Response to Janey

This pretty well defines irony: as this posting on the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools blog points out, the weak charter schools in DC, which Janey is using as evidence of the need for a moratorium on new schools, were mostly approved by HIS OWN pathetic Board of Education -- one that's approved so many bad charter schools that it's trying to shed itself of its chartering authority!  (The independent District of Columbia Public Charter School Board is doing a much better job.)  Here's a theory: maybe the Board of Education DELIBERATELY approved a bunch of lousy charter schools to undermine the entire movement...

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http://www.publiccharters.org/content/blog/

15 Aug 2006

Moratorium Not the Answer

Janey seeks charter kibosh ...

In an interview with the Washington Post (free registration required), District of Columbia Superintendent Cliff Janey called for a moratorium on charter schools in his district. Janey claims that, "This is not a push back against charter schools. It's rather reclaiming the purpose of public education to be one of quality."

But, Mr. Janey ... that IS a push back. But, you know what else is a push back? You're the superintendent of a school district in which 25% of the public school students are enrolled in charter schools, most of which operate completely independently of the traditional district. That sounds to me like the PUBLIC is pushing back on the system YOU run. Moreover, the most successful charter schools in DC are authorized by the independent District of Columbia Public Charter School Board. The charter schools authorized by the Board of Education, DC's other authorizer, tend to struggle, evidenced most recently by the fact that this authorizer has made public the fact that it wants to shed its charter authorizing responsibilities.

To me, this signals the fact that what is important in chartering is placing an emphasis on responsible authorizing and critical oversight, not limiting the potential growth of strong charter schools. The Public Charter School Board acts reponsibly in the face of low quality by not renewing charters, something we must get used to if "quality" is going to be more than a buzz word. So, is the answer a moratorium? No ... the answer is responsible oversight.