Tyler Whittenberg, education and law policy fellow at the N.C. Justice Center, nails it in his latest op-ed. By “it,” I mean the last line of the piece. Here is the concluding paragraph of the op-ed:
Would you want to send your child to a school that avoids accountability and is one of more than 100 schools barely evaluated by three people twice a decade? Parents ought not to be forced to make such a choice.
His characterization of charter accountability is nothing more than hyperbole. Unlike district schools, charter schools are subject to dual accountability mechanisms – state testing and parental choice.
That said, the last sentence is particularly noteworthy. I agree with Mr. Whittenberg that nobody should compel parents to make choices between alternatives they find undesirable. Parents should be free to choose the school that best meet the needs of their children. This is one reason why expanding the number and type of choices is so vital.
