A Charter of Choice

Fire of Liberty
Last Thursday I noted Hillary's disdain if not overt hatred of school vouchers that allow parents the ability to take the children out of failing schools and moving them into schools that actually provide a quality education and safe environment. As I pointed out in the post "Hillary's Jihad on Vouchers" it seemed oddly strange that someone who supports helping out the poor and promoting education(especially within the Black community) would be more receptive to ideas like vouchers for charter, private or parochial schools. While Sen. Clinton can keep up her opposition to the implementation of such programs to keep the money coming in from the NEA and other teachers unions (Don't get me wrong, there are good teachers who are members of such groups but I'm directing at the politicos) for 06 and 08 she might need to read Katherine Kersten, columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, piece "Don't Protest, Just Shop Somewhere Else" (Free at OpinionJournal.com but Registration required) in Thursday's edition of the Wall Street Journal. The junior Senator of New York and fellow Democrats would be wise to pay attention to Kersten's Op/Ed and discover that a large percentage of Black parents (and other large or inner city parents)accept the whole argument about vouchers providing them with a viable choice in where and what kind of education their child receives. As Kersten notes in her piece, black families in Minneapolis and elsewhere in Minnesota are pulling their kids out of failing and non-competitive schools and moving them into the various charter schools and have seen a remarkable turn-around in their child's education thus providing a greater standing block in their move out of the trappings of poverty and the inner city. In fact the people of Minneapolis have enacted a form of punishment on the mostly Democratic controlled city council and Board of Education of Minnesota's capital city by taking their kids and their portion of the education funds out of the coffers of the public schools and one can only foresee what awaits them come election time. Just by reading the following sample of Kersten's piece you realize that charter schools (I pretty much gander vouchers) are something that Blacks (A large subsection of the Democratic electorate) and deem as a great benefit to their community and future of their children:

They can do so because of the state's longstanding commitment to school choice. In 1990 Minnesota allowed students to cross district boundaries to enroll in any district with open seats. Two years later in St. Paul, the country's first charter school opened its doors. (Charter schools are started by parents, teachers or community groups. They operate free from burdensome regulations, but are publicly funded and accountable.) Today, this tradition of choice is providing a ticket out for kids in the gritty, mostly black neighborhoods of north and south- central Minneapolis.

While about 1,620 low-income Minneapolis students attend suburban public schools, most of the fleeing minority and low-income students choose charter schools. Five years ago, 1,750 Minneapolis students attended charters; today 5,600 do. In 2000-01, 788 charter students were black; today 3,632 are. Charters are opening in the city at a record pace: up from 23 last year to 28, with 12 or so more in the pipeline.

According to the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, Minneapolis charter school enrollment is 91% minority and 84% low-income, while district enrollment is 72% minority and 67% low-income. Joe Nathan, the center's director, says that parents want strong academic programs, but also seek smaller schools and a stable teaching staff highly responsive to student needs. Charter schools offer many options. Some cater to particular ethnic communities like the Hmong or Somali; others offer "back to basics" instruction or specialize in arts or career preparation. At Harvest Preparatory School, a K-6 school that is 99% black and two-thirds low income, students wear uniforms, focus on character, and achieve substantially higher test scores than district schools with similar demographics.

Since the state doles out funds on a per-pupil basis, the student exodus has hit the district's pocketbook hard. The loss of students has contributed to falling budgets, shuttered classrooms and deep staff cuts, and a district survey suggests more trouble ahead. Black parents in 2003 gave the Minneapolis school system significantly more negative ratings than other parents, the two major beefs being poor quality academic programs and lack of discipline. Preschool parents, another group vital to the district's future, also expressed disillusionment: 44% expressed interest in sending their children to charters. Charter school parents, in contrast, appeared very satisfied: 97% said they would be "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to choose a charter again.

Now I might be clutching straws but I'm guessing this generally free-market/choice policy of charter schools/vouchers that has been seen as a Republican policy is major draw for socially-conservative parents in the black community and is probably one of the reasons why Minnesota has trended Republican in the past ten years. From the look of things, Senator Clinton might need to get a group of policy wonks to form some position papers that paint a more positive light on charter schools and vouchers or she could be punished in 08 much like the politicians of Minneapolis are going through today.