Charter Schools Taking It Too Far

Charter schools claim to be for all students, yet they screen student’s submissions and test scores as if they were applying for college.

These schools are supposed to be alternatives to traditional public schools, but leave children scared about losing potential acceptance, children like Michelle Newman’s 8-year-old son. He lost his acceptance after not reaching the required score on the admissions text. “It left a bad taste in my mouth.”  Newman said, “I didn’t get the sense that was what charter schools were all about – we’ll pick the students who are the most motivated? Who are going to make our test scores look good?”

Not only are students being limited by their test scores, but must also provide invasive information on admission applications questions such as their academic history, their disciplinary history, their parents’ willingness to invest in companies that fund the school and whether the student has special needs, which is considered an illegal question by The U.S. Department of Education at the college level. However, no mandate exists for K-12 schooling.

Lengthy application forms are only printed in English, challenging English Language Learners. If ELL students are able to get through the process and are accepted, they will receive all of their documents such as text scores, disciplinary records, report cares, medical records, and teacher recommendations in English while enrolled, presenting an odd and unfair predicament for these students and their families.

It is time to take the funding that is given to charter schools and give it back to the public schools of this nation, the ones where everyone is accepted, and where everyone is given fair chances to succeed regardless of ethnicity, wealth and special needs. Americans deserve fair chances, and those chances won’t come around in charter schools.