The Charter School Zeitgeist
The politically topical controversy over public schools' quality and the need for charters, choice, and higher standards is but the latest chapter in an intense and ongoing debate that has spanned the latter half of the 20th century and ushered us into the 21st. Beginning in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik I and moving through a series of "crises" reports exemplified by 1983's A Nation at Risk , citizens have periodically been informed that the quality of American education is unacceptably low and have demanded, in turn, a massive transformation of the educational landscape. What appears to be new in this predictable movement from one Zeitgeist to another is that the fight over reforming the school curriculum is now as likely to be engaged in legislative chambers as at school board meetings.
The current advocacy for school choice is distinguished by an enthusiasm for privatization. For example, arguments for choice in the form of vouchers, educational subsidies for private schools, are embedded in a broader set of concerns about the role of government and the maintenance of institutions such as schools. More and more politicians and policymakers have begun arguing the case for the virtues of privatization— turning over government business functions to private companies. Such issues are manifest in many active state and national political debates, including what to do with projected budget surpluses (lower taxes, lower national debt, or increase funding for social services, including schools).
Charter schools are championed by both political parties as another
viable mechanism for improving public schools. Charter schools are
public schools that are educational experiments that operate under a
contract between a state and an individual or a group of individuals.
The charter specifies the conditions under which the school is
permitted to operate and typically allows schools more flexibility in
the hiring of teachers, the curriculum, and disbursement of funds.
Importantly, charter laws vary notably from state to state, and some of
these differences are major (Can schools operate for profit? Can
uncertified teachers or individuals without...
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