Schools where students learn: Pitts makes the case for successful charter schools as models for excellence in education. Privately managed charter schools that concentrate on values education and higher expectations have a built-in accountability for performance by teachers and students. The flexibility to discipline nonperforming teachers is more feasible in these schools, which are often free of the dictates of teachers unions’ mandates that protect incompetent teachers in the broader public-school system.
Pitts should go a step further in his analysis of best practices and consider the benefits of corporate tax credits and private tax-exempt scholarships for minority youth trapped in dysfunctional public schools who cannot make the waiting list for the public charter schools.
Private and parochial neighborhood schools can provide similar educational outcomes if given a chance to work. More freedom for more students from the failed educational models means more school options to supplement the charter schools.
Ralph W. Conner ([email protected]) is local legislation manager for The Heartland Institute.
