Are Charter Schools Better Than Public Schools?

12 Comments on Are Charter Schools Better Than Public Schools?

1. Yes. A bunch.

2. How could they be any worse?

3. There are a lot in L.A., and I think there is a very wide variety. I was talking to a scout mom whose son just graduated from a fairly new one (and has a full-ride scholarship at Harvard!). She obviously liked her son’s school, but she mentioned a formerly public high school about 10 miles away that was closed due to low performance. Under CA law pretty much anyone can start a charter school, and they basically get paid for each student that enrolls. But – and a huge but – the state must provide a facility for them. So that public high school that closed is now home to multiple, independent charter schools. How crazy is that???

   I missed having kids of my own, but have had hundreds via scouts and church youth. All I can say is it really is up to the parents to ensure a good education for their kids.

4. The difference between pubic schools and charter schools is that charter school teachers care about their students.

5. Communist say, give me a child until age seven and he’s mine. That’s whats happening in public schools.

6. Each state handles charter schools differently. Here in Utah, charter schools are given funding per student, but the school must pay for everything. That automatically puts them at a tremendous disadvantage compared with the public schools. One bright side is that public schools (at least in my kids’ district, which is huge) must allow charter school students to attend classes and participate in extra-curricular activities that are not offered or available at the charter school. I believe the same holds true for private schools and home-school kids, but I am not sure.

   There are charter schools that have survived, but more have gone belly-up. It is almost impossible to maintain a rigorous and quality academic environment on the cheap.

   My kids went to a charter high school that rented space in an underutilized public high school. It was focused on STEM and offered a lot of advantages to those wanting to go to a good university. It was not a selective school. Kids entered a lottery for entrance and their younger siblings became legacies. There were a lot of kids that washed out, but you had to be a determined slacker. As long as students tried to succeed with their schooling, they would work with them.

   Being in a public school building gave my kids easy access to band and orchestra, as well as some language classes that were not offered at the charter school. Other kids were in art, drama, debate, athletics, etc. They also ate lunch at the cafeteria (not necessarily a benefit). It was a good fit for all involved, but there was always some friction between the charter school and the district.

   My kids finished public school a few years back. I think their charter school is still doing well, but I haven’t really looked into it much.

   I like the idea of a charter school, but I think they should have equal footing when it comes to resources, though I don’t know how that could be accomplished. I think that charter schools would be unnecessary if public schools were managed more effectively, but that is a pipe dream.

7. My kid stays in a private school here. They’ve also got the best cafeteria food on the island. I’d work a second job to pay for it if I had to as it’s worth every penny.

   They place service academy kids and just about any big college every year including MIT.

   It helps that Mom is a home work NAZI also…. 🙂

8. If a parent has to expend extra effort getting him into a better school, that kid will be a better student.

9. Charter schools are great as long as they aren’t Gulen schools. A powerful Turkish imam, Fethullah Galen, has opened scores of charter schools in the US. He’s basically taken advantage of the charter school system to suck up tax payer dollars while indoctrinating our children. He targets low income, poor communities, where the schools are failing and where parents are desperate to get their kids into a better educational environment. He promises the moon and stars, but delivers only the crescent moon, if you know what I mean. The only foreign language that is available to learn is Turkish. The only cultural studies available are about turkey and Islam. A huge abuser of the H1-B visa system, Gulen imports most of his teachers from Turkey, most of whom are completely unqualified to teach. They just want to get to the United States. Even though Galen is one of the most powerful religious leaders in turkey today, he lives in Pennsylvania, in a highly guarded, cult like encampment. Remember the suppose it through in Turkey recently? Erdogan accuses Gulen of having orchestrated that cool from afar.

   My advice: find out if a charter school is a GULEN school before sending your kids there.

10. last two sentences in first graph of my comment are referring to a COUP – sorry, voice recognition software not recognizing my words!

11. Don’t ask, “…decide for yourself if they help or hurt public education”.
    Rather ask, “….decide for yourself if they help or hurt children, and America’s future as a Constitutional Republic.”
    “Public education” is a misnomer. Now-a-days it should be called “public propaganda”, or “public indoctrination”.

12. @ Tired Mom

    I actually got that cool equaled coup as I was reading, but what does this sentence mean?

    “Remember the suppose it through in Turkey recently?”

    I hate what Sprint does to my words when I use the mic. Seriously. Every once in a while it comes up something vile and I didn’t even say anything that sounded like it. Sometimes I watch what it writes to make sure and it’ll come out perfect as I talk – until I’m done and then it changes it to something horrible. F**king Sprint is trying it’s best to have me send something awful to one of my customers.

    And I have the predictive auto-complete turned off!