Why all in on charters? As a public educator, I am interested to hear your opinion...thank-you in advance.
In general, when free public education was mandated by many, and now all, state constitutions, the various states organized themselves into school districts. Districts are creatures of state government and state law uniformly applies to each district. The districts were usually established when the states were organized, and except for consolidations, they are the same. Regardless of consolidation, the top down state administration of education applies just as it did a hundred years ago. This led to various problems typical of large organizations including heavy and cumbersome bureaucracies, important decisions made by detached individuals, lack of flexibility, lack of innovation and more. Charters came along to cut through some of these issues.
I think charter are more innovative.
I think they are more flexible.
I think they are more responsive to changing conditions.
I think they are more dedicated to delivering a service to youngsters instead of dedicated to accommodating interests of adults.
I am well aware of some of the problems such as selectivity, budgets, and failure to meet minimum standards. These objections can be met with sound legislation and local school boards committed to these ideas about reform. Colorado and Denver I think is committed to both, and judging from a few threads from time to time about charters, I think is a leader in the field.
Denver has also adopted the concept of innovation schools which are schools that operate with the freedom of charters, but have no charters. This has been a way to fix the problems of some failing schools.
Some school districts are just too big and unwieldy and should be broken up. Along these lines, I think charter districts are also a good idea where a single charter concept can apply from elementary through high school using different schools.