Battle Lines Being Drawn on Charter Schools in Alabama

Bradley Byrne voiced his strong support today for giving Alabama parents options in educating their children,

“As the father of four children who attended public schools, a former member of the Alabama Board of Education and a former senator, I have long been a proponent of bringing school choice to Alabama,” Byrne said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “I strongly believe that charter schools will better serve the children and families of this state in many ways. They will provide greater educational options for our students, give parents the right to choose the school that best suits each child’s needs, put our education tax dollars to more productive use, incentivize school and teacher performance excellence, and create higher standards for discipline and character development,” Byrne said.

This follows a previous announcement by Governor Bob Riley that he would be pushing charter schools legislation in the session that begins in January.  To no one’s surprise, AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert responsed quickly and negatively to the Governor’s proposal.

First, I want to make sure anyone who reads this understands where I am coming from.  I am a parent of three children in the public schools (two in Montgomery County, one in Elmore County), I am close to many teachers all over Alabama and know them to be outstanding professionals who work extremely hard.  This is not about the teachers failing our students, it is about the system we have built, in which our teachers work, failing all of us.

I understand the fear among many that charter schools will erode the quality of education in public schools and fear is natural, but we can’t build policy based on fear.  Even strong Democratic leaders like President Obama and Rep. Artur Davis believe charter schools are worth a shot.  So please don’t let anyone fool you into believing this an attempt to eliminate public schools.  When done well, charter schools ensure all schools perform at a higher level.

Let’s remember that a “quality” education isn’t easy to come by in Alabama as it is.  Many schools in this state are failing our students and we need to do something.  A huge windfall of new money for education is not coming (despite what Ron Sparks wants us to believe).  We have to be innovative in crafting solutions to improve our education system.  There are other approaches we can take, but those have all been shutdown in the legislature as well.  The time as come to try some real competition.

I certainly am not advocating, nor do I hope anyone else is, that we open the floodgates right from the get go.  The research on charter schools is mixed, but what it does tell us is that you can either create an atmosphere for excellent charter schools to sprout up or one for yet more failure.  We should take a measured approach and begin with allowing experimentation in the lowest performing districts in the state.  And it should never be about forcing students and parents out of existing schools, it should always be about choice.  If Alabamians truly believe their students are getting the best education possible, the experiment will die on the vine.

I also believe in ensuring our most vulnerable students are still provided the best we can offer.  Public charter schools do not generally have to adhere to the same requirements as public schools to serve those with special needs and the funding mechanisms should take that into account.

Finally, opponents of this action should realise that if we had been able to get any of a number of proposed reforms in place over the last couple of decades, I may not have been nearly as inclined to support this effort as I am today.  As it is, I think this is the best chance we have at bringing real alternatives and creativity into our education system.  We may fail to do it properly, and I challenge everyone involved to get it right, but we can’t fail to try.

UPDATE:  Markeshia Ricks of the Montgomery Advertiser fleshes out some additional details and opinion this morning.  It’s sounding like Bradley Byrne and I may be parting ways on part of the plan.  I agree with Dr. Joseph Morton,

But charter schools under a Byrne administration could differ from what state Superintendent of Education Joe Morton has said he might recommend and what local school boards are willing to accept.

For starters Byrne is against caps on the number of charter schools in the state. Morton has said he believes a limited number of charter schools in districts that have struggled to meet federal requirements for progress could benefit the state.

But Eric Mackey, president of the School Superintendents of Alabama, said the states that have had the most success with charter schools are the ones that limit the number of charters, that have stringent criteria for issuing those charters and that hold those schools accountable.

“But just opening it up and giving out two (hundred) or 300 charters is not a good idea,” he said.

I strongly agree.  Would we eventually lift the caps?  Perhaps, but we certainly don’t need to just throw the doors open right from the get-go, we should be measured in our approach and focus on the lowest performing schools first.

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