The Patriot Post® · Charter Schools Don't Need More Regulation

The New York State Assembly is considering legislation that would prevent whole charter school networks from operating if it was discovered that one school in the network didn’t service enough disabled, ESL or poor students. The United Federation of Teachers is lobbying for the rules, saying it’s an issue of equality, a way to ensure that the more independent charter schools don’t push out hard-to-teach students onto the regular public schools. However, as The American Interest notes, it appears there is something more sinister going on. It writes: “Teachers’ unions are using the same kind of approach to kill charter schools that abortion opponents use to shut abortion clinics down: pile up expensive regulations that make it increasingly difficult to operate.” Fact is, for decades, school reformers thought the best way to make schools better was to pile on more tests, more reporting, more requirements when the opposite is true, especially considering teachers can actually teach if they didn’t have to cut through so much red tape. The success of the charter schools prove it, and if the teachers’ unions were so worried about equality, there are less burdensome ways than this legislation.