In favor: By competing with public schools for students, charter schools improve the overall standard of education. Charter schools are started by entrepreneurial individuals who feel they can offer students an exceptional education. They give parents the right to choose what education is best for their children. Charter schools also give teachers the freedom to be innovative. While charter schools are publicly funded, they are governed by parents, teachers, or other individuals who want to improve education in their community – not bureaucrats.
Opposed: Because they draw on the same scarce resources as traditional public schools, charter schools create animosity in the communities where they operate. Charter schools are also elitist. Not only do they cater to the most motivated students, but if a charter student is expelled, he’s sent back to a regular public school. This only worsens some public schools’ reputations as dumping grounds. Critics charge that charter schools do not solve the real problems facing public education, but only provide an escape for the fortunate few. They argue that the money used for charter schools should be spent on fixing the schools we already have.
