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Charter Schools: The
Price Is Too High
by Christopher J. Klicka, Esq.
It seems that everyone with school-aged children is
talking about charter schools. Many are thinking, "This deal is too
good to pass up: I can have my children educated outside of the public
school system and have the government still pay the bill!" Charter
schools, along with educational vouchers, appear to be harmless, since
parents are only reclaiming their tax money.
Is it really that simple? Let's look at charter schools
-- especially virtual charter schools -- and vouchers more closely,
examining them from the perspective of freedom rather than asking,
"What 'freebies' we can receive from the government."
To accurately understand this issue, we must first
define the terms.
What are charter schools?
Public schools establish a "charter" listing
the school's mission, educational program, and methods of assessment.
Charter schools answer to the state or local school board for assessing
students and verifying academic progress. Charter schools are completely
government funded.
Charter schools now exist in 37 states, the District of
Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The Center for Education Reform estimates on
its website that there are over 2,000 charter schools operating with more
that 500,000 enrolled in these schools.1
Supporters of charter schools claim that creating
competition in the education marketplace will result in more options and a
higher quality education. The idea is that if public charter schools draw
enough students away from regular public schools, the resulting lack of
funds will force public schools to come up with creative alternatives to
bring students (and the funding that comes with them) back into the
system.
Additionally, proponents claim that charter schools
provide an innovative alternative to traditional schooling, allowing
creative approaches to teaching, free from the strict rules and
regulations of the public school system. They point out that charter and
virtual charter schools provide a protective environment, i.e., a smaller
"private" school or home environment, where students can pursue
their own styles of learning.
Charter schools operate on taxpayer dollars, so there is
virtually no cost to students. Other often-cited advantages are an
accredited high school diploma, free computer, Internet access, software,
and support by certified teachers.
So what's the problem?
With government vouchers and virtual charter schools and
public schools offering all of these benefits, Home School Legal Defense
Association often gets questions as to why we oppose such excellent
educational options.
I believe the soul of the home schooling movement is at
stake. How we respond to virtual charter schools and vouchers will
determine the extent home schooling remains free from government controls
in the future.
Freedom is the answer
For more than 18 years, HSLDA has been helping to win
the right of families to home school with minimal regulations. Many of
these battles took place in the courts and legislatures throughout the
country. Many families faced fines, jail, and even the threat of the state
removing their children from the home. The families held onto their
convictions and God honored them in an incredible way. It is now legal to
home school in every state.
The battle to maintain this freedom continues as some
school officials harass home schooling families with illegal requirements,
and teachers' unions and other professional education organizations have
legislation introduced to restrict home school freedoms. A survey by the
American School Board Journal, published in February 1997, of over 1,000
public school executives found that 71% of superintendents whose state or
district set standards for home schoolers did not believe home schoolers
were regulated enough! Ninety-five percent of all the superintendents and
principals in the survey believed anything else is better than home
schooling.2
The National Education Association passes a resolution
each year condemning home schooling and urging that legislation be enacted
in each state to require that home schooled children be taught by
certified teachers and have their curriculum approved by the state.3
Prejudice against home schooling has not disappeared.
Government home schooling in Alaska
The old adage "There is no such thing as a free
government service" is true. Government money always comes with
strings. Governments will demand accountability for funding. States want
to be assured that no fraud is involved and that the monies are not used
for an improper purpose. The government has the responsibility to spend
taxpayers' money frugally. For officials to give money to home schoolers
to participate in charter schools without any conditions would be
irresponsible.
Virtual charter schools must be accountable to the state
or local school authorities. In addition to dictating the curriculum and
teaching styles, virtual charter schools can impose requirements on the
parents beyond that which is required by state home school laws, in order
to assure that the parents are teaching the children
"appropriately."
Take, for example, an Alaska program that typifies many
virtual charter school programs springing up throughout the country.
On June 4, 1997, Alaska enacted the best home school law
in the nation. Alaska's law has no teaching qualifications for parents, no
regulation at any level of government, no notice to anyone of the parents'
decision to conduct the home education, no registration with the state, no
reporting to anyone of any information about the home education program,
no testing of the children, no required subjects, and no evaluation of the
program by anyone.
In the same month, the Galena School District launched a
statewide correspondence study program known as the Interior Distance
Education of Alaska (IDEA). According to Galena, school officials want
"to provide educational, emotional, intellectual, and financial
support to those who would like to work in partnership with a public
school district."4 Despite having more freedom than any
other state, a majority of home schooling families are choosing to enroll
their children in IDEA.
Carol Simpson, current Alaska Department of Education
home school program coordinator, said IDEA was "wildly successful,
going from 0 students in mid-June 1997 to 1,157 students 10 weeks
later."
Families who enroll their children in IDEA are provided
curriculum materials, use of a computer with access to the Internet, and
assistance from a certified teacher, among other services. However, public
funds may not be used to purchase curriculum materials for teaching core
subjects if the materials are distinctively religious in content.5
When IDEA started in summer of 1997, we began from the
premise that homeschooling parents know their kids best and should be
free to use any curricular materials that they deemed most appropriate.
We bought nearly anything anyone wanted, including Bob Jones, Alpha
Omega, A Beka, etc. By November of that year, the Department of
Education (DOE) made a new regulation prohibiting school districts from
purchasing religious curricular materials . . .
The Attorney General of the State of Alaska advised us
that we could not purchase anything that is an advocacy of a sectarian
or denominational doctrine . . .
Simpson then proceeded to tell a home school speaker
IDEA had invited to speak at their five government home school conferences
that the speaker could not sell her books at the conferences. Simpson
explained,
I realize that your books are not "Christian
books" and that any religious expression in them is incidental, not
the focus of the book. However, we must be strict in our obedience to
the letter and spirit of the law, honoring our governmental authorities
. . . we must be careful not to give the appearance of promoting
sectarian materials. As such, we cannot allow you to sell or promote
these books in workshops that we are paying for. . . . Also, we want to
avoid the appearance of promoting sectarian materials through your
workshops as well. Please do not include references to faith or an
emphasis on the inclusion of Biblical teaching in your presentations.
Alaska is in the process of creating an approved list of
secular home school books. Notice also from the letter how gradual the
changes have been. At first, the government paid for Christian home school
textbooks. When 75% of home schoolers in Alaska became dependent on the
government funds, the rules changed.
Simpson's letter plainly explains the danger to home
schoolers' freedom posed by these government home school programs.
Some parents have told me they circumvent this in
various ways and still use the state government's money to buy Christian
textbooks. Dependence on government money is encouraging people to be
deceptive.
Refusal to reimburse for any religious curriculum is not
the only problem. Additionally, students in grades 4, 5, 7, and 9 must
take the standardized tests that Alaska uses for public school students at
a test site designated by public school officials, and the tests must be
administered by a certified teacher approved by the Galena School
District. All IDEA students are required to take the Alaska Benchmark
Examination in grades 3, 6, and 8.6 As further evaluation of
the student, each parent must report to Galena School District the
progress of all students each semester.7
In final analysis, the "freebies" are not free
after all. The price is too high -- a gradual but steady loss of freedom,
control, and independence.
Home schooling in name only
Despite all of the attractions for home schoolers,
virtual charter schools are supporting home schooling in name only.
Parents who enroll their children in these virtual charter schools are
actually creating small public schools in their home.
Recently, a Christian teacher in a large "brick-and-mortar"
charter school program in Colorado told me that many Christian families
are using the program and enrolling their children in the school. I asked
her if the teachers could teach the Bible. She said, "No, but we can
teach virtues."
"Are you allowed to teach the children about
salvation?" I inquired.
"We are not supposed to," she replied.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an educational voucher program
that has been operating for several years has been touted as one of the
best examples of a successful government educational program. What many do
not realize is that any Christian school that enrolls students who are
using the government vouchers must comply with over 300 additional
regulations. Two requirements even prohibit the Christian school from
mandating that these children with vouchers attend chapel or Bible class!8
Having been in a car accident and having been limited
in my physical capabilities, I found myself not as able of getting my
kids out as much as I felt they needed. Home educating independently for
3 years, I was reluctant to try a charter school but I thought,
"How bad could it be? I'd have access to educational materials and
my children would have an opportunity to meet other home educated
children." At first it was exciting, though enrolling was very
institutional. Then it came time to meeting with a teacher. We sat and
talked and I stated that I had been home educating independently for 3
years and was not interested in meeting weekly and that I would bring
their work in monthly as they are required to turn in work at least
monthly. That worked out great the first month. The next month, however,
the teacher wanted to plan out what we'd be doing for the following
month. After being independent, I was not interested in being told what
my kids would be learning, so we agreed we'd do the work we wanted and
would write up the plans retrospectively. This was not ideal, but
do-able since the kids enjoyed the Monday co-op (classes) and
fieldtrips.
The next time we met, I took the kids' work but left
the children behind. I never read or signed anything stating that my
children had to be present. To me, turning in the work was the
requirement. It soon became apparent that the teachers were required to
talk to the children at these visits and assess them not only on their
academics, but also on their physical appearance . . . looking for signs
of abuse and/or neglect at their discretion. . . .
Make no doubt about it, a charter school is a public
school . . . it's home schooling in technical terms only. Enrolling in a
charter school will give you more freedom than the traditional public
schools, but still strips you of the independent responsibility of
educating our own children. It is still an institution, which believes
we need interference from trained government agents, that we are
incapable of educating our own children.
When this mother finally tried to remove her children from the charter
school program, she was contacted repeatedly by child welfare services,
demanding that she place her children in public school!
Is government money worth it? Aren't these the same
types of controls home schoolers cast off with much sacrifice and risk in
the 1980s? Are we willing forge new chains to limit our liberty?
Most home school parents want to be free to educate
their children without this kind of government oversight.
Top education officials have warned against vouchers
Although we differ with the philosophy of many of the
former federal secretaries of education, their statements are valuable
since they evidence the intent behind government funding of private
education. Lamar Alexander, Secretary of Education under former President
George H. W. Bush explained the transformation of private education that
was publicly funded when he said, "a public school would become any
school that receives students who brought with them public monies . .
."9
Richard Riley, who served as former Secretary of
Education under Bill Clinton, had strong reservations about vouchers and
government funding of private education. No doubt, his reason for opposing
government funding of private education was mainly to protect the current
public school system, but he has some interesting warnings for private
schools:
You have to be accountable with public tax dollars . . .
when it comes to taking federal tax dollars and giving those to parents
and then having the absence of accountability as far as their children's
education . . . If you have accountability, then you lose the private
and parochial nature of those schools . . . It's bad, we think, for
private schools and parochial schools. It takes away from them the
private and parochial strength, which is being totally free from any
federal regulations . . .10
[Vouchers] threaten the very nature of private and
parochial schools. It makes them less private and less parochial.11
Chester Finn Jr., former Assistant Secretary of Education under Ronald
Reagan, declared that government controls were inevitable: "There is
no doubt in my mind that there will be some new regulations with voucher
plans."12
If the highest public school bureaucrats in the nation
recognize the loss of freedom government funding brings to private
education, how can we deny it?
The experience of other nations
Other nations have experienced the effects of government
funding. Private education has almost completely disappeared overseas.
For example, in Australia, over a period of 10 years,
private school and Christian schools took more and more government funds.
The regulations gradually increased until today the differences between
public schools and private schools have become non-existent. Home
schooling is the last bastion of educational freedom in Australia.
In South Africa, the 1996 National Education Act
officially transformed all publicly funded private schools into public
schools.13
In Alberta, Canada, home schoolers enjoyed more liberty
than almost any of the other provinces. Then several years ago,
legislation was passed giving home schoolers $500 per child in government
funds. The very next year, one of the most restrictive legislative bills
was passed, implementing regulations for home schoolers. When asked why,
the Minister of Education stated that if they were giving money to home
schoolers, they had to know who they are and have certain standards. These
regulations apply to all home schoolers -- not only those who receive the
government funding.
Many European countries have experienced similar
scenarios with government-funded private schools.
Charter schools increase government spending
Charter school proponents claim that the resulting
competition between educational providers will drive education costs down,
while increasing the quality of education offered.
Charter schools do not charge tuition, but are funded
according to their enrollment. Charter school students may be eligible for
both state and federal funding. There are over 8 million children who do
not attend public schools in this country. If these children suddenly
began using money from the state's treasury for their schooling, taxes
would have to be raised to generate the additional revenue. It is highly
unlikely that public schools would reduce their budgets in order to
provide funds for private schools. Today, non-public school parents are
being double taxed -- they pay tuition for both public school children and
their own children. With virtual charter schools, these parents would be
triple taxed. In addition to footing the bill for their own children's
tuition, they would pay for the public school students and the students
participating in charter schools.
According to Eddy Jeans, Finance Director at the Alaska
Department of Education, Galena School District received $15,020,053 in
state funds for fiscal year 2000. Of this amount, $14,093,136, or $4,104
per pupil, was received for the 3,434 students in IDEA. The balance of the
funds in the amount of $926,917 was intended for the 226 students who
receive classroom instruction as regular on-site students.14
Each student enrolled in IDEA receives an allotment
averaging $1,600 per year to cover curriculum and related expenses.
Considering the $4,104 per pupil received from the state, Galena School
District enjoys a gross profit of over $2,500 per pupil in IDEA for a
total of $8,585,000 for fiscal year 2000. What amount of this profit is
reduced by IDEA administrative expenses is unknown, but there is no
question that this is a moneymaking enterprise for Galena School District.15
Let's choose freedom
Government schools are failing in many places. They are
not providing students with the moral training necessary in any society,
and students continue to fall short of academic standards. Why would home
school parents wish to support this system by accepting funding to
participate in it?
In spite of the enticements offered by charter schools,
parents should realize that charter school programs are simply creating
little public schools in our homes. The teaching may take place in a
private home, but the government is pulling the strings.
The soul of home schooling has its foundation built on
the incredible sacrifices of many parents who risked all in order to win
the right to be free from suffocating government control and to be free to
teach their children according to God's ways and in obedience to His
commands. God honors those who honor Him and who trust in His sovereign
love and power.
We do not need the government's "free" money.
The price is too high.
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