In The Oregonian article, "Arizona offers lesson plan for charter schools," (Steven Carter, 2/1/99) Ted Kolderie, "a national charter expert," describes charter schools as, "the research and development section of public education....(Charter schools) are an experiment to see what people can do when given the opportunity to create a new public school."
The word "innovation" is frequently used to describe charter schools' methods by proponents of this latest variety of alternative schools (Reinhard, The Oregonian, 1/17/99). The students are children "who don't fit into traditional schools," or who, along with their parents, desire a more specialized curriculum than that available in some public schools.
To be sure, the curriculum in Oregon schools has shrunk drastically since passage of Measure 5 in 1990. Special courses in history, literature, economics, business, psychology, art, music, drama, vocational skills, etc. have been eliminated or cut back. The loss of librarians, who teach skills for independently accessing information, reduces the ability of students to obtain broader views of subjects than those presented in their classrooms. The lack of school counselors may be a factor in some of the cases of students who "don't fit into traditional schools,".
Given adequate funding, locally-elected school boards are empowered to adopt reforms and innovate in response to parents and teachers and others who are dissatisfied with established policies. Solving specific local problems does not require the expense of setting up a parallel school system, with redundant administrative and logistical operations, and possibly a separate bureaucracy just to monitor the new system. Properly funded, the existing system can respond to the need for greater diversity of courses and services.
Proponents of charter schools say they need freedom from state educational regulations. However, before resorting to the inefficient duplication of services involved in charter schools, a careful study should be undertaken to determine which specific regulations are being objected to. Perhaps these rules need to be changed for all schools.
Some charter school advocates who now want more innovation were only a short time ago supporting a "return to basics." Also, critics of traditional schools have consistently called for more accountability in the public education system. In response, the 1997 Oregon Legislature passed the Accountability for Schools for the 21st Century Law. Now, many of these same regulations are to be bypassed through a charter schools law. These various goals appear to be heading in conflicting directions. Reforms which are underway in Oregon schools have not yet been given time to take effect. Adoption of fashionable charter schools legislation is premature.