In addition to California and Minnesota, at least 15 states from coast to coast have already introduced, debated, or passed charter legislation, including Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin. In 1993, Colorado, Georgia, and New Mexico adopted Charter School laws. In late May, the Massachusetts legislature was very seriously considering the idea. In the NCREL region, the governors of Michigan and Wisconsin have strongly urged action on the charter experiment.
Other north central states such as Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio, are devising or have enacted new routes that allow current schools to receive waivers from state laws and regulations when they redefine their missions and educational methods to reinvent their schools. Ohio is implementing both interdistrict and intradistrict open enrollment, and grants waivers for innovative programs. In Iowa, the school district must define performance outcomes and a way to measure the expectations in order to receive a waiver.
St. Paul City Academy is the nation's first state authorized Charter School, but it certainly won't be the last. So much interest is being shown in Charter Schools across the nation that they clearly have become an instrument of public education policy.
But the real debate has just begun over how best to use Charter Schools as a strategy for public school change, how to stimulate the most innovation, how to protect charter students and teachers, and what charters teach all schools about redefining their missions of teaching and learning.
Les Martisko, executive director for the South Central Educational Cooperative Service Unit (SC/ECSU) in North Mankato, Minnesota, agrees with others who feel that the greatest benefit from Charter Schools is the pressure placed on the rest of the system. Whether Charter Schools themselves will meet their expectations is questionable. "It's like the mosquito biting the elephant. It keeps the elephant moving but is doesn't change the elephant. And the mosquito dies after a few bites."
In the end, Charter Schools may be able to inspire ambitious teachers, educators, and reformers who are looking for models of innovation to give students valuable and exciting educational experiences. One thing is certain, Charter Schools offer policymakers what could turn out to be a dynamic tool for public education experimentation and change.
Posted on March 6, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-2TRND.HTM