May-June 2002
WHAT IS A CHARTER SCHOOL?
Charter schools vary widely in mission and methods. Some may have themes such as arts or technology, while others may cater to specific groups or types of students. The rules governing charter schools vary state-by-state, as do funding plans.
Some charters are designed and run by large corporations, such as New York-based Edison Schools, Inc., which operates schools in sixteen states. Others are run by small boards of directors (like MATCH, Boston's Media and Technology Charter High School), parents' groups, colleges, or nonprofit corporations. More than 1,700 charter schools are operating nationwide.
Charter-school proponents rest their arguments on the twin pillars of innovation and choice--not only are such schools able to alter their academic plans to suit the needs of the populations they serve, but also their student bodies are determined by parents, not political boundaries. Charter schools purport to offer a compromise between failing public school systems and expensive private schools, allowing parents to keep sending their children to school for free while providing an accountability that is largely unavailable in public schools.
Although charter schools are state funded, the groups in charge of them can operate them as they choose, free from most bureaucratic state requirements. MATCH, for example, is viewed by Massachusetts as a "school district of one." Its nonunion teachers are paid a salary set by MATCH but funded by the state; its curriculum is determined internally and can be varied at-will by the staff, so long as students meet state testing standards for graduation.
Given that they circumvent many state rules--not to mention teachers' unions--charter schools have drawn fire from opponents, who charge that they drain money and pupils from public school systems. But in a state like Massachusetts, as MATCH founder Michael Goldstein '91 notes, funding and pupils are already being drained from traditional public schools, into elite "academies" or "Latin" schools that require certain test scores or essay requirements.
Charter schools, by contrast, typically serve underserved populations, including at-risk students as well as special-education, minority, and low-income students. Like MATCH, many such schools are have to find their own facilities, and actually receive less money per pupil than public schools.
Charter schools are not a monolithic concept to be easily dissected. Some will succeed and some will fail. But the ultimate test of the concept's validity--and the ultimate factor in whether or not it survives "fad" status--will be the students it produces.
--Jonas Blank