Why not Expand Charters?

A series of bills making their way through the Michigan Legislature would seriously affect the current state of education within our borders. Basically, they would allow for a great expansion of charter schools, allowing them even in areas of high student performance. They currently are not allowed in such places.

The pros and cons of the effort can be and are being debated to the proverbial nth degree. The focus of the debates are on exactly how efficient charter schools are. The results are certainly mixed; yet no more different than what is currently found among traditional public schools. Poorer areas with charters tend to perform more poorly. Such findings ought not to shock nor of themselves condemn charter schools.

The main argument against expanding charters is that the amount of state oversight may not be properly determined. Although figuring out precisely the right level of such oversight is important, it doesn't seem to matter so much in areas of high academic achievement, which, let's face it, are precisely the areas most threatened by new charters. Those folks only real argument against charters, then, can only be that 'we're doing a good job anyway'.

That's fair enough, we might suppose, if we also suppose that it is the schools in those areas which actually make the difference. Of that, we're skeptical. If it is the lack of parental and societal support which at least help make schools in those places bad, why are we to assume that it is the schools themselves which make the students in wealthier, more stable areas good? Doesn't it make more sense that it is the parental and societal expectations which make the schools better?

As such, charters should not be a threat to Bloomfield Hills or Grosse Pointe students and parents and society. Nor should any amount of state oversight be of consequence either. The real issue here is an encroachment on the authority of traditional public academies. They're attempting to protect their turf and not their progeny. We can learn much about their actual intent from that.