Charter Schools Essay Example

Charter Schools: The Future of Education? For decades the American education system provided parents with three choices: public, homeschool or private school. If they chose public then their child(ren) would be assigned to a school past on where they lived. However , “in the early 1990s a handful of states created independent public charter schools, providing opportunities for teachers and others to develop innovative schooling options “ (Palmer, Louann 2007). Not only did the creation of charter schools provide opportunities for the teachers, but gave parents a fourth option in educating their child(ren). Some veiw charter schools as a welcome addition to the public school sector, others doubt the benefit of these schools. There has been a great deal of research done on the benefits of charter schools on the public school system and on those that attend. This paper will discuss a bit of the history of charter schools, the benefits of having a charter school in the school district, along with some of the negative aspects, and how they foster competition. Over the past 15 years, “the charter school movement has gone from a glimmer in the eyes of a few Minnesota reformers to a maturing sector of America’s public education system” (Smarick, Andy 2008). Charter schools can now be found in 40 states and the District of Columbia and “today, over 4,100 charter schools serve more than 1.2 million children” (Center of Education Reform). Even with this many charter schools already in place, there are “ numerous policy and political reasons, without a radical change in tactics the movement won’t be able to sustain even its current growth rate” (Smarick, Andy 2008). Andy Smarck goes on, “Twenty-five states have imposed some type of cap on charter expansion, and in eight states those limits currently constrain growth. The battle against caps must be fought state by state by under-resourced, overextended charter advocates against entrenched opponents” (2008). With