So I’ve seen some stuff about charter schools but I’m not from the states and don’t think my country has them (if they do I’m not aware and they aren’t well know).
They seem a little controversial and I’m not getting why (apart from what seems like gentrification. But again don’t know what they are so I might be wrong) so please ELI5
In: 10
“Charter” here means “contract”. A Charter School is one that is owned and operated by a private business, but receives taxpayer money (government funding) in order to actually work. Unlike purely Private Schools, a Charter School cannot charge tuition as part of its contract to the government.
One big reason why they are controversial is that many people are not satisfied with the quality of existing public schools and would rather see their tax money going in to supporting and developing the public school system itself, rather than going to specialized charter schools.
They can also be controversial because they might be fulfilling the terms of their contract (meaning, they might be teaching kids what the school district requires them to learn about cells in biology or the quadratic formula in algebra), but they can also have a very specific agenda based heavily on, for instance, certain religious views. Some people are not OK with the fact that they pay taxes that then goes into a school where students are learning potentially discriminatory or biased material.
“Charter” here means “contract”. A Charter School is one that is owned and operated by a private business, but receives taxpayer money (government funding) in order to actually work. Unlike purely Private Schools, a Charter School cannot charge tuition as part of its contract to the government.
One big reason why they are controversial is that many people are not satisfied with the quality of existing public schools and would rather see their tax money going in to supporting and developing the public school system itself, rather than going to specialized charter schools.
They can also be controversial because they might be fulfilling the terms of their contract (meaning, they might be teaching kids what the school district requires them to learn about cells in biology or the quadratic formula in algebra), but they can also have a very specific agenda based heavily on, for instance, certain religious views. Some people are not OK with the fact that they pay taxes that then goes into a school where students are learning potentially discriminatory or biased material.
“Charter” here means “contract”. A Charter School is one that is owned and operated by a private business, but receives taxpayer money (government funding) in order to actually work. Unlike purely Private Schools, a Charter School cannot charge tuition as part of its contract to the government.
One big reason why they are controversial is that many people are not satisfied with the quality of existing public schools and would rather see their tax money going in to supporting and developing the public school system itself, rather than going to specialized charter schools.
They can also be controversial because they might be fulfilling the terms of their contract (meaning, they might be teaching kids what the school district requires them to learn about cells in biology or the quadratic formula in algebra), but they can also have a very specific agenda based heavily on, for instance, certain religious views. Some people are not OK with the fact that they pay taxes that then goes into a school where students are learning potentially discriminatory or biased material.
A charter school is a publicly funded yet privately owned school. This means they don’t follow the state’s set curriculum and rules for schools. This allows them to pick what they teach and do, but they don’t pay for it, rather it’s tax payer money.
This is controversial because people believe privately owned schools should be privately funded, as the public doesn’t know what those funds are actually going towards. People generally don’t like taxpayer money going towards things that aren’t regulated, it’s the same reason stimulus checks were controversial. They also don’t know what these schools are teaching, and a lot of topics many people find unfit for schools, which here in the states is a big no-no recently.
A charter school is a publicly funded yet privately owned school. This means they don’t follow the state’s set curriculum and rules for schools. This allows them to pick what they teach and do, but they don’t pay for it, rather it’s tax payer money.
This is controversial because people believe privately owned schools should be privately funded, as the public doesn’t know what those funds are actually going towards. People generally don’t like taxpayer money going towards things that aren’t regulated, it’s the same reason stimulus checks were controversial. They also don’t know what these schools are teaching, and a lot of topics many people find unfit for schools, which here in the states is a big no-no recently.
A charter school is a publicly funded yet privately owned school. This means they don’t follow the state’s set curriculum and rules for schools. This allows them to pick what they teach and do, but they don’t pay for it, rather it’s tax payer money.
This is controversial because people believe privately owned schools should be privately funded, as the public doesn’t know what those funds are actually going towards. People generally don’t like taxpayer money going towards things that aren’t regulated, it’s the same reason stimulus checks were controversial. They also don’t know what these schools are teaching, and a lot of topics many people find unfit for schools, which here in the states is a big no-no recently.
You’re a 5 year old. Your mom wants you to be healthy, so every night she cooks you a nice healthy dinner with vegetables, some protein, and all the things you need to grow up big and strong, following the rules of good nutrition. Of course she doesn’t charge you for meals, these are provided by the family at no cost to you. This is equivalent to public schools that follow the standard educational curriculum, and are supported by public money. And the curriculum is based on the current best practice as indicated by relevant research, to give students a “healthy” education.
Now, as a typical 5 year old, you don’t particularly want to follow those nutritional rules, you’d rather eat candy for every meal. Your mom clearly isn’t too happy about this, but in the interests of “freedom”, she says to you “fine, you can eat candy for every meal, BUT you need to pay for it all out of your own, I’m not going to buy you candy”. It’s not a great thing for the kid, but hey, it’s their money, their choice. This is equivalent to private schools – the students pay fees, the schools can then teach them whatever they want, they don’t need to follow the standard curriculum. They can be as healthy or unhealthy as they want to be, but it doesn’t cost any public money.
Now, in the final scenario our petulant 5 year old who wants to eat candy for every meal says to his mom “hey, since I’m not eating the meals you used to make for me, you should give me the money you would have spent on those meals. Then I can go buy my own candy with THAT money!” So the mom, through some kind of insanity, takes the $50 per week or whatever those nice healthy, nutritious meals would have cost, and gives that money to the 5 year old, who then goes and stuffs himself full of candy morning and night. These are *charter schools*, who somehow manage to not follow the public curriculum, but get public money anyway.
eli5: Normally, a town runs the schools in it and uses a big piggy bank to pay for everything the school needs. Every grown-up in the town pays a little bit of money to the bank so all of the kids in the town can go to the school for free. A charter school is a school that gets money from the same piggy bank, but does not listen to the town about how the school should work. Teachers in charter schools may not be allowed to be teachers in a regular school, and the school may focus on different subjects than a regular school or not teach a subject (like science) at all. Many people think that charter schools are a problem because they get money from the town without listening to all of the parents, but some people think that charter schools are a good thing because they give parents a choice for what kind of school they send their kids to; this can seem good to them if the charter school has the same religion or believes the same thing as the parents.
However, for every kid that goes to a charter school, the regular schools in town get less money from the piggy bank. Many regular schools already don’t have enough money, so this can be a real issue for parents who want their kids to go to the regular school. Most teachers think that charter schools are a bad idea because they take the town’s money to teach things that won’t be helpful to the kids when they are grown-ups, if they teach anything at all. Because charter schools are special, they don’t have to follow the same rules regular schools do; for example, regular schools have to provide ramps for kids in wheelchairs so they can get in and out of the school, but charter schools don’t have to do this — this is one of many differences. Sometimes charter schools are run by a “shell company,” which is what happens when businesspeople make a business that takes money from one place and puts it in another place. For a charter school, the money is taken out of the town’s big piggy bank, goes through the shell company, and into the pockets of the businesspeople, who are often the principal and teachers at the charter school. Usually these schools are pretty bad schools, and the principal ends up on the news channel for taking money from the town without teaching the kids. Sadly, most of the time, nothing bad happens to the principal or the teachers for taking the money because they are friends with the people who run the town, like the mayor and the city council — sometimes, they are even friends with the governor of the State! These people make it hard to punish the bad businesspeople because the businesspeople give them money from the shell company to run for re-election, as well as to spend on themselves.
You’re a 5 year old. Your mom wants you to be healthy, so every night she cooks you a nice healthy dinner with vegetables, some protein, and all the things you need to grow up big and strong, following the rules of good nutrition. Of course she doesn’t charge you for meals, these are provided by the family at no cost to you. This is equivalent to public schools that follow the standard educational curriculum, and are supported by public money. And the curriculum is based on the current best practice as indicated by relevant research, to give students a “healthy” education.
Now, as a typical 5 year old, you don’t particularly want to follow those nutritional rules, you’d rather eat candy for every meal. Your mom clearly isn’t too happy about this, but in the interests of “freedom”, she says to you “fine, you can eat candy for every meal, BUT you need to pay for it all out of your own, I’m not going to buy you candy”. It’s not a great thing for the kid, but hey, it’s their money, their choice. This is equivalent to private schools – the students pay fees, the schools can then teach them whatever they want, they don’t need to follow the standard curriculum. They can be as healthy or unhealthy as they want to be, but it doesn’t cost any public money.
Now, in the final scenario our petulant 5 year old who wants to eat candy for every meal says to his mom “hey, since I’m not eating the meals you used to make for me, you should give me the money you would have spent on those meals. Then I can go buy my own candy with THAT money!” So the mom, through some kind of insanity, takes the $50 per week or whatever those nice healthy, nutritious meals would have cost, and gives that money to the 5 year old, who then goes and stuffs himself full of candy morning and night. These are *charter schools*, who somehow manage to not follow the public curriculum, but get public money anyway.
You’re a 5 year old. Your mom wants you to be healthy, so every night she cooks you a nice healthy dinner with vegetables, some protein, and all the things you need to grow up big and strong, following the rules of good nutrition. Of course she doesn’t charge you for meals, these are provided by the family at no cost to you. This is equivalent to public schools that follow the standard educational curriculum, and are supported by public money. And the curriculum is based on the current best practice as indicated by relevant research, to give students a “healthy” education.
Now, as a typical 5 year old, you don’t particularly want to follow those nutritional rules, you’d rather eat candy for every meal. Your mom clearly isn’t too happy about this, but in the interests of “freedom”, she says to you “fine, you can eat candy for every meal, BUT you need to pay for it all out of your own, I’m not going to buy you candy”. It’s not a great thing for the kid, but hey, it’s their money, their choice. This is equivalent to private schools – the students pay fees, the schools can then teach them whatever they want, they don’t need to follow the standard curriculum. They can be as healthy or unhealthy as they want to be, but it doesn’t cost any public money.
Now, in the final scenario our petulant 5 year old who wants to eat candy for every meal says to his mom “hey, since I’m not eating the meals you used to make for me, you should give me the money you would have spent on those meals. Then I can go buy my own candy with THAT money!” So the mom, through some kind of insanity, takes the $50 per week or whatever those nice healthy, nutritious meals would have cost, and gives that money to the 5 year old, who then goes and stuffs himself full of candy morning and night. These are *charter schools*, who somehow manage to not follow the public curriculum, but get public money anyway.
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