Where Do Charter Schools Fit In Public Education?

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Where do charter schools fit in public education?

EPISODE 3: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools leader Nina Rees and Kaya Henderson, former head of the D.C. public schools, join the governors to discuss charter schools.

To discuss the role that charter schools play in public education today, the governors spoke with two experts with deep ties to Washington D.C.: Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Kaya Henderson, who led the District of Columbia Public Schools from 2010-2016 and today serves as the CEO of Reconstruction US and a co-host of Pod Save the People.

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“Charter schools are public schools”

Rees started by reminding listeners: charter schools are public schools.

“Charter schools are public schools; they are schools of choice,” Rees told the Governors, noting they must adhere to state standards and testing requirements.  “They bring the best of public education, without a lot of the politics in public education. And so, the reason they’re successful is because anyone can attend them. But at the same time, the leaders of these schools are driven by outcomes.”

“Not a sense of competition, but perhaps collaboration”

Rees pointed to the Miami-Dade County Public Schools – which has a “robust” choice system in place – as an example of a system that has been able to respond quickly to meet the needs of families. She also shared some advice for state and local leaders.

“Individuals at the governors level, superintendent level, need to start to have more of a conversation so that there’s not a sense of competition, but perhaps collaboration,” Rees said. “Because both of these systems are public systems, and I think we need to get to a place where the traditional system is treating these charter schools the same way that they treat magnet schools.”

“The thing that we’re all in pursuit of is quality at scale”

Henderson described how D.C.’s traditional public schools and charter schools became “two parallel systems that actually look quite similar.” She noted that in both cases, a handful of schools did amazing things for kids, some needed deep transformation, and then a bunch of schools fell into what she called “the messy middle.”

“I think the thing that we’re all in pursuit of is quality at scale,” Henderson told Governors Bredesen and Haslam. “I think we know how to make one good school or a handful of good schools, but I think what’s elusive for all of us, including my friends at large charter networks, is how do we get to the point where every single school in any of our networks are meeting the needs of every single kid to reach their highest potential? And I think none of us have cracked that nut.”

From “fighting for a fixed pie of students” to “more of a portfolio model”

In explaining the tough politics around charter schools, Henderson’s explanation – and suggestion for re-framing the conversation – becomes its own “You Might be Right” moment for Governor Bredesen.

Henderson summarized the situation like this: “The rhetoric, the positioning us as, you know, fighting for a fixed pie of students, not sort of recognizing this as more of a portfolio model, where there are lots of different kinds of schools and parents should have choice.”

In the spirit of “You Might be Right,” Governor Bredesen noted that the “portfolio model” framing was different from how he had seen things in the past, which was that competition was an important part of the system that raised the bar for both traditional public schools and charter schools.

“In some cases, the traditional school system got better, and then I think you can argue about the ‘whys?’ But in lots of places, we have charter schools and competition, and the traditional district is still not competing,” Henderson explained. “So, I think that competition by itself is not the thing to spur that on.” She pointed to her own experience in D.C., where for about 10 years, “DCPS didn’t have the capacity, the resources to compete,” as well as New Orleans, which went all-in on competition but has not seen long-term results for students.