A Report Card on Charter Schools; C. Allen

A charter school is defined as a semi autonomous, publicly funded schooloper ated by a group of parents, teachers, and/or community members under a charter with a local school district board of education and/or an outside group, such as a univer sity. At present, 12 states have passed many variations of charter-school legislation, some granting more autonomy than others. Each charter sets forth the school's goals' and philosophy, the basic curricular struc ture, governance, and operational proce dure, and is intended to ensure less bureauMs. Allen is a social studies and economics teacher at the Pueblo School for the Arts and Sciences, a Colorado charter school. cratic tethering to state and federal regulations. Proponents of charter schools claim that the power base of schools must shift from government to parents as consumers of their children's education. Comparing charter schools to private schools as examples of consumer choice, advocates hope that dem ocratically administered, site-based charter schools can offer greater choice in learning environments with little outside interfer ence. Voluntary enrollment should be de signed to attract "customers," thus intro ducing competition into the system.

On the surface, then, the vocabulary of· the market (customers, autonomy, compe tition, choice) draws those who view state education as needing reform and who favor market allocation of educational resources. But just because a list of market vocabulary words can be applied to charter schools doesn't mean that the grammar and syntax of the market are present and operational. I have discovered in my short charter-school career that many of the basic limitations of regular public schools are also inherent in charter schools. The Attitude of Compliance Most people can't imagine what "school" would be like if it weren't public. Accep tance of "the way things are" reflects a pervasive attitude of compliance in our state-run educational system. Just as this 640 attitude has plagued market-reform efforts in former Communist countries, so it ham pers educational reform efforts in the United States. Dismantling our bureaucratic system of education will be difficult because the power structure has been in place for so long.

The attitude of compliance, subtle and covert, has created passivity among parents in the way they view their role in change. The gradual evolution of bureaucratized educational practices in the United States has fostered the abdication of the family's sense of responsibility to educate its own and has led to the general dependence on the state as the primary educational care-giver. In a recent conversation with a fifth-grade parent at my school, I discovered that her daughter's teacher was reluctant to allow the girl to be moved into a higher math class because she had missed too much school. Even though the youngster had an "A" recorded in math, and even though the parent and the student wanted a more chal lenging math curriculum, the parent hadn't considered that she could question an "ed ucational expert." When I asked what she thought her role in the situation was, she paused and stumbled over the words, "I hadn't realized I had a role."

Nuances of this submissive stance appear in one of the major admission requirements of our charter school. Parents must show that they are ready for already defined responsibility by signing an agreement sup porting homework policies of all teachers, a minimum I8-hour school volunteer service, and other school-determined policies. In other words, if parents want their students in our school, they are expected to sign an agreement of compliance. Being forced into this position ultimately leaves parents resistant or defensive. What's equally dev astating is that parents next year will be expected to "police their own" by deciding on a "policy of consequence" for parents who do not live up to their agreements. Teacher Knows Best Just as the attitude of compliance has created passivity in the way parents view 641 change, so it has created a certain arrogance on the part of teachers (and administrators), especially in their expectations of parents.

In a discussion at a faculty meeting, several of the teachers were confused by the appar ent lack of interest by parents to serve the 18 pledged volunteer hours. Two teachers wondered if we could "force them to do what they are supposed to do for us." A few weeks ago, I spoke with one of our elementary teachers who had just finished coordinating the school's book fair. I asked her if parents had been involved. She said that she had phoned almost all of the parents in her class, but that they had either already contributed their mandatory service hours or they were too busy to do so now. She convinced one parent to work for part of a day, but that parent said that she preferred to volunteer for her other child's Head Start school (a federally funded preschool) be cause she earned "volunteer bucks," re deemable at a local home supplies ware house. If she were compelled to volunteer, she preferred tangible reward. Like many parents, this mother saw no relationship between doing mandatory volunteer work .

and taking an active role .in her child's education. The teacher involved was dis gusted that, once again, parents were letting the school down. I realized that no one has seriously challenged the paradigm that those who "know best" for parents, children, and for schools are the members of the educa tional bureaucracy. The pervasive but subtle attitudes regard ing role expectations permeate almost ev eryone's assumptions about reform. These attitudes play out in predictable ways in my charter school, just as they do in regular public schools; parents and students get what they get and teachers are surprised that they aren't happier about it than they are. Often unrecognized, these attitudes mask their causes, which are the constraints that hold charter schools firmly in the govern ment-controlled education bureaucracy. These constraints involve (1) the source of charter school funding, (2) regulations in herent in government control, and (3) the lack of market accountability.

642 THE FREEMAN • OCTOBER 1995 Funding The first bureaucratic constraint pertains to the funding of public and charter schools. Through taxes, parents and nonparents alike pour money into government coffers, and that money is pooled into funds not specifically earmarked for education. No one can say how much education costs any given taxpayer, but generally the taxpayer knows that her dollars will not count as votes in the way her child is educated. State funding perpetuates the compliant parental attitude. Not surprisingly, parents aren't as closely involved in their children's educa tion as they most likely would be if their dollars went directly into a specific school of choice rather than into taxes, and if, because of that direct payment, they could assume more responsibility as customers. Surely, as responsible customers and parents, they would be more than homework monitors, overseers of their children's attendance, or school volunteers.

Even if a family knew what it was paying for education, it is too costly at the margin to protest a policy or philosophy of a school. If one family or a small group of parents came into my school claiming that they didn't want their children to be a part of, nor did they want to pay for, "multi-age," "interdisciplinary," and "untracked" classes, they would be pacified and sent away with a promise that a multi-age, inter disciplinary, and untracked curriculum is beneficial to their children. Parents do not demand nor expect customer sovereignty, and ultimately leave the major decisions to the educational bureaucracy. Regulations The second major constraint of publici charter schools relates to these funding source problems. Because funding comes from the state, all public and charter schools are regulated by various levels of govern ment, though charter schools may apply for waivers from certain types of regulations.

For example, non-certified people are al lowed to teach some classes in my charter school. But the heavy-handed state regula tions remain. For example, in Colorado all public schools are required to apply the state curriculum standards, and soon will need to meet specified requirements in the assess ment of those standards. Probably the most binding regulation is that of universal mandatory education for all students aged 16 and under. This is the ultimate sanction for government knowing what is best. It means that parents have little say in what "school" is going to mean, nor do they get to decide how much or what kind is enough or appropriate for their own chil dren. In practical terms, what compulsory education means is that many kids are in school who do not want to be. This neces sarily affects educational programs nega tively because those forced to go to school obstruct the learning of those students who do want to perform.

These two limitations have severely hin dered teachers in the upper grades at our school who held high expectations and grand plans to deliver our seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students a quality educa tion. Many parents brought children who previously had performed poorly to our school with the hope that they would be cured of their non-performance. Those very students have demonstrated clearly that they can continue their non-performance in their new setting, and can interfere with the education of those who want to be there. Bound to the idea that school as we know it must be administered to students in mea sured doses makes parents, teachers, and students unable to imagine what a true market in education could be like. Not only do a myriad of other types of regulations still bind charter schools tightly to the category of "public schools," but also local micromanagement by school boards create even more discretionary power for those boards as public education trustees. In another city in Colorado, a new charter school was warned by the school board that its start-up problems had to be corrected in specific ways within 30 days or its charter would be revoked. Rather than allowing parental or even school discretion in deterA REPORT CARD ON CHARTER SCHOOLS 643 mining the seriousness of the problems (one of which was that no textbooks were being used), the particular school board inter vened and imposed an arbitrary solution in the matter. Efforts to create market incen tives through deregulation could only be successful if sources of funding were private rather than public.

Accountability The third constraint of public/charter schools is that of the lack of accountability. All tenured teachers and the dean at my school are guaranteed same-salaried jobs back in the regular system should any of us decide to return. No job security risk is involved, nor do we have to compete to retain a certain income. Though we all face pressure to be innovative, our jobs do not depend on whether the charter school suc ceeds or fails. Other than being scolded for "being too much in the box of the old ways," no real penalty exists if results are not produced. The risks associated with failure are present only in the marketplace. Also, because merit pay is viewed by teachers as disharmonious, monetary incen tives offered for innovative behavior are deemed inappropriate. Not only did the majority of the faculty at my charter school vote to make our professional evaluations as "threat free" as possible, they also.plan to implement self-designed, personalized eval uations to '.'equalize' , faculty, hoping to promote an environment of trust and re spect. Ironically, though we are not tied to a union contract at the charter school and most teachers have given up union mem bership, the tendency to protect our own interests isjust as strong as it is in those who protect their interests by being union mem bers. Teachers who are having obvious difficulty performing are protected by lengthy proceduresfor dismissal.We tend to see ourselves, rather than parents and students, as the rightful decisionmakers in employment decisions.

A second accountability issue relates to the unlikely possibility that school district administration will allow charter schools to fail if these schools have been publicly endorsed. Because our school district and the university (our· charter holder) have forged an official "alliance," pledging sup port for K-16 education, both benefit by any claim to success we make. Thus, it is in both the university's and the district's interests to prevent failure, or the public admission of it. However, assuming that parents decide to "vote with their feet" and leave a charter school, the effects will be different than if education were bought and sold in the mar ketplace. In the market, failure is necessary for resource allocation. But ifit occurs in the public education arena, resources will be rechanneled right back into the bureaucracy from which it was intended to break free. To make matters worse, teachers' unions will politicize the failure as a vote in favor of "regular" public schools.

A third accountability problem stems from the belief in teacher empowerment. In our school, teachers are jacks-of-all-trades, all with consensual say, taking on such administrative tasks as scheduling, writing curriculum, and designing all policies. Em powerment has been the goal of all of us for years. "Just free us from the administrative stranglehold and we will be able to make a school run right!" But I have learned that the empowerment philosophy assumes that well-meaning teachers can manage a school resourcefully, and at the same time teach effectively. It assumes that teacher creativ ity should be unharnessed without adminis trative restraint. Because public educators don't face the real world threat of possible failure and loss of employment, their cre ative and entrepreneurial efforts are not bound to the rules of the marketplace. When teachers are empowered, what can stop a bad idea?

Charter schools, like their sister public schools, will not break educationopen to market forces. But as more and more private groups find ways to crack open the educa tional monopoly to offer educational substi tutes, a new group of schools will enter the scene. Schools that operate for profit will beginto offernew products and services that 644 THE FREEMAN • OCTOBER 1995 may differ dramatically from those of public and nonprofit schools. In other words, as new schools for profit enter the picture, with some failing and some succeeding, new methods of educating children will emerge. The successful schools mayor may not be multi-aged, interdisciplinary, standards based, or whatever present educational fad dominates. The faculty mayor may not be consensually involved in site-based deci sionmaking, and mayor may not be re stricted to classroom teaching only. It all will depend-on the market.

For the time being, many charter schools will emerge, vowing to make great improve ments in public education. And just as pockets of program success and outstanding individual teachers can be found within many public schools, so they will be found in many charter schools. Time will tell whether the charter school in which I teach will make marginal improvements in our educational community; certainly I hope that it does. Charter schools will tempo rarily cast the appearance of consumer choice, but it must be remembered that they are publicly financed, which guarantees bur densome regulation. This prevents market feedback, including reward for entrepre neurial achievemerit, or failure and loss for unworkable ideas and poor management. Real competition with public education is yet to come, but in the meantime, the cosmetic change currently on display at charter schools will be passed off as sys temic change. D Why not try a FREE issue and decide for yourself?

For a complimen tary copy, a $3.75 value, call 1-800-829-6270 or write us at 165 E. 56th St., New York, N.Y. 10022 parallel in American journali sm." We think you will find COMMENTARY a bracing change. Next Year in (a Divided?) Jerusalem / David Bar-Illan The Case for Global Activism / Robert Kagan Furtive Smokers: An Exchange / Peter L. Berger & Critics Books in Review: Cathy Young / Jack Wertheimer / John Corry I Ben Wildavsky / Arch Puddington PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE $3.75/$4.50 CANADA Lessons from the Soviet Collapse / Charles H. Fairbanks The ADL vs. the "Religious Right" / Midge Deeter Clement Greenberg: An Appreciation / Roger Kimball Flop at the OK Corral/Richard Grenier VOLUME NINETY-EIGHT' NUMBER THREE' SEPTEMBER 1994 We weren't always right. Now, we're even free. CommentaryT wenty years ago COMMENTARY broke ranks with the prevailing intellect ual fashion, and em braced the ideas and institutions that made America great.

The country has caught up with us, but as far as magazines go, we're still well ahead of the pack. Forbes magazine says COM MENT ARY "has exerted an influence without The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533 Tel. (914) 591-7230 Fax (914) 591-8910 October 1995 Misplaced Hope T he welfare state thrives on the toils and talents of its productive mem bers. It is an exploitation state that builds on political force and, in the end, is bound to self-destruct. When confiscatory taxation and onerous regulation become intolerable and the abuses of government are insufferable, many good citizens rise up on election day and put their faith in the opposition party. They may succeed in removing the incumbents from positions of power and elect the critics and opponents. Many others who feel exploited and abused by the system despair of the politi cal process and seek an escape.

Some victims descend into the under ground economy where income is not reported. Or they defiantly embark upon production that violates political mandates such as government licensing, inspection and label laws, labor laws, export and import controls, money and banking regu lations, and countless others. Some may try to if get even" by collecting entitlement benefits even while they are laboring in the underground. The fugitives may react against abuse and exploitation not only in their political and economic lives but also in their very attitudes toward government. In despera tion, they may conclude that the transfer laws and regulations are immoral and that which government makes illegal may actually be moral. Some may even ques tion the viability and morality of the demo cratic form of government itself. When millions of people who were once loyal and law-abiding citizens come to look upon democratic government as a consummate body of immorality, then society faces a social crisis.

Political attempts at ifrolling back" the exploitation system are likely to fail when the majority of voters derive their liveli hood from transfer funds or reap popular benefits from the system. In the United States this point has long been passed. The youth generation claims a birthright to educational benefits from the nursery to graduate school. The elder generation claims a vested right to Social Security and Medicare benefits. And millions of mid dle-aged Americans thrive on government payrolls or subsist on public assistance. Government employment now exceeds that of all American manufacture. Roll-back administrations face great dif ficulties and insurmountable obstacles. they have to take unpopular measures which actually give aid and comfort to the political opposition. Every step denies someone his /I entitlement" or special privi lege, providing grist for the critics' mills.

Short-term legislatures and administra tions are unable to roll back the entitlement system which, like a malignant tumor, has slowly penetrated and poisoned the body politic. Roll-backs are symptoms of crises of the exploitation state which moves in waves, rolling on for long periods of time, and rolling back briefly and fruitlessly. They afford an opportunity to the entitle ment coalition to regroup and prepare for another advance.

Unable to reverse the course, many wel fare states are approaching the ultimate cri sis: the debt crisis. When the burden of government debt seriously impedes the entitlement spending, when interest pay ments on the pyramid of debt hamper the entitlement programs, the transfer forces face a new task: the reduction of the debt. It cannot simply be repudiated because this would devastate the financial structure that rests on $5 trillion of federal debt. It must be distributed among all subjects with income and wealth either through gradual currency depreciation, through capital levies on private property, or both. Inflation, which is a common method of debt depreciation, places the burden pri marily on the owners of money and claims to money. The debt crisis is hastening the coming of a new political and economic system in which national governments lose their exploitative powers and legal importance.

The phenomenal technological innovations in recent years, especially those in commu nication and transportation, have ushered in the "Information Age" which has fos tered a vigorous world market of ideas and entrepreneurship. Markets have sprung up virtually everywhere, internationalizing commerce and capital and depriving gov ernments of their restrictive powers. They have given productive capital unprece dented mobility, allowing it to escape exploitation and confiscation with the speed of E-mail. The internationalization of information and entrepreneurship has generated intense competition for liquid capital, man agerial ability, and technological knowl edge. As multinational corporations emerge and multiply around the globe they become the principal competitors for the most productive locations. They are capa ble of observing and adjusting to institu tional conditions, forcing national govern ments to compete with each other in their legal institutions, their tax systems, regula tory structures, monetary order, labor leg islation, etc. Exploitative governments obviously fare poorly on the competitive world scene; their exactions are manifested in economic stagnation, rising rates of unemployment, falling wage rates, and lower standards of living. Exploitative governments clearly show themselves in the light of international competition.

Ironically, productive capital is finding protection from the depredations of nation al governments in those international mar kets that are spontaneous, unregulated, and devoid of sovereign law and power. International markets function smoothly and efficiently outside the law, safeguard ing private property from the exploitative aspirations of governments which were supposed to protect life and property. As the world markets are growing in scope and strength, the coercive powers of national governments are shrinking. Exploitative policies are becoming more painful and onerous, more difficult to enforce, and less lucrative in revenue; this exerts powerful pressure on governments to reduce the exactions. The pain may even induce some pressure groups to leave the halls of government and, instead of pleading for handouts and privileges, to pursue entrepreneurial profits in world markets.

Exploitative governments do not readily yield their coercive powers. Seeking to retain and reaffirm their authority, they may turn "protectionist" and erect prohibi tive barriers against the movements of goods, capital, and labor. They may try in vain to shelter their exploitation system through association, cartelization, combina tion, and other means of trade restraint. Many loyal and law-abiding Americans still place their hopes for reform in legisla tors and regulators. They are unaware that the age of politics is drawing to a close. Hope still drives lengthy and costly elec tion campaigns, but it is also the source of much frustration and disappointment later. Hans F. Sennholz OCTOBERFEST SALE FEE Classics THE LUSTRE OF GOLD In defense of honest money and the standard of the ages. INFLATION IS THEFT Inflation, which is one of the great evils of our time, is surrounded by myth and superstition.

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