Charter schools: same old same old?

Kentucky is one of few states that doesn't authorize charter schools - but that may be changing because of pending legislation.

More or less, charter schools are schools that operate as private except that they are fully funded with public money. The charter school movement has been hyped largely by conservatives who think they can prove a point.

Conservatives clearly aren't in favor of competition or choice when it comes to public schools though. They've long been against allowing families to choose what public school district to send their kids to. If they supported it, I wouldn't have had so many battles with the Campbell County Schools.

I'm not against charter schools per se - because they could be a useful tool against the abuses I've seen. I'm more disturbed at the way the idea is implemented.

It seems to me that most charter schools that exist seem to just be the same old same old. Most seem to just be doing the same things that have rendered other schools so disastrous. If they're doing anything different, they're usually just expanding failed practices instead of eliminating them.

Charter schools should offer something different and workable - not a duplication of existing travails.

The reason charter schools don't live up to what the American public has a right to expect is that individual charter schools are approved by the same officials (translation: right-wing ideologues) who approve the practices of other schools. If you have ideas that differ from the extreme-right orthodoxy that already dominates our schools, your proposal for a charter school likely won't be approved.

So we're stuck.

I don't see how anyone can seriously deny that there's a right-wing agenda in America's public and private schools. With charter schools appearing to mimic it, this underscores the importance of homeschooling.