Hole in the rationale

I read with interest Gary Newton’s op-ed supporting charter schools for Little Rock, hoping to read a solution to the glaring hole in the rationale for charter schools. I was disappointed.

Newton used the same old talking points about why charter schools are so great. He neglected to offer a vision for what would happen if proponents successfully open an unlimited number of charter schools with tax dollars. Do public schools disappear completely? If not, who would attend the assumingly low-performing public schools that remain? How would this provide equality of education to all students, which is required under federal law and guaranteed by the Constitution?

Without addressing these questions honestly and openly, the charterschool movement will continue to face suspicion and opposition. I, and many others, suspect the movement is a blatant attempt by predominantly white elites to use tax dollars to create a two-tiered system where poor minority students once again receive separate and unequal educational resources. Or it’s a sneaky way to end paying private-school tuition.

I don’t doubt that most parents would prefer their children attend high-performing schools. I also believe many problems exist with public schools. I just fail to see how charter schools will fix those problems.

Ultimately, it is unfair to use tax dollars to send only some students to the best schools. That’s an elitist vision of the future that I believe is undoubtedly illegal. It’s also the gaping hole in the rationale for charter schools that Newton and others conveniently never mention. DEBORAH HIGGINS

Little Rock