(From The Charleston Gazette, January 16, 2010)
By JOE WILLIAMS
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia stands to lose $75 million in federal stimulus money due to the state’s bad charter school law. Now, in the eleventh hour, lawmakers are scrambling to update the law in an effort to increase access to better educational options and thereby improve public education considerably.
It’s time for Democrats in the state Legislature to realize that with or without the carrot of federal dollars, updating this law is the right thing to do.
The Democratic Party has touted our support of public education for decades, but our support has sometimes gone too far when we’ve defended schools and policies that aren’t working for the children we ultimately want to improve the lives of. When we are the ones standing between the families we claim to represent and the public school options for which they clamor, we have to re-examine our priorities when it comes to schools.
Democrats, in particular, owe it to their constituents to support the kinds of exciting public school options offered by public charter schools. Recent data shows that West Virginia parents are eager to learn about the opportunities at charter schools -and the opportunities are clear.
Around the country from California to Boston, and elsewhere, public charter schools are proving their mettle. Some of the brightest stars in the modern-day education reform constellation are public charter schools – now leading the charge to save public education.
Popular school models like KIPP, Achievement First, Green Dot, Aspire and others are serving as proof points nationwide for what is possible in our schools.
Don’t just take President Obama’s word for it that charter schools work. Democratic governors and leaders nationwide have looked to charter schools to meet the demand of a public that wants better schools. The official Democratic Party Platform, approved at the party’s convention in Denver last summer, not only “supports” charter schools but officially “promotes” them as a reform option. Every major candidate for president in 2008 supported public charter schools.
Parents in community after community are also discovering that charter schools can provide the kinds of learning environment they want for their children. Meanwhile, great teachers are finding charter schools to be the kinds of places where they want to work.
Why would West Virginia have a law that limits how many students may attend these types of schools?
The West Virginia Legislature should be listening to parents and the mounting evidence that successful public charter schools are breathing new life into public education. Why would they want to stem the momentum in favor of better schools? The state has an opportunity to be part of the winning group of states that are strengthening these high-performing public schools and in doing so could attract federal funding. That’s called a win/win.
It is time for West Virginia Democrats to take education reform to the next level by allowing more families to access these excellent public school options. Not just because it will help the state compete for federal “Race To The Top” dollars, as noted by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, but because Tennessee’s families deserve better.
Williams is executive director of the national organization Democrats for Education Reform and author of Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education.