Charter Schools -- Unsafe Pressure-Release Valves We Don't Need (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Sarah Butrymowicz on Time.com reports about myriad difficulties facing charter schools and the families of their students when those schools are forced to close. Charter schools are defined in as schools that "get public funds but operate without usual bureaucratic constraints." The purpose, to be sure, is noble: Help students who are not thriving in traditional public schools pursue academic success in smaller, more supportive environments.

Critics of charter schools allege the lack of "usual bureaucratic constraints" has relegated many such schools into breeding grounds of mediocrity, with students and faculty underperforming. Those same critics, and others, also complain regulations shutting down underperforming charter schools are insufficient and that, even if some charters close, new ones immediately open to take their place.

Obviously, this is an issue that has become more pressing as a result of the ongoing recession. In 2006, when the economy was humming, states like Ohio took a liberal approach to charter schools and let them proliferate, assuming parents could police schools' performance by sending their children only to the good ones and letting the bad ones shrivel and close. Now that public dollars are scarce and teacher layoffs loom in many states, educators and taxpayers are questioning the validity of nontraditional schools that receive state funding.

I don't think charter schools should receive public funding. While charters have many merits, I believe on principle that state money for education should be spent on improving traditional public schools, not creating "pressure release valves" for a small numbers of students. Due to their smaller sizes, charter schools might be less cost-efficient and have a harder time fostering large-group socialization skills among students who, for various reasons, might desperately need to develop those skills.

Also, charter schools might breed resentment. Who gets to go? Charter schools in a certain area might not have room for all students who wish to attend. There are constraints to their size and scope. In addition to numerous other controversies, you also must consider controversies related to equality of access.

Districts should focus on improving their traditional schools. Allowing charter schools to proliferate can divert state dollars from traditional schools, denying those schools up-to-date equipment and curricula materials. While the new charter schools are likely to have updated infrastructures and materials, the traditional schools must go without.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120131/pl_ac/10907835_charter_schools__unsafe_pressurerelease_valves_we_dont_need

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