Charter Schools Show Success

Not all public schools are bad, just like not all charter or private schools are superior to public schools. However, overall, the findings are that charter schools have some serious advantages over the standard public schools. (Important note: charter schools are public schools, but are managed differently).
With many school districts in Missouri struggling, there is no doubt as to why charter schools are gaining support. Would you want to send your child to a public school that was unaccredited and your child is failing? What parent would?
An article posted in Missouri Political News Service, written by Sarah Brodsky, describes why charter schools may have a leg up.

SMI Commentary: Charter Schools Succeed at Language Instruction

March 23rd, 2009 by mopns · No Comments

Former Show-Me Institute policy analyst Sarah Brodsky highlights another reason why inner city public schools are failing our children and not preparing them for the 21st century economy.

By Sarah Brodsky

Charter schools, the public schools run by independent organizations that are continual subjects of debate, are often compared to traditional public schools on the basis of facts and figures. Education reformers pore over test scores and graduation rates. They ask how many alumni go on to attend college. They tally the number of school computers and count how many hours students spend in the classroom. All of those measures reveal something about school quality, of course, but parents may consider any number of other factors when choosing where to send their children.

Fortunately, charter schools have the flexibility to tailor their curricula to specific types of student needs. For instance, charter schools that focus on foreign languages are flourishing across the country. Here in Missouri, there is currently one French-immersion charter school, Academie Lafayette of Kansas City, and French- and Spanish-immersion charters are set to open this year in Saint Louis. These specialized charter schools give students language-learning opportunities unmatched by traditional public schools, and their achievement in this area of instruction showcases the charter model’s advantages. Read more…

Don't Shortchange The Students

In the St. Louis Post's Editorial and Commentary page, Mark Brandom speaks out about the injustices in the potential sales restrictions of many St. Louis closed public schools:

Shortchanging students

In "Battle over shuttered St. Louis schools escalates" (March 3), state Sen. Robin Wright-Jones, D-St. Louis, said that the St. Louis School Board owns the properties and it is its right to close the schools. Actually, although I can't believe legislators have to waste their time with this, the reality is the taxpayers own the schools, and the Legislature has a fiscal responsibility to these taxpayers.

The financial woes of the St. Louis Public schools are no secret, and I'm quite certain the pupils within the school system would stand to gain from the new funds received from the disposition of these buildings. We all know that St. Louis Public Schools' objection to the sale to charter schools is simply because they create competition. This is unfair to the students living in the St. Louis School system and shortchanges their future.

Also, I agree with Sen. Jim Lembke, R-South St. Louis County, in his assessment that the "expense of abatement" rationale is a nothing more than a "straw man" argument. I see buildings change hands all the time, and while the environmental concerns within the buildings certainly can be a negotiating point on the purchase price, the clean-up responsibility typically is borne by the purchaser.

The results of charter schools speak for themselves; let's not continue to shortchange these students simply so St. Louis Public schools can avoid competition.

Mark R. Brandom | St. Louis

Arne Duncan, Education Secretary Quote of the Day

The stimulus bill has everyone up in arms. During the discussions over how the stimulus will impact education, Duncan was quoted in the Washington Post saying "School buildings don't belong to us. They don't belong to the unions. School buildings belong to the community...Almost every school building has classrooms. They have computer labs. They have libraries. . . . Why are they open six hours a day? It's crazy."
Let's see how this compares to the dire situation in St. Louis. Many SLPS will be closing their doors, yet the SAB is trying to restrict the sale of those buildings. They say charter schools and private schools cannot buy these buildings for 100 years. What would Duncan say about this?