Charter School Chicanery

As a special educator of elementary students, this continuing trend in education has me deeply troubled.

In recent years, as different groups/administrations have tried to "fix" failing school systems, the prospect of charter schools have been lauded and praised as good remedy for the problem. In fact, the Obama Administration is threatening to withhold millions of stimulus dollars to states that hinder the growth and prominence of charter schools.

Therefore, my state's governor, has issued a decree that he wants to nearly double the number of students attending charter schools in the state. I'm sure most charter schools are cute, dainty, lovely educational institutions that cater to the needs of the children they accept...err...wait, what? Accept? Oh yeah, that's something my public school system I work for CANNOT do by law, we cannot refuse anyone an education.

But, onto the real problem many of my ilk have: It's all about money. No, not about my paycheck. Although, as you know, we teachers are VASTLY overpaid *cough, cough.* But, seriously, I am a special educator with a unique set of tools that allow me to better teach students with those needs, and I am barely paid a living wage considering where I reside. It's a damn good thing I love my students and my job.

It's about the economics of a school and how taking students away from a school can drastically affect how much money the administration has to spend. Each student taken away from a school/district carries away with them anywhere from $9,000-$15,000.

Let's take the average of those numbers and say District X spends $12,000 per student. District X also features a total of 5 2nd grade classes with 25 students per class. Let's also say that 10 parents choose to move their child to a charter school via school choice. This means that District X loses $120,000 off the top of their budget. Well, now you have to fire a teacher.

So, we originally had 5 classes X 25 = 125 students. Now we have 115 students spread out among 4 classes. This averages out to over 28.75 students per class.

TRUST ME when I say that there is a huge difference between a class of 25 and a class of 28-29. It seems simple, for it's only 3-4 more students. But, that's 3-4 more students that could shake up the chemistry of a class negatively, and/or that is 3-4 more students you have to divide your attention to as a teacher. Therefore, the other 25 students have their teaching experience suffer.

Moreover, this making the vast assumption that the $120,000 only costs you a teacher. The problem also comes in that schools have fixed costs that no matter how many students you have, you still have to pay a fixed amount.

Such as: Lighting, heating, sometimes cooling, general maintenance costs, janitors costs (the building doesn't magically get smaller when you lose students, they still have to clean the whole building), transportation costs likely wouldn't be lowered because it would be highly unlikely all 10 students were on the same bus, professional development costs, etc, etc.

Finally, as a special educator, my job is incredibly secure. These charter schools typically get to chose who they accept or reject. They would most likely reject the difficult special education students that even applied. This would leave a disproportionate percentage of special needs students in the public school system. And newsflash, they cost more!!

Charter schools are bad business for public education and bad news for public education students who will be left behind. Me and my boy Obama part ways on this issue.