C-H-A-R-T-E-R, It spells accountability

Editorials

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Friday, January 13, 2006

The stories ran a week and hundres of miles apart.  One was in the January 3rd edition of the Washington Post.  The other one appeared Tuesday right here in your very own Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Both stories talked about charter schools. Both reminded us again why such schools just might save public education in this country. Or at least give it a good kick in the status costly quo.

Here’s the scoop: The Post’s Jay Matthews wrote a column about a couple of new books that explain how and why some charter schools work. And why some fail miserably. The books? Got a pencil? Okay. They are: Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School that Beat the Odds by Joanne Jacobs and Learning on the Job: When Business Takes on Public Schools by Steven F. Wilson. (They’re both on our ’06 list. So is Jonathan Schorr’s Hard Lessons, another book about charter schools. Telling detail: Where are all the books chronicling the success stories of reg’lar public schools?)  The Democrat-Gazette’s story by Heather Wecsler was headlined: “State board fails to renew charter for Conway school.” It was about the money problems that have troubled Focus Learning Academy, a charter school in Conway, and which kept the state’s properly skeptical Board of Education from renewing the school’s charter. (Though the board did extend its charter till the end of this school year.)  Good news, bad news? 

Nope. Good news, good news. 

The great thing about charter schools—well, one of the great things—is that, if they’re not abiding by their charter and doing what they said they’d do, and doing it efficiently, the state can shut ’em down. Hold them a-c-c-o-u-n-t-a-b-l-e. Which is something the state is finally getting around to doing with all our public schools. (See the state takeover of the school district in Phillips County. See the closing of schools in Alread, Scotland, Biggers and Reyno—which also made headlines in Tuesday’s paper.)  Charter schools have to perform or else. For years, for decades, too many public schools in Arkansas had to perform or . . . well, nothing. They’d just keep on keepin’ on. They’d still get their increases in perpupil spending, their poor teachers would still get the same deal that their good teachers got, thanks to an almighty union, and only the kids would suffer. 

That’s no way to run a railroad or a general, suitable, and efficient system of public education—as the state’s constitution demands. 

Thanks to the charter-school movement, we’re seeing how accountability actually works. Not to mention how a little freedom to innovate can improve education. 

Which brings us to the two books recommended by Columnist Matthews. Ms. Jacobs reports on the good and bad of a charter high school for low-income students in San Jose, Calif. Mr. Wilson tells where he went wrong in trying to run schools as he would a business—and what might have been right about it. 

To quote Columnist Matthews’ review, you can “dive into either of these volumes and get an immediate sense of the passion that leads educators to stick their necks out so far. I like the fact that both authors are very clear about the difficulties these teachers face, and refrain from cant and puffery (with the exception of Jacobs’ subtitle, likely forced on her by her publisher.)”   What’s especially encouraging is the number of Passionate Educators with necks outstretched. And more are stretching theirs out every day, more power to ’em. Education is a risk-taking venture, or should be. Nothing kills its spirit like routine mediocrity. At last count, almost a million students attend some 3,000 charter schools in this country. And they’re not cookie-cutter institutions. Thank goodness. 

There may be some good charterschool templates—like the Knowledge Is Power Program and Edison Schools—but each charter, each Maumelle A-Plus and Delta College Prep is a little different. Why? Because actual human beings are in charge, not some faceless bureaucracy. And each person is different—indeed, unique. 

Give these Passionate Educators the chance to succeed, and plenty will. And if not, then there’s always . . . “State board fails to renew charter for Conway school.” Failure can sometimes be good news, too—when it isn’t being tolerated. It’s the failure that’s routinely accepted that’s dooming too many of our kids.