Proponents of charter school expansion are feeling less than hopeful about Governor-elect Beverly Perdue. The lieutenant governor has been outspoken about her hesitancy to remove or change the cap of 100 charter schools in the state, and there’s little evidence that her opposition will change when she takes office in January.
“I don’t support removing the cap on charter schools,” Perdue, a Democrat, confirmed recently in an e-mail.
With a recommendation still on the docket from the Office of Charter Schools to allow six more schools a year, Perdue might get her chance to evaluate the need sooner rather than later. But some education experts aren’t expecting much.
No friend of charters
“Bev Perdue is not a friend of charter schools,” said Lindalyn Kakadelis, director of the North Carolina Education Alliance and a contributor to the John Locke Foundation. “She’s entrenched in the education bureaucracy, so unless … the grass roots of the state of North Carolina, the everyday people, lobby their General Assembly members, I don’t see any change in charter school law.”
Though charter schools are part of the public education system, they differ in some significant ways. First, charter schools have open enrollment, meaning parents are not bound to the school through districting. They also give parents the option to decide where to send their children without the financial hurdles of enrollment in a private school, for example.
“A lot of times, parents — especially our lower-income families — have no options except charter schools, and a lot of (them) were started to give those parents options,” Kakadelis said.
Like traditional public schools, charter schools are funded through local, state, and federal dollars, and charter schools students are subjected to the state-mandated end-of-course and end-of-grade tests. But charter schools are also charged with another purpose, to contribute “innovative” or new approaches to education that can be applied to the traditional public school system. Ensuring that charter schools meet the need for innovation in these schools is an admitted key element of Perdue’s opposition.
“I support allowing new charter schools to emerge after underperforming schools have been phased out,” she said. “They must be held to high standards, and schools that do not perform should have their charters revoked.”
A double standard
But some people question why traditional public schools are not held to the same high standards as charter schools, when by most estimates charter schools do not fare worse than traditional schools on average. State School Superintendent June Atkinson said that charter schools tend to either rank among the best or among the worst schools in the state, while traditional public schools comprise the middle — some might say mediocre — levels. Atkinson said she does not think the cap will be removed during Perdue’s tenure.
Jack Moyer, director of the Office of Charter Schools, said that the disagreements in Raleigh about charter school expansion have less to do with performance than the perceived lack of innovation coming out of the schools.
“When charter school law was put in place, charter schools said that they would, through innovative curriculum and instructional methods, make a difference. And I think there is an accountability issue there when you say that’s what you’re going to do,” he said.
Moyer is a member of an ad hoc committee that will look at the recommendations from a legislature-mandated Blue Ribbon Commission charged with examining accountability and separately, charter schools. The committee, comprised of Moyer, state Board of Education members, and others, will examine the cap issue in January, Moyer said.
Therein lies the problem with accountability, say charter school proponents like Kakadelis. “Basically you have the agency being its own overseer. The state board sets the lines for achievement standards,” she said, noting that the N.C. tests are not easily comparable to nationwide tests. “(Parents) don’t understand what the state tests are really telling them; (they) don’t understand what ‘Level 1’ means. There’s no way to know how your child’s doing.”
When charter schools are often composed entirely of underperforming students, this method of testing without looking at growth gains can mean dismal test results.
Moyer explained that to remedy the problem, the Office of Charter Schools is already working with about 30 charter schools to introduce interim testing. Students will take nationally averaged tests at the beginning of the school year, in the middle and again at the end. This allows for year-to-year comparisons and also helps teachers craft lesson plans to help students make gains in specific areas.
“With the type of children enrolled, we need to look at growth gains,” Kakadelis said. “So many of the charter schools take children who for one reason or another have not been successful in a traditional public school.”
Success for minorities
It was because these at-risk children were not succeeding at public schools that the charter school initiatives got off the ground initially, and Kakadelis explained that nationally, there is a growing level of support among parents and legislators on both sides of the aisle to increase the options for school choice. Perhaps the most visible example of this has been in Washington, D.C., where some African-American students have found success with a controversial school voucher system.
“The public school system has not serviced African-American students very well. … (Their) drop-out rate is extremely high, and we’re seeing this trend around the country,” Kakadelis said.
Though the school choice issue, including charter schools and vouchers, is often fought along partisan lines, in places such as Washington, D.C. African-American Democrats are aligning with Republicans to say that school choice is a good thing. But in North Carolina, partisan politics continue.
Perdue, for one, was endorsed by the North Carolina Association of Educators, the local arm of the National Education Association. Both groups are among the biggest opponents of school choice here and nationally. Perdue’s gubernatorial opponent, Republican Pat McCrory, stood with many of his fellow party members on a platform of removing the limit of charter schools.
“Bev Perdue (is) the typical white Democrat who can afford to send her children or her grandchildren to private school, and yet (is) concerned about the system for everybody else,” Kakadelis said.
As the governor-elect facing a four-year term and a friendly legislature, Perdue has the option of remaining pragmatic — and true to her platform.
“While many of us may approach the education issue from different perspectives,” she said, “regardless of personal politics, the goal on which we must all stay focused is ensuring that every child in North Carolina has a shot at a quality education.”
Colleen Calvani is a contributor to Carolina Journal.