Charter Schools 15 Years in Texas

By Bill Zeeble, KERA News

Dallas, TX – Charter school advocates are celebrating 15 years of state-funded and approved charter schools in Texas. Opponents acknowledge the benefits, but also some serious flaws, as KERA's Bill Zeeble reports.

Plano Senator Florence Shapiro, who used to be a teacher, championed charter schools 15 years ago when the legislature ok'd them. Today, as chair of the Senate Education Committee, she says Charters have shown themselves to be a positive, innovative force in public education.

Senator Shapiro: Charter schools have proven they shouldn't be apart from the Texas school system but should be a part OF the Texas school system. Charter schools are public schools. I repeat that over and over with my colleagues in the legislature, because they manage to forget that.

15 years ago, after state approval, there were a few charter schools and a few hundred students. Today, there are nearly 500 charters and almost 150 thousand Charter school students statewide. The schools receive state money, but are free of many rules governing public schools.

Consuelo Gutierrez, a senior at Williams Prep charter, in Dallas, says she did not want to attend her public high school. Her older sister went there, and Gutierrez had only negative impressions. She says teachers there didn't care, buyt it's different at Williams.

Consuelo Gutierrez: The teachers really care, they push you, they want you to learn they want you to succeed. And at my public school they weren't like that. It was more "you attend, you attend," that's it.

Current President of teacher organization NEA Dallas, Diane Birdwell,. She says charter schools offer students more individualized attention and smaller classes. But adds most charter schools cherry pick students. And Birdwell says if DISD could do the same, no school would be low-performing.

Birdwell: They say Charters are unencumbered by regulations that would keep them from succeeding. Well why do we have those regulations? Why not let all schools run like charter schools?

Alliance AFT President Rena Honea, with the other large teacher group in Dallas, says there are more negatives than positives when it comes to Charter schools.

Honea: Public school is open to all children. Whereas in charters there's an application process. If problems arise, they can be asked to leave. There's a selection process and that's unfair.

Honea says public schools have to take everyone, including students from low income, poorly educated families. Still she says, research shows public schools outperform most Charters. She and other teacher groups argue the money that goes to charter schools would be better spent improving already existing public schools.

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