EDITORIAL
If residents eventually do get to vote on whether or not charter schools should open in their communities, we hope they carefully consider the issue before pulling the lever.
At a Save Our Schools rally in front of the municipal building Tuesday night, a group of parents and politicians called on state lawmakers to allow local referendums on opening charter schools in their respective communities.
According to the proposed legislation, these votes would take place during the annual school elections in April.
Those speaking said they wanted oversight of these publicly funded specialty schools to make sure they would be held accountable.
This makes sense.
Currently, only the state Department of Education can grant, deny or revoke the license of a charter school.
Allowing each community to decide, on its own, if it is worthy of investing local tax dollars is the truly democratic thing to do.
While a board of directors governs each of these schools, it does not report to the local board of education or to the taxpayers of the communities they rely on for the public dollars to operate.
In addition to allowing for a vote, perhaps the Legislature should make it mandatory that at least one of the charter school’s board members sits as a non-voting member of the boards of education in the communities where the school draws its students.
This would allow the local school board some oversight on matters relating to the charter school and provide a check on how the school is doing as the year unfolds.
We believe this method would make more people feel more at ease with the charter school system and provide the accountability many taxpayers want to see.
With the right to vote on allowing a charter school in the community, the voters take on the responsibility to make sure they act in the best interests of everyone in the town.
Like voting on the school budget each year, residents will be asked to become informed as to what having a charter school in their community will mean.
For some, it may be seen as a way to siphon money from the lucrative public education industry.
For others, the proposed charter school may be seen as an opportunity to enrich their children in a way that public education has not been able to provide.
In either case, voters need to get educated about what these schools are, what they are not, and most importantly, if they are a good fit in the community.
In the end, it is really about providing educational opportunities for all children in the community and that is an awesome responsibility.
