Should VA have more charter schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Charter schools can cherry pick their students; they don't take ELL and SPED students.
Charter schools are not held to the same standards of public school; so they hire less qualified teachers, pay them less, offer no job security and have high teacher turnover.
They take $ from public schools, so everyone suffers.
Charter Schools do not offer the variety of electives that public schools do - art, music, languages.
Charter Schools typically don't offer daily transportation.
Follow Carol Burris - head of Network for Public Education - everyday she reports on another charter school scandel that leaves kids stranded with no school and the administration embezzling or mismanaging the funds.

Virginia has some of the best public schools in the country. No to Charter Schools.

How do you know this? Isn't it possible a charter school might actually focus on art, music, or languages?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

We are in ACPS and I fully believe charters could do for Alexandria what they did for DC.

Their is no ability to raise achievement in the schools. The answer is always to just build some nicer buildings and that will fix it all. There is zero focus on teaching.

[Anonymous]

• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/for-detroits-children-more-school-choice-but-not-better-schools.html?_r=0
• http://billmoyers.com/story/failing-test-charter-schools-winners-losers/
• http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/09/12936/cmd-publishes-full-list-2500-closed-charter-schools
• http://www.newsweek.com/cyber-charter-schools-fail-education-527311
• http://fortune.com/2016/08/22/john-oliver-charter-schools/
• http://www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2015/12/17/for_profit_charter_schools_are_failing_and_fading_here_s_why.html
• https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2017/01/8581/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No - charters suck money and resources out of public schools. Finland, a country with some of the best schools in the world, has no charters and all kids go to neighborhood schools. School Choice is not a good thing for overall educational outcomes.

Yeah. Choice is bad. Let me guess- you're also pro-life? Because that's also about "choices", right?

[Anonymous]

Well, if we actually funded our schools equally and had diversity and equality in our school systems to begin with, people wouldn't even care about these options.

We need to stop funding schools with real estate taxes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

We are in ACPS and I fully believe charters could do for Alexandria what they did for DC.

Their is no ability to raise achievement in the schools. The answer is always to just build some nicer buildings and that will fix it all. There is zero focus on teaching.

People hate how charters have hurt public schools in DC. Not sure what you're talking about.

ACPS has no incentive to have better public schools because there are already too many private schools. You already have too many "charter type schools". Start sending your kids to public schools instead of private and then demand better teaching. And convince them to pay to attend TJ. Loudoun is leaving eventually anyway.

[Anonymous]

I'm at a charter school in DC - it's an amazing program and we love it. We are also moving to VA to go to a neighborhood school

There are great things about both. As a charter school advocate for many years, I can say - we have loved the special programs that our charter school had that our neighborhood school did not. We loved the flexibility that our charter school had that our neighborhood school didn't. If you want to make a change, you just talk to the principal and it could be done in months - not years.

What I didn't like - the commute. We were driving across town to get to school (my kid is going to WALK next year!). The lack of structure, the communication was terrible, there was no planning and sometimes it seems they made things up as they went along. Teachers, while the teachers were good (nice, kind) they lacked the experience to deal with real issues in the upper grades (bullying, special needs, homelessness, trauma).

Both types of schools have benefits and draw backs - but after many years in DC with the charter system (which I'm still an advocate for in DC) - I'm looking forward to moving to VA without charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm at a charter school in DC - it's an amazing program and we love it. We are also moving to VA to go to a neighborhood school

There are great things about both. As a charter school advocate for many years, I can say - we have loved the special programs that our charter school had that our neighborhood school did not. We loved the flexibility that our charter school had that our neighborhood school didn't. If you want to make a change, you just talk to the principal and it could be done in months - not years.

What I didn't like - the commute. We were driving across town to get to school (my kid is going to WALK next year!). The lack of structure, the communication was terrible, there was no planning and sometimes it seems they made things up as they went along. Teachers, while the teachers were good (nice, kind) they lacked the experience to deal with real issues in the upper grades (bullying, special needs, homelessness, trauma).

Both types of schools have benefits and draw backs - but after many years in DC with the charter system (which I'm still an advocate for in DC) - I'm looking forward to moving to VA without charters.

Can I ask why you are an advocate for a charter system in DC verses magnet programs even though you're leaving it? Is it because DC school administration is corrupt or something? Doesn't sound like charters are much better. Virginia is a right to work state. I don't see the need for charters at any level. And while you have the ability to drive to different schools and seek out the best charters and all the details on them, many of the poor do not have the means or the ability to do so. The bill proposed at the state level would create charters across different counties. The schools would not necessarily be near the poor neighborhoods that need schools close by. Can you not see why charters then are not the solution for public education? Perhaps have a couple of charters or magnet schools in some very poor areas, but otherwise all they do is pull money away from public schools. Also why not try magnet schools first before paying private entities to run schools? Or just try rezoning areas to diversify housing and create school boundaries that are incorporate more diversity.

[Anonymous]

Virginia counties are also more spread out than DC. I don't see charters working as well in VA because of commute times.

[Anonymous]

Public school has to try to be everything for every student, and in my opinion fails quite often. I was determined for my kids to attend public school and had to take them both out to go to private school. I could afford to do this. There are so many people without a choice, whose children are not having their needs met in the too big to fail public school system. Are charters a magical perfect solution? No. But I think we're at a tipping point with class sizes, etc that we need to try new approaches and not be afraid of new methods. there are successful charters out there. Public schools are the ones coming across as greedy. They just want all the easy kids to come with their per pupil funding so that hopefully it will balance out with high needs kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school has to try to be everything for every student, and in my opinion fails quite often. I was determined for my kids to attend public school and had to take them both out to go to private school. I could afford to do this. There are so many people without a choice, whose children are not having their needs met in the too big to fail public school system. Are charters a magical perfect solution? No. But I think we're at a tipping point with class sizes, etc that we need to try new approaches and not be afraid of new methods. there are successful charters out there. Public schools are the ones coming across as greedy. They just want all the easy kids to come with their per pupil funding so that hopefully it will balance out with high needs kids.

Public schools don't have to try to be everything for every student, but instead to be there for all students, unlike the predatory charters that often want to cherry pick, counsel out, and exclude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, if we actually funded our schools equally and had diversity and equality in our school systems to begin with, people wouldn't even care about these options.

We need to stop funding schools with real estate taxes

You're confused. We currently spend more on the bad schools under title 1

The schools are as diverse as the areas they draw students from.

Choice, competition and options are good.

What tax do you propose to user fund schools with?

[Anonymous]

I find it interesting when people say, "if more people like you sent your kids to under-performing public schools, those schools would improve." Would they? Why? What do they mean by "improve"? We all know that kids from higher SES in general score better ok testing, but bringing up average test scores is not improving the quality of teaching at a school. And is not about money. DC spends an exorbitant amount of money per student with very poor outcomes.

I also think people tend to focus on "the school" vs the students in these conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting when people say, "if more people like you sent your kids to under-performing public schools, those schools would improve." Would they? Why? What do they mean by "improve"? We all know that kids from higher SES in general score better ok testing, but bringing up average test scores is not improving the quality of teaching at a school. And is not about money. DC spends an exorbitant amount of money per student with very poor outcomes.

I also think people tend to focus on "the school" vs the students in these conversations.

It means that your money, time, advocacy, could benefit children other than your own, children who often don't have parents with the time/resources/ability to organize, advocate, volunteer, etc. That's what they mean. It means if schools were less economically segregated, all students would benefit from increased resources, increased opportunity.

And if you do not to want to be part of the system, or give back as much as you are willing to take, go pay for private school all by yourself, where your children can be surrounded by a homogeneous peer group and you can cut a check and not think about any of this anymore. Bye.

[Anonymous]

+100 We're all in this together.