The opinion piece on what public schools can learn from charter schools misses the mark. Rather, the article highlights the discrepancies between private/charter/homeschools and public schools.
In his article, Terry Ryan gives five lessons from Idaho’s public charter schools that public schools should learn from, but likely won’t. These lessons – non-union workplace, alternative certification for teachers/administrators, no elected school board, lack of access to local tax dollars, and being a school of choice for parents and educators – are items that public schools cannot control and are heavily regulated by our elected officials.
Idaho public schools do as well or better than many charter and private schools. While we in public education can certainly do better, and strive to continually improve our systems, to be innovative, and to improve instructional strategies, these lessons should be directed to our state legislators. The inequities in these lessons are on full display in the current legislative session as legislators grapple with funding private school vouchers, tax credits or similar mechanisms. House Bill 093 does not have any of the accountability measures in it that public schools operate under.
Public schools are accountable for the use of your tax dollars. We have a variety of reports covering everything from Federal and State dollars to reviews on programs and expenditures that have to be submitted. In addition, the regulations in place for public school funds restrict how we can use tax payer dollars. Title I funds must be used in Title 1 programs and not be supplanted. Special education (of which we are woefully underfunded) must be used to support those students. Having flexibility to use my budget dollars how I need to would certainly make my job easier. Private and charter schools don’t have this accountability measure. What is shameful, is that public school districts often have to run a supplemental levy or bond to maintain their facilities and fund programs and teachers because the State has not lived up to its constitutional requirement to fund a “uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”
Public schools are required to hire certified teachers and then have them teach in the subject area they are certified for or we lose funding. Several of my teachers/administrators come from industry or the military and have gone through a teaching program or an alternative route to obtain their certification. We also have to conduct background checks on our employees to ensure the safety of students. Charter schools can customize how they “certify” their teachers, while public schools must go through the procedures outlined in Idaho Code. Having that flexibility would certainly make filling vacancies easier; however, I am pleased with the professionalism and expertize of the teachers on my staff. They are dedicated, caring, and responsive.
Teacher unions, and public education as a whole, has been beaten up by legislators at all levels over the past few decades. While teacher unions may often seem to be greedy and only caring about themselves, their struggle is to gain equivalent pay and respect as counterparts in the business sector with the same level of education. Teachers are underpaid for the many tasks put upon them that are outside of teaching. These tasks are thrust upon education from Federal and State legislators because education touches the families that many of the programs are targeting. Hence, we provide meals, transportation, counseling, special services, and a host of other things that charter and private schools do not have to provide. Teachers, and the unions they belong to, are vested in doing what is best for their students. They just want the compensation they deserve.
My daughter taught in a charter school for many years, and often called me about the things her appointed governing board and administrators wanted her and her colleagues to do. The teachers and her board/administrators were often at odds because the teachers wanted to do what was in the best interest of their students, but the board and administrators only looked at the bottom line. Public school districts have elected governing boards who are focused on student achievement, providing a safe learning environment, and implementing the many regulations imposed on public schools. The individuals on the board voluntarily run for a position in which they are not compensated. They have a difficult task, yet do an admirable job in improving the nation’s school system.
Public schools are indeed neighborhood schools, and are also schools of choice. With open enrollment, parents have the right to choose what public school they want to enroll their student in. Public schools offer a variety of ways for students to get their education: Idaho Digital Learning Academy, Self-directed Learning, Extended Learning Opportunities. Public schools review their mission and vision statements regularly to ensure the mission and vision are still relevant. Teachers apply to a district for the same reasons Mr. Ryan stated…. because they believe in the vision of the school, and for smaller districts like mine, they apply because they want the smaller student:teacher ratio. More importantly, public schools can’t turn students away because they are difficult or have special needs. As Jamie Vollmer would say, public schools take all the blueberries, not just high quality ones.
If there is a lesson to be learned, it is that public schools do an excellent job educating our nation’s youth considering the scrutiny and accountability we are under that private and charters don’t have to contend with. It’s time that legislators at all levels recognize that public schools are not the enemy and we are just asking for the support to better serve our students through innovation. At the very least, if legislators want to compare public schools with charter/private schools, then put in place the same regulations for all educational players so both are playing by the same rules.
