Senator Warren, let me help you with that
On Thursday, Elizabeth Warren told a group of unhappy African-American charter school parents and advocates that she would review her plan for charter schools, saying, “If I don’t have the pieces right, I’m going to go back and read it. I’m going to make sure I got it right.”
Good for her for meeting with these parents and listening to their concerns. We need more conversations like this in America. As the founder of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, let me offer to help her with her re-assessment of her plan.
Senator Warren’s plan contains a handful of specific statements and recommendations about charter schools and the most significant is her commitment to “ensure existing charter schools are subject to at least the same level of transparency and accountability as traditional public schools.” Good news Senator, for the most part, they already are.
In every state, charter schools are subject to the same academic accountability standards as district schools and often additional standards that do not apply to district schools. Not only are the student academic standards the same or higher, the consequences for failing to meet those standards are often higher. Charter schools that persistently fail to educate children can lose their charter and close. Every year, this happens to about 3% of charter schools nationwide — a level of accountability that far exceeds that found among district schools.
The Senator is right to raise some questions about transparency among charter schools, which is uneven from state to state and even from school to school. In most states, charter schools are covered by the same public information laws that apply to school districts, but compliance with those laws is scattershot. Some charter schools are small operations that are overwhelmed by legal requirements about public documentation and open meetings. That’s no excuse for not following the law, but these schools are often doing their best to meet all of their legal requirements. Others — about 15% of all charter schools — use for-profit management companies to run their school and those companies often claim that, because they are a private entity, they are not covered by public information laws. This is indeed an area that could benefit from clearer laws and application of those laws.
Speaking of charter schools managed by for-profit companies, Senator Warren says she would like to, ban for-profit charter schools. “I will fight to ban for-profit charter schools and charter schools that outsource their operations to for-profit companies,” she says, while suggesting that the Walton family is profiting from charter schools. In reality, the federal government has few or no tools at its disposal to ban such companies. What the federal government can do is better monitor and enforce how these companies are using federal dollars. Too often, federal dollars intended for special education or the education of low-income children are swept into company coffers without clarity that the dollars are being spent on the students for whom the dollars were provided. The U.S. Department of Education and state departments of education already have the power to properly monitor these funds. They just need to do so.
The Senator’s shot at the Walton family, it must be said, is a low blow beneath the dignity of someone of her integrity. The Walton family has given away its money — not taken money — to help educators start charter schools (and to support district schools and to support a variety of progressive environmental efforts). Our nation would be better off if more people were so generous.
The Senator’s plan goes on to propose that only school districts should be allowed to approve charter schools. I got my start in the charter school world working for the Chicago Public Schools district and I believe school districts can be great authorizers of charter schools. But the 25+ year reality has been that very few of them have been. School districts are less likely to implement professional authorizing practices than other types of authorizing bodies (like universities and state departments of education). Further, many of the worst charter school scandals over the years have occurred at charter schools that were authorized by school districts who were not paying attention. Rather than opposing authorizers who are not school districts, the Senator should commit to helping all authorizers do their work better.
Finally, Senator Warren promises, “My administration also will crack down on union-busting and discriminatory enrollment, suspension, and expulsion practices in charter schools.” Senator, here you have my strong support. I just ask that you apply the same expectations to school districts. Public education in our country has worked well for many students (usually those who are white and middle class) but has also failed many (usually students of color). Our public education system has a long history of drawing neighborhood school boundaries to create segregated schools, of over-identifying black boys into special education in order to remove them from regular classrooms, and of expelling or suspending black and brown children at higher rates than white children for the same offenses. As you re-read and revise your education plan, I suggest you simply replace the word “charter” in that sentence, so that it reads, “ My administration also will crack down on union-busting and discriminatory enrollment, suspension, and expulsion practices in all public schools.”
Final note Senator: your plan did not say anything about the fact the charter schools are delivering better academic outcomes for millions of children. Stanford University found “learning gains for charter school students are larger by significant amounts for Black, Hispanic, low-income, and special education students in both math and reading.” Senator, that’s why those parents wanted to meet with you.
There is room for improvement among charter schools, but the reality is that they are delivering better academic results for millions of children, particularly low-income students of color. If we fix the things that are not working while keeping and growing the schools that are working, we can help even more children get a great education that prepares them for success in life.
Greg Richmond is the founder of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, serving as it’s CEO from 2005 until 2019.
