King opposes ‘arbitrary’ limits on charter schools
Education secretary’s position puts him at odds with NAACP’s stance
U.S. Education Secretary John King on Wednesday weighed in on a swirling schools controversy, criticizing what he called “arbitrary caps” on the growth of high-quality charter schools, which are publicly funded but, in many cases, privately operated K-12 schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia.
Appearing at the National Press Club, King said the USA is “fortunate, I think, as a country, to have some high-performing charters that are doing a great job providing great opportunities to students — charters that are helping students not only perform at higher levels academically, but go on to college at much higher rates” than students at similar neighborhood public schools. “That’s good. We should have more schools like that, and I think any arbitrary cap on that growth of high-performing charters is a mistake.”
But King, whose rise is aligned with charter schools, said charters that are under-performing should “improve or be closed.”
King ’s opposition to a limit on charter schools puts him at odds with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Meeting in Cincinnati on Saturday, the civil rights group’s board approved a resolution calling for a moratorium on the expansion of charter schools. It also called for stronger oversight, saying they shouldn’t take on more students until they’re “subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as public schools.”
The NAACP also wants charter schools to stop expelling hard-to-educate students, among other measures.
The resolution comes as charter schools in a few places have come under criticism for allegedly weeding out difficult students — in one case, The New York Times reported last year that a high-performing Brooklyn charter school, part of a larger net- work, maintained a “Got to Go” list of students that administrators wanted out, and that neighborhood schools would be forced to accept. The network later said the list was a mistake and that the principal who maintained it was reprimanded.
Whether charter school discipline nationwide is problematic remains an open question. The Department of Education created a #RethinkDiscipline campaign “to support initiatives that build positive school climates and develop less punitive approaches to school discipline.”
But other research has shown no evidence of “push-out” effects.
Researchers looking at charter schools’ academics have come away with mixed results, finding last year, for instance, that students in Texas charter schools saw less progress in both math and reading than their peers in district schools.
But other research suggests charter school students get more instruction in these basic subjects than other students — the equivalent of 36 more days of reading and 26 more days of math.
“For many of these students, charter public schools may be the only option for a quality public education in their community,” said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a D.C-based support group.
On Wednesday, King said states must take a more prominent role in vetting charter school quality.
When charters perform poorly, he said, some states “fail to take action to either improve them or close them, which is the essence of the charter school compact. Charter schools were supposed to be a compact — more autonomy in exchange for greater accountability. And yet some states have not followed through.”
But in states with better oversight, he said, schools that “are doing a great job for kids, that want to grow, they should be able to. I think this is an issue where we’ve got to put kids first. We’ve got to ask what’s best for the students and parents.”
“For many of these students, charter public schools may be the only option for a quality public education.” Nina Rees