled in them. Illinois has a limit of 120 charter schools, 75 in the city
of Chicago and 45 in the rest of the state.
The teachers that work in charter schools are affected in many ways. One way is
that there are no unions. Some say that this is a good thing, because the teachers will get
more say. But the schools can just fire and give a raise to whoever they deem worthy of
it. The critics of un-unionized charter schools are not good because of the fact that the

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teachers dont have a secure job. Also one teacher could be doing a fantastic job, and still
earn less than a teacher who doesnt care about her students but is liked more by the
board. The teacher does not get any representation, no one that will back them up.
Charter elementary schools tend to outperform regular public elementary schools
in the subjects of math and reading. Charter middle schools however statistically only
outperform in the subject of math. When it comes to charter high schools though, there
really is no difference between the charter school and the regular public schools. This is
because some of the high school charter schools are high performing and others are
underperforming compared to the public school counterparts. Urban charter schools tend
to outperform rural and suburban charter schools. All of the academic differences
between charter schools and public schools are minimal, making it almost impossible to
say that one is better than the other.
Charter schools and private schools have obvious differences, but some
similarities. In private schools an individual would have to pay tuition, or the school
would find other means of obtaining money, such as fundraisers, grants, donations, etc.
But with a charter school there is no tuition that needs to be paid, making it possible for
underprivileged kids to enroll in them more freely. The underprivileged students would
not have the option exactly to go to a private school unless they got a loan or scholarships
to pay for it. There is a similarity though, both schools are able to customize the
curriculum taught, meaning that the private school can freely teach their students religion
and the charter school would be able to focus on childrens specific talents or abilities.

Charter Schools

Charter schools have an effect on the communities, whether the effects are good or
bad. One effect of the charter schools is that they seem to re-segregate the urban
communities. Instead of the charter schools pulling every type of child away from the
traditional public system, they are pulling higher academic achieving children away. This
is leaving the struggling children behind; because of this urban areas have shown a slight
increase in the academic re-segregation. The schools also take funds away from the
traditional public schools. This is especially not fair to them since the traditional public
schools have more rules and regulations to follow then the charter schools do. Not all are
negative though; charter schools provide an alternative to traditional public schools.
Some are online based, others are tailored to talents or specific abilities, and others are
almost like traditional public school but they have a different feel to them. Because
charter schools are more customizable, it may be a better alternative for the child.
Although there are positives to the charter schools there are also some down falls.
One example would be the CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings has given millions of dollars to
start charter schools, which sounds like a good thing from the outside but what is
happening on the inside is a darker story. He is using his power to change the school
systems, making them look exactly how he wants them to look.
Charter schools look flashier to middle and low class families. They show off the
high performance of their current students and all the children that go there wear a
uniform. This makes the children look more proper and educated, this is something most
parents want. So the parents enroll their children in the charter school and everything is

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going good for a while until standardized testing comes around. If their child isnt
meeting the qualifications set by the school they could be kicked out and sent back to the
traditional public school. This is not fair to the student that worked hard or the parents
who work hard for their children. Even though this happens a lot charter schools deny
having anything to do with it since they are on the lottery system and will accept anyone.
Charter schools can be good but they can also be bad. Some schools focus on the
talents and abilities of students and cater to those things; others are based off of
traditional schools and work almost the same. Charter schools can provide and alternative
for some children that need one. For example if a child was getting bullied, this gives the
family the option to switch schools or take it online. Also charter schools provide better
scores in reading and math at the elementary level, which is a critical time of learning for
students. Charter schools also have a few drawbacks, even though the schools claim to go
by the lottery system, sometimes they do not follow it, they then pick children based on
their academic levels. Also private corporations can fund these charter schools and make
any changes they want. Basically, if someone has the money they have the power, this is
not good. There should be regulations making sure large corporations dont change
everything in the learning community. There are no unions in charter schools, making it
hard for teachers to get proper representation.

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Citations
1

Jacobs, J. (2015). Disrupting the education monopoly: a conversation with reed hastings.

Education Next, 15(1), 45+. Retrieved from

https://cod.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.cod.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA392369485&v=2.1&u=cod_lrc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=78e0dba574d42dd341e22a6ef
7b34997

Choice and charter schools. (2014). Retrieved December 2, 2014, from

https://www.edreform.com/issues/choice-charter-schools/facts/

Great Schools Staff. (2014). Seven essentials about charter schools. Retrieved December 2,
2014, From http://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/192-seven-factsabout-charter-schools.gs

Charter schools 101. (2014). Retrieved December 2, 2014, from National Education Assosiation
website: http://www.nea.org/home/60831.htm

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Betts, J., & Tang, E. (2011, Oct

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ober). The effect of charter schools on student achevement.

Retrieved December 6, 2014, from http://www.crpe.org/publications/effect-charter-schoolsstudent-achievement-meta-analysis-literature

Buddin, R. (2012, August 28). The impact of charter schools on public and private school
enrollments. Retrieved December 2, 2014, from CATO Institute website:
http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/impact-charter-schools-public-privateschool-enrollments

What are public charter schools? (2014). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from National Alliance
for
Public Charter Schools website: http://www.publiccharters.org/get-the-facts/ publiccharter-schools/

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