Midlands Voices/2005

Nebraskans understand issues have more than two sides. This is certainly true of the current attempt of the Unicameral, supported by the education establishment, to force Nebraska’s hundreds of Class I school districts to merge with larger school districts. Right now the choice is black and white. The Class I school districts will surely resist and the outcome is unknown. But why not allow the parents of children attending Class I schools a third choice?
Nebraska’s constitution requires we educate our children but has no barriers to a Charter school fulfilling that requirement. What is a Charter school?
A school stands alone as a Charter school by guaranteeing students meet certain educational outcomes. The operators of the school, generally the teacher(s), sign the contract. Charter schools receive tax moneys for the children in attendance. Traditionally, it is much less than the state average spent per child and if outcomes are not met, the contract is pulled and the school closes.
An administrator in Bellevue told me of a sandhills school near North Platte that was closed. The ranchers purchased a trailer and the teacher now teaches their children in the trailer. The other difference is that the ranchers pay her salary. This is the perfect example of the benefit of a Charter school option. The need was there, the desire was there and the teacher was there. It was the legislative option that was missing.
Parents have an option of sending their children to a traditional public school or setting up a Charter school system. In this respect, it is a win-win situation. Parents choosing the Charter school elect a parental advisory board, and often expect to volunteer, help with maintenance, provide transportation, etc. The rural Charter school is much like those of our past. My mother taught in rural schools and answered directly to the parents. Parental control gets defused as control moves up the bureaucracy.
And Charters are not only for rural school choices. Here are other options to increase choices and extend outcomes for kids:
• To attract quality professional staff, a large medical facility provides day care. Extending this facility to a K-6 Charter school might serve the same purpose.
• An international engineering firm recruits engineers by giving them summer jobs during college. A highly challenging math and science curriculum taught to 17 and 18 year olds on site in a Charter school could serve the same purpose.
• A teacher promises to cut the drop-out rate in half if given a Charter school in an inner city neighborhood. If she succeeds, she keeps her school and her Charter. And, she saves some kids from certain poverty and lives of lower fulfillment.
Charter schools offer a choice for parents. They offer competition to the existing monopoly of public schools. Charter schools are public schools, too, but they are run by parents, not administrators or bureaucrats. If no parents send their children to a Charter school, it closes.
--> not included in newspaper: Running for the Unicameral taught me the power of the Education establishment. The teachers union can and does deliver votes. Their questionnaire for candidates is much more about finance and control and much less about improved student outcomes and choices. I’m pro-education for our kids and I want more choices, not less. Hopefully, LB 126 can be amended to include Charter schools as an option. School Charters can be co-signed by a mayor, a county board or a school district board.
Reagan said it best: "Our system freed the individual genius of man. We allocate resources not by government decision but by the millions of decisions customers make when they go into the market place. If something seems too high-priced, we buy something else. So resources are steered toward those things people want most at the price they are willing to pay." Today, too many of our education decisions are made by government not by the customers of education --the parents.