Charter schools collapse

By Sally Edsall

Six thousand Californian school students were left without a school to attend when school reopened after the summer vacation this year, reports the New York Times (New York Times, September 17).

The largest chain of publicly funded, privately run charter school operators, the California Charter Academy, collapsed. It had received $US 100 million in state government financing to build its network of 60 storefront schools.

Parents were forced to search at the last minute for alternative schools for their children, and many teachers were left without jobs.

University of California, Berkeley education professor Bruce Fuller said: "Until the Charter Academy went into its tailspin, few people predicted that these crashes could be so bloody, but this has been a catastrophe for many people. The critics of market-oriented reforms warned of risks with the philosophy of let-the-buyer-beware, but in this case, buyers were just totally hung out to dry."

The New York Times reports that there are 537 charter schools in California, according to California Superintendent of Schools, Jack O'Connell. "Mr O'Connell has concluded from the disaster that the state must apply 'tough love' in regulating them, 'to keep this kind of near-bankruptcy and chaos from happening again'," the New York Times wrote. Meanwhile, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) teachers' union reports that "Students in traditional public schools outperform charter school students in reading and math", according to a new report by the American Federation of Teachers (New York Teacher, September 9).

The American Federation of Teachers report uses unreleased federal data from the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress' Charter School Report. National Assessment of Educational Progress tests a representative sample of students in grades 4, 8 and 12 nationally. The results showed that 4th grade students in charter schools perform about half a year behind traditional public schools students in both reading and maths, and 8th grade students about half a year behind in maths.

Additionally, when free-lunch eligibility, urban location and race/ethnicity were examined (all indicators of socio-economic disadvantage), charter school students performed worse or no better than traditional public school students, according to the American Federation of Teachers.

Both New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers have supported the charter schools concept and represent teachers in those schools. Last year New York State United Teachers called for a moratorium on charter schools until the state's fiscal crisis ends. They have expressed concern about the effect of charter school funding on traditional public schools.

Sally Edsall is relieving Editor.

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