NC parents, not DC bureaucrats, should decide demand for charter schools

Public charter schools are designed to complement, not compete with, traditional public schools. But a proposed Biden administration rule for a federal grant program threatens what makes public charter schools a successful complement: their independence from the education bureaucracy.

If successful, the move portends a broader effort from charter school opponents to quash the 30-year-old charter movement even as it reaches the peak of its popularity.

Here’s what’s happening. The federal government, through its Charter Schools Program (CSP), offers a relatively small grant to defray costs for the creation, expansion and replication of public charter schools. The application process is what you’d expect from a federal program — a bit cumbersome, lengthy and dry.

In mid-March, though, President Biden’s Department of Education proposed adding new rules to the CSP grant application. These rules come close to establishing a certificate of need regime, withholding CSP-funded public charter schools from parents simply because a traditional public school already exists in the area and has seats for students.

For instance, the proposed rules require applicants to show that new or expanded public charter schools won’t “exceed the number of (traditional) public schools needed to accommodate the demand in the community.”

That requirement would flip the public school choice paradigm on its head. Parents in the community, not bureaucrats in Washington, should determine “demand” for a particular school in their neighborhood. They, not district administrators, know what’s best for their children.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration now proposes to treat public charter schools as mere overflow spaces, not complementary options for parents to evaluate and potentially choose for their children.

What’s more, the proposed rules set a precedent for offering traditional public schools immense power in deciding the fate of new or expanding public charter schools. The Biden administration wishes to require some grant applicants to present “a letter from (a) partnering traditional public school or school district demonstrating a commitment to participate” in a form of collaborative effort.

Collaboration between traditional public schools and charter schools is already taking place. More of it would of course be healthy. But not all segments of the traditional education bureaucracy look kindly on public charter schools.

Unfortunately, some see public charters as a threat to be snuffed out. So, requiring some grant applicants to obtain a letter of support from a traditional public school may offer charter opponents a near-veto on their operations — a concerning precedent to set.

Take recent rhetoric from Public Schools First NC as an example. Even though charter schools are public schools, last week the group urged support for the proposed Biden administration rules because of the “harmful effects charter schools often have on communities.”

The organization oddly accused public charter schools, all of which are run by nonprofit boards, of being “corporate operators (out to) benefit themselves, not students.” Fortunately, such hostility does not represent prevailing public sentiment. Yet, it isn’t hard to imagine animated charter opponents using the power granted them by the Biden administration’s rules to turn their anti-charter words into practice.

The fact is public charter schools are a free, public alternative to traditional public schools. They are open to all. Charters are able to offer innovative teaching methods and more flexible curriculum options precisely because they’re independent from the traditional education bureaucracy. But they’re still part of the public school family and hopefully always will be.

Everybody in the public school family — yes, including Public Schools First NC — should look at the amazing things happening at, say, the Sallie B. Howard School in Wilson, N.C. It serves a majority-minority student population and was one of only eight schools in the state to receive the 2021 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award.

Public charter schools complement, rather than compete with, traditional public schools. Their opponents shouldn’t try to quash them through regulations designed to eliminate choice.