By Jarett Fields
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) urged its supporters Monday to come out against Assembly Bill 549, a proposal in the state legislature that would help grow Wisconsin’s promising public charter sector.
WEAC’s email was misleading at a time when our state needs more substance and cooperation in education.
Public charter schools have been an important part of advancing public education around the country and here in Wisconsin. On average, students attending independent charter schools in Milwaukee are outperforming district students in both math and reading. The success of charters with some of our most vulnerable students is noteworthy and should be applauded.
Sadly, the WEAC would rather defend a stagnant education bureaucracy than consider a new approach to improve public education. In the email it sent out on Monday, the union made three attacks against charters.
“[Charter schools] can set the number of slots for students [and] are not required to serve all students.” Let’s take the second part first: not only are charters in Wisconsin required to serve all students, it is federal law that they do.
It is true charters often place a limit on the number of students they can serve— but only after being forced to operate on significantly less funding and facility restrictions, limiting the number of seats available.
A discussion on expanding the number of available slots at charter schools is important. Other parents think so too. In fact, a recent report found that nearly 1 million students are on charter school waitlists across the country this year.
“They can set behavioral and academic standards that promote the exclusion of certain students,” according to WEAC’s statement. This line suggests that charters “push out” low-performing students to improve their school’s performance.
Just one problem: there’s no proof this ever occurs. In fact, an analysis from the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal found “no empirical evidence to support the notion of push out” in charters.
“They deprive families and communities of important rights like due process for expulsion,” according to the WEAC email. Of course charters do not deprive families of due process rights. In fact, if a charter were to deny families their legal rights, it would likely be shut down.
WEAC’s message is a distraction from the much more important story: day in and day out, students in our state are not getting the education they deserve.
At today’s rate, less than one in three kindergarteners will graduate high school fully prepared for college. It’s time to change these odds, together, through hard work and smart legislative policies.
Jarett Fields is State Director of Democrats for Education Reform Wisconsin.
Read the full post here.