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What is a Charter School?

Charter schools aren’t new and have proven to be effective over time, they are just hard to get into. These schools are commonly held as innovative public schools that are accountable for results. They are designed to deliver programs tailored to the needs of the communities they serve. Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The “charter” establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success.

Charter schools are one of the fastest and most successful growing educational reforms in the country. The first charter school opened its doors in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1992.

How Do Charter Schools Differ From Traditional District Public Schools?

Two key things jump out –

Choice: Charter schools give families an opportunity to pick the school most suitable for their child’s educational well-being. Teachers choose to create and work at schools where they directly shape the best working and learning environment for their students and themselves. Likewise, charter sponsors choose to authorize schools that are likely to best serve the needs of the students in a particular community.

Accountability: Charter schools are judged on how well they meet the student achievement goals established by their charter contract. Charter schools must also show that they can perform according to rigorous fiscal and managerial standards. If a charter school cannot perform up to the established standards, the charter will not be renewed.

Some charter school programs focus on the basics — reading, writing and the traditional school subjects that some children struggle with. Some schools focus on the arts or music programs. Some are science and math focused – essentially what was ever approved on the charter. You can even have a language school such as the Hebrew Language charter school proposed in New York.

What is the Quality of Education?

The primary reason for charter schools is to get a quality education. Charter schools typically set higher standards in their defined charter. This is not the case in public schools which are just there and open regardless of performance.

NY State has approved the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School. It’s will open this fall in Brooklyn to teach the Hebrew language “and aspects of Jewish culture”. Sponsors want to “instill Jewish identity without the private expense of Jewish day schools,” according to the Jewish Daily Forward.

Jewish Day schools teach religion along with the secular curriculum so this proposal is controversial within the Jewish community. There could be blowback to the new group of 15 unnamed millionaire philanthropists who want to spread this concept nationwide. The Forward writes:

Critics have variously argued that Hebrew language charter schools impermissibly erode church-state boundaries, potentially balkanize Jews from the rest of society, and create a false dichotomy between Jewish religion and culture.”

The Hebrew proposal also comes two years after a similar request for an Arabic-focus public (not charter) school was nearly derailed in 2007 under protests that it would foster Islamic religion and, possibly radical politics. The Khalil Gibran International Academy, also in Brooklyn, opened last year.

Is that possible? Biblical Hebrew is the language of the Torah but modern Hebrew is the language of Israel. Likewise, Classical Arabic is the language of the never-translated Quran but modern Arabic is the language of a minority of Muslims worldwide.

Is this too close to the church-state line are they getting with public funds? If catholic schools taught in Latin, could they get funding?

Where do faith, culture and religion split?  Can they? Does it matter?

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