By Thomas Sowell | Townhall
People who follow politics, even casually, learn not to
expect high moral standards from politicians. But there are some outrages that
show a new low, even for politicians.
Among the consequences of Democrats' recent election victories,
especially at the state and local levels, is the election of officials who have
publicly announced their opposition to charter schools, and their determination
to restrict or roll back the growth of those schools.
What have the charter schools done to provoke
such opposition?
Often located in low-income, minority neighborhoods,
these schools have in many cases produced educational outcomes far better than
the traditional public schools in such neighborhoods.
A Success Academy charter elementary school
in Harlem had a higher proportion of the children in one of its classes pass
the statewide math exam than in any other class at the same grade level,
anywhere in the state of New York.
As a result of the charter schools' educational
achievements, it is not uncommon for thousands of children to be on waiting
lists to get into such schools -- in New York City, tens of thousands.
This represents a huge opportunity for many low-income,
minority youngsters who have very few other opportunities for a better life. But,
to politicians dependent on teachers' unions for money and votes, charter
schools are expendable.
In various communities around the country, charter
schools are already being prevented from moving into empty school buildings,
which would allow them to admit more children from waiting lists.
Denying these children what can be their one chance in
life is a new low, even for politicians.
Political rhetoric can camouflage what is happening. But
the arguments against charter schools are so phony that anyone with a decent
education should be able to see right through them. Unfortunately, the very
failure of many traditional public schools to provide a decent education
enables their defenders to get away with arguments that could not survive any
serious analysis.
Consider the incessantly repeated argument that
charter schools are "taking money away from the public schools."
Charter schools are themselves public schools, educating children who have
a legal right to be educated with taxpayer money set aside for that purpose.
When some fraction of children move from traditional public schools to charter
schools, why should the same fraction of money not move with them?
What is the money for, if not to educate children? The
amount of taxpayer money spent per child in charter schools is seldom, if ever,
greater than the amount spent per child in traditional public schools. Often it
is less.
Another argument used in attacking charter schools is
that, despite particular charter schools with outstanding results, by and large
charter school students' results on educational tests are no better than the
results in traditional public schools. Even if we accept this claim, it leaves
out one crucial fact.
White students and Asian students together constitute a
majority of the students in traditional public schools. Black students and
Hispanic students together constitute a majority of the students in charter
schools.
On virtually all educational tests, black and Hispanic
students score significantly lower than white and Asian students. If charter
schools as a whole just produce educational results comparable to those in
traditional public schools as a whole, that is a big improvement.
If you want to make a comparison of educational results
with comparable students, you can look at results among children living in the
same neighborhood, at the same grade levels -- and with both charter school
children and children in a traditional school being educated in the very same
building.
Such comparisons in New York City showed,
almost every time, a majority of the students in the traditional public school
scoring in the bottom half in both math and English, while the percentage of
charter school students scoring in the top half was some multiple of the
percentage of other students scoring that high.
This is what the teachers' unions and the politicians
want to put a stop to. Who will speak up for those children?