Charter school advocates are grousing that the board that oversees the schools in Mississippi denied two more applications on Sept. 13:
n A member of the Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board told Mississippi Today that current state law is too tough on charter schools, and that the Legislature needs to change the law to provide charter operators more flexibility.
n An advocate who worked with lawmakers to write Mississippi’s charter school legislation in 2013 believes the problem is that the charter board does not provide enough support and collaboration to applicants who want to open new schools.
n And an official with Empower Mississippi said all seven of the state’s existing charter schools have a waiting list for enrollment along with 90% retention rates. Approving no schools, he added, is a travesty.
It’s understandable that charter school supporters are disappointed by the board’s decision. But they really need to tap the brakes on this “woe is me” thing.
The charter board’s job is not to provide more flexibility to applicants. Its primary mission is not to collaborate with organizations that want to open a school; it’s to make sure that a business seeking taxpayer money has got the leadership and the plans to use that money wisely. And people who talk about the travesty of rejected applications ought to realize that the quickest way to kill charter schools in this state would be to let a few open that are likely to fail.
A school, whether public, private, religious or anything else, is an immense challenge to operate. It has to be an even greater challenge for schools that seek to provide an alternative for low-income families who are being poorly served by their local public system.
The best evidence of this difficulty is the state’s existing charter schools. They typically offer classes for just one to four grades. If it was easy, they’d all be K-12 operations.
Don’t blame the Charter School Authorizer Board for doing its job. The board members have the twin tasks of representing taxpayer interests and ensuring that charter school standards are met.
The board rejected applications for a K-8 charter school in Adams County and a K-5 school in Greenville. The decisions are disappointing because much of Mississippi needs the competition that charter schools can provide. But the charter schools have to be good ones.
This is an imperfect comparison, but the Mississippi Gaming Commission has the same sort of mission as the charter school board. The Gaming Commission regulates casinos and authorizes new ones, and it has done excellent work in requiring investments designed to create jobs and bring visitors to the state. The commission has aimed high and it has paid off.
Charter schools need to be held to a high standard, too. Tweak the law, provide more collaboration and avoid travesties — but don’t let under-equipped operators get involved.
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