Chapter 5: Charter Schools and The Privatization of Public Schools

Presently, there are over 5,500 charter schools in 41 states, in the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with most in low-income urban communities, serving over 1.8 million students (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools [NAPCS], 2012; National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2010; Center for Research on Education Outcomes [CREDO], 2009), with tens of thousands more students on waiting lists (U.S. Department of Education, 2008). A wide array of institutions, some public and some not, manage charter schools: social service agencies, universities, philanthropic organizations, religious schools (that remove religious symbols), previously tuition-charging privates, for-profit firms, parents, community members, and educators. These diverse stakeholders underscore the structural and economic changes that have resulted from the expansion of charter schools. Proponents of charter schools, contend that public education is overly bureaucratized and politicized, and unsalvageable in its traditional form (Chubb & Moe, 1990). With the appointments of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education, and the more recent nomination of Ted Mitchell as an Under Secretary of Education, President Barack Obama has undeniably joined the discourse that charter schools are a better investment than traditional public schools.