{"id":665,"date":"2007-04-02T08:33:01","date_gmt":"2007-04-02T14:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php\/index.php\/2007\/04\/02\/right-for-most-of-the-wrong-reasons\/"},"modified":"2007-04-02T08:39:27","modified_gmt":"2007-04-02T14:39:27","slug":"right-for-most-of-the-wrong-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=665","title":{"rendered":"Right, For Most Of The Wrong Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Strib editorial board came out against the cap on charter schools<\/a> (which we’ve discussed here<\/a> and here<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea had me scratching my head; the Strib and the anti-charter Minnesota Federation of Teachers are co-bedfellows of the DFL, which is carrying the MFT’s water on this issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I figured there had <\/em>to be a whammy in there somewhere.<\/p>\n

Let’s look, shall we?<\/p>\n

But limiting charters is not the best way to assure adequate state support for traditional public schools. The larger issue is funding public education programs well enough to allow both traditionals and charters to thrive.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a more recent Senate action will make that possible. Although the full Senate adopted a low-ball $496 million increase for education a week ago, it is now debating an income tax increase that would pump in another $400 million.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, we could see that <\/em>coming, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

We’ll come back to that.<\/p>\n

Still, there are some senators itching to put the brakes on charter expansion, worried that the new schools are hurting regular public school enrollment. They point to a state finance report that identifies charters as one of the state’s fastest-growing expenses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is, of course, rubbish.\u00a0\u00a0Publicly-financed schools of all types – traditional or charter – get paid a certain amount of money for every day every child is in school.\u00a0 Except that charter schools get a little less of <\/em>it; charter schools don’t get their parent districts’ supplemental appropriation proceeds, for example.\u00a0 So\u00a0keeping a\u00a0kid in a charter school for a given day – or year –\u00a0costs the state<\/strike> the state’s taxpayers less <\/em>than keeping the kid in a traditional public school.<\/p>\n

It is true that growth has been rapid; the number of charter students has risen from 10,000 in 2001 to 23,700 today. But that growth has been driven by interest and demand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let me digress a moment here; that is a very curious turn of phrase.\u00a0\u00a0Of course <\/em>the growth is triggered by interest and demand!\u00a0<\/p>\n

The big question – why is there such “interest” and “demand”?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And why\u00a0does the DFL feel the need to\u00a0choke that “interest and demand” off?\u00a0<\/p>\n

For 20 years, Minnesota has been a pioneer in offering public school choice, acknowledging that today’s students have a variety of learning styles and needs.<\/p>\n

In fact, charters are just part of the menu of educational choices. Out of 800,000 public school students, more than 100,000 attend some type of alternative, contract or charter program — all under the public school umbrella.<\/p>\n

Clearly, a significant number of students and families believe in school options.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again – why do you suppose that is?<\/p>\n

But given that it’s the Strib editorial board, I should accept good news where I find it.\u00a0 For example, they put the numbers in context:<\/p>\n

As for cost, stopping the expansion of charters is estimated to save the state about $6 million over two years out of a $13.5 billion education budget.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, one-twentieth of one percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moratorium supporters do raise questions worth considering. Some school officials worry that programs have been set up just so organizers can go after state startup funds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But then, there are laws against fraud.\u00a0 No?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0A handful of rural groups have said they’ll start charters to stave off much-needed district consolidations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s stop right there.<\/p>\n

Consolidating rural districts is the dumbest thing this state has ever done for education.\u00a0 In fact, consolidating smaller schools into big, factory-model schools is the dumbest thing this nation has ever done when it comes to schooling.\u00a0 The simple fact is, rural schools do, statistically, a better <\/em>job of teaching kids to read, write, do math, learn science and history than big, factory-model schools.\u00a0 The smaller, in many cases, the better.<\/p>\n

Consolidation has nothing to do with educating children, let alone educating them better.\u00a0 It’s about making the system <\/em>work better for the system’s <\/em>sake.<\/p>\n

And if the Strib editorial board believes – as they seem to – that an urban parent’s choice is worth protecting (thanks, Strib!), why not that of a parent in a small, rural town who is blanching at the thought of his kids being on a bus for over an hour each way, morning and night – <\/em>for the dubious privilege of attending a big, prison-like, factory-model school that won’t do as good a job of educating them as the small, rural school they’re losing?\u00a0 Which the proposed charter school will replicate?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed, the best way to “save” the public school system – I believe the only <\/em>way to save it, if indeed “saving” is possible\u00a0– is to deconsolidate<\/em> schools, rural and urban.\u00a0 Dismantle the huge, factory-model schools, with their need for Orwellian security and the chuzzlewitted addiction to “policy” and bureaucracy that do nothing but teach kids that authority is not only uncaring, but stupid (not that it’s not a valuable lesson).\u00a0 Move the schools out into the neighborhoods.\u00a0 Make them small – no more than the number of names the principal can remember, ideally.\u00a0\u00a0Move them into the neighborhoods they serve.\u00a0 Quit segregating by grade level; let older kids teach younger kids.\u00a0 Live lean.\u00a0 Focus on the mission – teaching reading, writing, math, science and history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sort of like…well, charter schools.<\/p>\n

[Rejection] should befall the charter moratorium when the Senate and House bills land in conference committee. The door should remain open to create innovative schools for Minnesota students.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, we ended up in the same place, anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Strib editorial board came out against the cap on charter schools (which we’ve discussed here and here).\u00a0 The idea had me scratching my head; the Strib and the anti-charter Minnesota Federation of Teachers are co-bedfellows of the DFL, which is carrying the MFT’s water on this issue. I figured there had to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}