First, every state in the union has different requirements and regulations for charter schools. Therefore, comparing charters from different states can be like comparing apples to oranges to peanuts. And if you are making sweeping generalizations about all charters, then you are 100% guaranteed to be stating falsehoods about some charters.
Let's take your points one at a time. While you are talking about all charters across the entire country, I'll limit myself to what I know: California. Nothing I say should be taken outside of that context. Fair enough?
1. "Charters are not held to the same standards as traditional public schools."
Public charters in California are held to the same standards as traditional public schools. In addition, traditional schools don't have their charters reviewed every few years with the possibility of being shut down if everything is not perfect.
2. "Charters have selective admission policies and often don't admit kids with disabilities."
Public charters in California (all the ones that I've heard of, at least) use a lottery system for admissions. The only preferences given are to students who already have siblings in attendance at the charter. They even have to admit students who live outside of the charter school's district, something that is illegal in traditional public schools. My wife's grade 4-5 classroom last year had 25 students. 10 of those were special needs; a dramatically higher percentage then in the trad public school across the street.
3. "Charters continue to receive funding for kids who are no longer enrolled while traditional public schools are funded based on daily attendance."
Maybe in your state, not in California. Funding is based on daily attendance. If the kid isn't in school, then the school receives no funding for the child for that day. Period.
4. "Charter schools can be religious schools."
Nope. Wrong. Not in California at least. 'Separation of Church and State'. These are public schools. You can't get around Federal law, and I wouldn't want them to be able to.
5. "Charter schools test scores are no higher than traditional public schools."
They vary. The school my wife teaches at has higher STAR test scores then does the trad school across the street. Exact same demographics, except for the higher percentage of special needs kids at the charter. Some charters have lower scores. As others in the thread have noted, charters often get the rejects and misfits that didn't fit into trad schools. So that really doesn't surprise me that some charters test lower. Some test higher. And besides, it's pretty silly to set up an alternative method of teaching, and then be surprised that these kids struggle with a standardized test. My wife talks about that in my journal post that I linked, if you'd bother to read it.
6. "Charters spend your tax dollars on marketing gimmicks that award kids with cash, computers and video game systems for enrolling."
You seem to be talking about these for-profit charters in other states that I keep hearing horror stories about. Those are for-profit corporations that are doing that, not school district run public non-profit charters. This is the whole reason that I keep specifying that I'm talking about public non-profit charters. The ones that do the kind of crap you are talking about is why I have to keep having these discussions.
I really, sincerely hope that this clears up some of the confusion that many DU members have about charter schools. They are not all the same, and it's a disservice to the teachers and parents out there who are doing a good job to tar all charters with the for-profit broad brush.
