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Opinion
Jun. 24, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Charter schools

The late satirist Art Buchwald once wrote of an anti-establishment, hippie leader who was flattered to suddenly find himself invited to a number of A-list gatherings and dinner parties. It wasn't until he attended a few that he realized the hated "establishment" had successfully destroyed his coveted status as an outsider.

It's a lesson that supporters of charter schools should heed.

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    • Charter schools were originally intended to be public campuses operating outside the demands of the typical educational bureaucracy, freer to innovate and experiment. There are now 4,600 charter schools across the country, and many of them are among the nation's finest public schools. So on the surface it would appear a good thing that the Obama administration -- through Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- has been pushing for states to allow the creation of more charters.

    Not so fast.

    In return for the support of the teachers unions -- who don't want to be seen as obstructing the expansion of a model that has often proved wildly successful -- Mr. Duncan and others have been tacitly encouraging charter schools to allow collective bargaining and other labor trademarks.

    And that's why charter school supporters should be very careful about welcoming the smiling teachers union bosses into the fold.

    Charter schools were developed to get educators out from under the hidebound red tape that union contracts too often impose. Allowing unions to infiltrate too many charter schools will eventually lead to the death of the innovative conditions that led these campuses to prosper.

    Indeed, Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, is right up front about the real agenda. The push for more charter schools, she told The Associated Press, must come with stricter regulation. "You can't do one without the other," she said.

    Well, yes, you can. Successful charter schools need less regulation, not more -- and efforts to impose more are really just thinly veiled attempts to undermine the entire concept.

    "There clearly are conflicts," said Andrew Rotherham, co-founder and publisher of the Washington-based Education Sector think tank, "between some of the things teachers unions do and some of the things we know make charter schools effective."

    Precisely.

    Charter school supporters shouldn't be flattered by the backing they're receiving from the Randi Weingartens of the world. Instead, they should be afraid. Very afraid.

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    Tom wrote on June 25, 2009 07:19 AM: Let's all remember one thing:
    Teachers' unions are for one thing and one thing only: their own betterment in wages, benefits, and working conditions. They are not about "the children" or "the public".


    Teacher wrote on June 24, 2009 06:47 PM: Yes,by all means, let the union destroy charter schools,more money for us!
    We can't have them making us look more pathetic than we already are.

    Plus I here the kids there have good manners.Something to do with none of that p.c.crap.
    Makes us Government School teachers quite perplexed about what to do.
    But our pay is better,case closed.


    Maestro wrote on June 24, 2009 12:38 PM: Helen..sorry to inform you but this state is already a third-world hellhole. Its a hell hole because of all of the greed and corruption. Things like casino execs lining their pockets with bonuses while they consider bankrupcy (wonder why the RJ did not report this) and doctors who go unpunished when they give others hepatitis in the desire to save money. Greed and corruption...greed and corruption...greed and corruption. Wonder why there is no sense of community here..greed and corruption...greed and corruption.


    winston smith wrote on June 24, 2009 09:38 AM: "So on the surface it would appear a good thing that the Obama administration -- through Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- has been pushing for states to allow the creation of more charters."

    The Feds have no Constitutional authorization to be involved in education. The Department of Education should be disbanded, as Reagan promised in 1980...


    HELEN WEILS wrote on June 24, 2009 08:34 AM: WE'RE ON THE FAST TRACK TO A THIRD WORLD HELL HOLE.


    Lawrence Hyde wrote on June 24, 2009 07:08 AM: Between the unions and the environmentalists this once great nation is become nothing more than a socialistic poorly run state.