Although I may not like that a bevy of school officials from Springdale and Fayetteville took time out from the instruction of our children to head to Little Rock to oppose the openings of 2 charter schools in the region, I understand their reasoning.  I am sure that the school officials sincerely believe that the charters would lead to some reduced funding and thus hamper their ability to provide a quality education to the remaining students.  Further, I believe these school officials are genuinely concerned that the would-be charters in Springdale (aimed at serving English Language Learners) and in Fayetteville (aimed at serving economically disadvantaged students) would not necessarily do a better job with the students.

However, this argument is misguided in large districts like Springdale/Fayetteville.  First, there is no risk of these districts becoming so small that there would be dis-economies of scale.  Second, the new public schools that would have been created would have been schools of choice.  That is, no child would be forcibly exposed to a bad education.  If these schools did not meet parents’ expectations academically, organizationally, civically, or on any number of  dimensions, parents would be free not to send their children to the charter (a choice, incidentally, we don’t have in traditional public schools).  Sure, it is possible that all of the proposed charters may have not provided a high quality education, but it is also likely that the traditional public schools are underserving certain families.  Certainly, even the best educators (and we have many of those in Springdale/Fayetteville) may not be able to serve EVERY family perfectly well.  Here is what district officials from Springdale/Fayetteville should have said at the end of their presentations before the State Board of Education.

…. In conclusion, we have outlined for the Board the many ways in which we do our best every day to serve ALL students, including academically at-risk students in our district.  However, it is certainly possible that, while doing our best to serve thousands of students each day, we are unable to satisfy all students’ and families’ needs.  Therefore, we school leaders of Springdale/Fayetteville ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORT the opening of the Dove/Prism charter school as yet another option for our students.  Because, of course, the academic progress of of our students is our ultimate goal, we trust the families in our great district to make reasonable choices, and the last thing we would want to do is deny any family the opportunity for an educational opportunity.  And if we find that the Dove/Prism charter school finds a way to better serve our needy students, then we will borrow the strategy so that all of our children can benefit.

We will continue to work every day so that our students and families are satisfied and would not want to leave any of our district’s traditional public schools.  But, if they do want to leave, the last thing we, as educators who care about kids and learning most of all, would want to do is to hold them hostage in schools that they would otherwise choose to leave.  Thank you for your time, and we look forward to a positive working relationship with Dove/Prism.

Had any of our leaders taken this high road approach, they could have had their cake and eaten it too.  They would have appeared remarkably gracious and humble, and they would have appeared extraordinarily student-focused rather than institution-focused. Moreover, they would not have lost one single student to charters, because 5 members of that State Board had their mind made up on a NO vote long before any presentations were made.  Ghandi himself would have been denied a charter from this group, of course unless Ghandi started a KIPP school!