Charter
School Myths and Reality
Charter
schools operate under a cloud of misinformation and
misunderstanding. When wrong information is repeated
often enough, it becomes what people believe. There
are many myths about charter schools and when the facts
are examined, the myths can be dispelled.
Myth Number 1 -- Charters take money from districts.
False, in charter school funding the money follows the
child. For every student in a charter school there is
one less student in the traditional public system. The
student’s old district retains the student’s
name on their enrollment and receives funds from the
state and federal governments for each student.
Myth Number 2 -- Charters aren’t even
public schools.
False, they’re just not like the public schools
most people are used to. Charter schools are free, open
to all, have certified teachers, take all state tests
and have their results published in InfoWorks!
Myth Number 3 -- Charters do not accept all
types of students.
False, by law charter schools have to mirror the demographics
of the city or town where they are located. Charters
have special education students in the same ratio as
found in the traditional public system. Likewise, free
and reduced lunch numbers are equal to the districts.
Myth Number 4 -- Charters send discipline problems
back to districts.
False, by law, any student who wants to return to a
district can do so at any time. Occasionally, students
violate behavior contracts and are returned to the school
which they came from. It is important to note that if
a student is “sent back to a district” it
is because the alternative placement didn’t work
out, and at least they had a chance to try something
new. Charters that are for at-risk kids and will routinely
take students who have been adjudicated through the
Student Assistence Office. When that happens do charters
charge that districts dump their discipline problems
on them? No! The truth is nearly all students stay at
charter schools once they’ve enrolled.
Myth Number 5 -- Charters run by non-profits are “so
called public schools.”
False, charters are unarguably public schools. Also,
for fundraising and fiscal reasons charters, even the
district affiliated and union schools, develop 501 c
3 non-profit status.
All charters have non-profit status and all are public.
Myth Number 6 -- Charters perform worse on state tests
than district schools.
False, an examination of the 2003 district and school
report cards for Providence showed that charters outperformed
(percentages of students meeting and exceeding the standard)
their district peers in every grade and category except
10th grade math. In the 10th grade math New Standards
test, two district affiliated charters actually compete
against themselves because their high scores are reflected
in the district’s percentages, along with Classical,
as well.
Myth Number 7 -- Charters don’t have their best
practices adopted by districts.
False, districts adopt charter strategies, but in discreet
ways. For example, Times2 and Textron/Chamber are two
of the three top ranking schools in the entire district
for daily average attendance rates. The other school
tied for the top spot is Classical. Both Times2 and
Textron/Chamber have been the only district schools
with tough attendance policies. This year, the Providence
School Dept. adopted a new attendance policy that is
similar to the ones found in the charters.
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