Again: We should have charter schools. They should be carefully vetted for ability to succeed and not be allowed to drain conventional public school districts without good cause. In truth, there will always be arguments to be made for charter schools in big, poor urban schools districts (i.e., Little Rock), but it doesn’t mean that anybody who wants to start one for any reason should be approved. And we should evaluate them carefully. The eStem ad in today’s paper, comparing its majority white, majority non-poor student test numbers to the disproportionately black and poor school districts in Pulaski County is more than a touch misleading.
But …
The state Board of Education has indicated recently that it’s going to pay more attention to cornerstone principles in the passage of the charter school law — a demonstrated need for the schools and strong indications that applicants are prepared to run good schools. The wild-eyed charter advocates would approve just about any application and let a little educational Darwinism prevail, no matter the cost to children involved in the experiment.
Little Rock School District Attorney Chris Heller recognizes the new direction of the state board in a memo to the Little Rock School Board. He has some suggestions about a way the Pulaski County desegregation lawsuit could be ended and the state could be encouraged to provide some assurances that local school districts can’t be raided at will by any charter operator hoping to carve off better students and money that will follow them. Will Attorney General Dustin McDaniel be willing to talk about it? He should.