Yesterday, the general consensus was that charter schools have gotten a bad rap. Their opponents -- teachers' unions and school superintendents -- say that charters siphon money away from the public schools and that they lure the best students from the local districts.Perhaps if more public school teachers and administrators had worried about the kids they were teaching and less about their benefits and power, there wouldn't have been a challenge from charter schools in the first place. They are now reaping what they have sown.
But, according to charter league president Robert Pilkington, 59 percent of charter school students are minorities and more than half qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which means they are poor. Moreover, 18 percent of these students are children with special needs. . .
What separates charter schools from their traditional peers is that they operate outside most of the bureaucracy that governs district schools. They are also characterized by having small classes, innovative thinking and greater parental involvement.
Ron Wolk, the founder of Education Week, says the public school system is so entrenched that it can't be fixed by tinkering around the edges. What the nation needs is a parallel school system that challenges the bureaucracy. Charter schools, he said, could be a big part of that solution.
education is another service that will be outsourced. check this out.
Posted by: jimbo at January 23, 2005 6:02 AM