Blogs:

Are you a charter school supporter or operator? It is then time to take a long look at the Obama administration’s intention and efforts on for-profit school crackdown. The administration is being strongly supported by Center for American Progress and other organizations in this endeavor.

Considering the reason behind their vehement efforts, we find the same issues of government funding management and quality. Financial funding issues include the federally backed student loans and the Pell Grants. All these could soon be a major factor to contend with for charter schools too that are publicly financed and managed by corporate and nonprofit organizations.

Of course, the for-profit arena is predominantly corporate governed while the charter school movement has lesser corporate presence. At least forty percent of the for-profit colleges are owned and funded by corporate giants.

Charter schools on the other hand are catering to minority and poor communities are not yet as predatory in nature as the for-profit colleges. In the areas of American higher education and public education, both for-profit and charter schools are innovations and new entrants. This makes charter schools as vulnerable as the for-profits in areas such as financial management and quality.

Many higher education experts opine that there is really not much of a difference between the traditional public schools and charter schools. Charter schools, no doubt, has done a great job in enhancing student achievement including college completion and attendance, there are still many of them who are at par with traditional schools that see a lot of dropouts and are failures.

Financial operations are managed very badly by many charter schools and this directly means bad management of taxpayer dollars. Many have been shut down and there are many still struggling with woeful back office activities and lax financial controls. All this make charter schools the center of attention among the opposing civil rights group like the NAACP. These schools are as vulnerable as the for-profit colleges and could soon be at the receiving end of activists and politicians.

It is time for charter school movement to wake up and take critical steps as early as possible. This must be done early in the game to have an edge that the for-profit colleges could not capitalize on. There must be state wide efforts to push for closure of charter schools that are performing poorly both financially and academically.

There must be stricter self policing among charter schools and the movement must now focus specifically on high quality charters like the Green Dot and KIPP. The models set in place by them must be followed to enhance quality.

For models of better practices, the charter school movement must look towards private sector. Efforts in this direction must include reduced dependence on tax payer funding and enhancing funding from the philanthropic centers. Schools must also be ready to outsource operations they are unable to manage on their own.

Public relations must be focused upon by charter schools. School achievements as well as testimonials from current students must be portrait painted. This will help build a strong relationship with grass root activities and communities.