| One of the main differences between the Senate's "Race to the Top" plan and the Assembly's plan, both of which are better described as Race to the Bottom, is the subject of charter schools. Despite both plans probably doing more harm than good to our schools, the Assembly plan finally tries to rein back some of the faulty logic and excesses of the charter school movement.
Charter schools aren't inherently better or worse than the public schools, they just exist in very different worlds. Charter schools in California are required to hire certified teachers, unlike in many other states, but they needn't provide the same level of benefits and pay, clearly stated requirements and teacher protections. Quality varies wildly from charter school to charter school. Some do an excellent job of preparing children for their next step, others, well, don't.
Given the Right's love of "accountability" for public schools, measuring everything, testing everything, you'd figure they would love all those tests being inserted into the heart of all that is charter schools. You'd be wrong. You see, they want to measure public schools, but charter schools, those are market based, and the market will apparently sort that all out.
The Assembly legislation, passed out of Committee last week over Arnold's strong objections, puts new accountability standards on charter schools. It is a good first step towards figuring out what is actually going on in charter schools. Arnold's Senate bill, doesn't add any accountability standards, and does a pretty good job of sending love notes to the charter school business.
Supported by most public school educators, the Assembly legislation includes tighter auditing requirements on charter schools than current law, stronger tools for measuring academic progress, and prohibitions against renewing continually failing charter schools.
"We believe charters should be held to the same accountability standards as public schools since they're on the public dime," said Dean Vogel, vice president of the California Teachers Association. "If I believe my charter school is high-performing, I should have a measure to prove it. You've got to demonstrate that high achievement and they don't want to do that."
Schwarzenegger's own plan, SBX5-1, shepherded through the Senate last month by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, seeks to streamline the authorizing or renewal of charter schools, bolster their ability to obtain state funding, and codify their own standards of auditing. (CoCo Times)
Apparently, in childhood education, what is good for the goose is not so good for the gander. However, we shouldn't let Arnold's campaign cash connections to charter schools dictate our education policy. If accountability is good for public schools, it should be good for the publicly-funded charter schools as well. |
