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When I was working for the Defense Department some years ago, Congress was in love with the idea we should compete for business with Veterans Affairs. Congress wondered why we couldn’t purchase items as cheaply as the VA? The catch was that while we at the Defense Department were subject to the Defense Appropriations Act, the VA was not. In other words, while we were subject to the mandates of Congress, the VA was not. Without debating whether the congressional mandates were good or bad (some were necessary, some were not), the fact was that they added to both the time it took to procure an item and the cost of that item itself. We were not competing with the VA on a level playing field. In Philadelphia today, the public school system finds itself in much the same position when asked to compete with charter schools. There is an unequal playing field.
Those who read this column know I favor parents having a choice on where to send their children to school. I think parents who have a strong voice in the education of their children are an important element in quality education. I still believe in that principle. But when one stacks the deck in favor of charter schools, one is really not providing parents with a real choice. Choice is an illusion.
Unfairness is built into the system in the manner of how charter schools are funded. According to an article in the Daily News, charter schools receive about $8,000 per student and $23,000 for those special-ed students. Keep in mind that this money comes out of the hide of the public school system. This might seem fair at first until one realizes losing a student to a charter school does not reduce the overhead or teaching costs of the public school. The funding system is particularly pernicious coming at a time when schools were hit with the drastic cuts imposed by the dearly departed Corbett Administration.
At one time, the public school district was reimbursed part of the lost money in order to provide oversight of the charter schools. That money, too, was lost under Corbett. Yes, new Gov. Tom Wolfe is promising to restore sanity to funding our schools, but it is far from a sure thing that he can persuade the House Republicans in Harrisburg to go along with his proposed budget.
Funding is not the only reason the system favors charter schools. Charters have been freed of many of the mandates under which public schools currently operate, including abiding by the contracts negotiated in good faith by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Charters can pick and choose which students they choose to educate unlike the average neighborhood school. Note to the politicians — when you can pick and choose your students and you are a public school, you get Masterman, Central and Girls High, some of the best schools in the entire state — public or non-public.
I admit that probably like you, I can name the problems better than provide the solutions. I think we both want the same things — the best education for our students. I think allowing parents a realistic choice in educating their children makes for interested parents and motivated students.
I think the School District of Philadelphia has to regain the trust of voters that the tax dollars they get are spent wisely. Critics of the district have to understand the difficult conditions under which our schools operate trying to educate students who carry to school problems that we never dreamed of when we ourselves were students. There is no magic wand to improve test scores, only hard work. Unrealistic expectations lead not to a better educated student, but to cheating or even just teaching to the test. If one wants a dramatized example of these problems, watch the season of HBO’s “The Wire” when it dealt with Baltimore public schools.
We must find a way to increase the base of support for education among voters. Too often, I hear folks my age voice the opinion that they should no longer have to pay school taxes because they do not have any kids in school. Our stake in the future does not end when our children graduate from school. I feel as if the only way we are ever going to have widespread support for funding the education of our children is to give non-public school parents a stake in that funding. I admit this is easier said than done.
I have not seen any report that shows that charter schools are inherently better than public schools. I suspect this would be the same in non-public schools if they were forced to operate under the same conditions as their counterpart. Arguably the best school in this state is Masterman, a public school in our own city.
We have to stop undervaluing the teaching profession, and, yes, one way to do that is to improve the accuracy of teacher accountability. But to realize that goal, we must admit that teaching in some schools is much more difficult than teaching in others and stop trying to expect the same results from both.
When all is said and done, however, unless charter schools and public schools operate on a level playing field, school choice is an illusion.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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