We shouldn’t value some students more than others
“Charter school law needs improvement” (Point of View, Jan. 6) was rife withmyths portrayed as facts. Since we often hear these same myths repeated in the halls of the state Capitol, it is important to address them.
State Sen. Ron Sharp is critical of what he calls a “loophole” in a law he helped to pass in 2015. That law, Senate Bill 782, provides a path to approval from the state Department of Education for local charter schools that first show their application meets state requirements, and then clearly demonstrate public support from the local community in which the school intends to operate.
In Oklahoma, that’s happened twice in the past two years — once in Norman and once in Seminole. In both instances, community members asked the state board to approve a charter school seeking to meet a specific community need, and those requests were granted in accordance with the law.
What Sharp characterizes as a “loophole” is, in fact, the very essence of the law he supported just two years ago, and the law is working as it was intended. Communities and families should not be intentionally deprived of opportunities they themselves are seeking.
It also was especially disappointing to see Sharp reinforce the common rhetoric surrounding funding for public school students in Oklahoma who attend charters. The reality is that unlike traditional K-12 schools, these public school students are excluded from benefiting from local funds, including property tax money. Additionally, while state law allows traditional schools to fund capital improvements through bond monies, this option remains unavailable to public charter schools, further putting these public school students at a disadvantage.
The result intentionally deprives students attending a state acknowledged and authorized public school. It’s the funding formula itself that forces charter school dependence on state aid. Our country has already refused to perpetuate separate but equal, so why champion separate and unequal?
My hope is that in this new year, our lawmakers might start to take that equation seriously, instead of focusing on falsehoods and political rhetoric. It’s important to remember that when we’re talking about “per pupil” funding, pupil equals student, and student equals child — regardless of which public school that child attends.
It’s past time to have a real discussion about why we as a state value some kids more than others. When I walk the halls at my school and see the promise of students who are doing so much with so little, I am horrified of the message our state consistently sends — that when the dollars and cents are all counted, they matter less than their peers down the street.
Public education funding in our state is at a critically low level. Districts have made cuts to the point of harming students and insulting teachers. Our legislators should be focused on solutions to this rather than waging a diversionary war by dividing public educators with myth. A rising tide raises all ships.
Schmelzenbach, principal of Harding Fine Arts Academy, is president of the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association.