I have been following, with interest, the dire predictions of some in our community due to the arrival of Regis Charter School.
According to one charter school opponent, our existing public schools would be “dismantled,” our taxes would go up, no sports, no art, no music, no recess. That’s right, no recess.
Let’s get real here. The amount of money going to Regis Academy is about 1 percent of the Voorhees and Cherry Hill townships’ school budgets. Are these existing public schools meeting the needs of a majority of their students?
Yes.
Are they meeting the needs of all of their students?
Consider the fact that black children in the Cherry Hill School district are failing the standardized ASK tests at a rate more than double that of white students.
Do parents of these children not have a right to choose a school they believe will better serve their child?
Opponents to charter schools argue that we do not vote on charter school budgets. Charter schools are given 90 percent of the per-student cost, as determined by budgets prepared by each school district and approved by the voters.
So, indirectly, voters do have input into charter school budgets.
The establishment of a charter school is not subject to a public vote. But, parents, you can “vote” with your feet. If a charter school fails to meet the needs of your child, you can pull your kid out.
If a traditional public school fails to meet the needs of your child, you can go … well, nowhere, unless you can afford to send your kid to a private school.
As the parent of two children who recently went through the Voorhees school system, I can say that both had some very fine teachers.
But they also had a few teachers who had no business being in the classroom.
Regis Academy teachers will not be unionized. (Hmmm, could this be a factor in the vitriolic reaction to this new school)? Regis teachers who perform well will stay employed; teachers who do not, will go.
When was the last time, if ever, a poorly performing public school teacher was fired?
Or do the defenders of the current educational monopoly believe that 100 percent of the teachers in our existing school systems are performing well, defying the bell curve of performance for every other sector of the working world?
Lastly, with certainty and predetermination, opponents to Regis declare that our taxes would go up because of this new charter school.
Where have these opponents been when, year after year, our school taxes have risen — not because of the presence of any charter school, but largely because school boards have been unable to hold the line on union demands for ever-increasing salaries and benefits?
Just as in past years, voters will decide if they will allow their taxes to go up. And, just as in past years, school districts will pull out the same scare tactics and play into the fears of parents, sending a few hundred voters scurrying to the polls to vote for tax increases that they’re told
are the only way to preserve teacher positions, popular programs and academic excellence.
The idea of freezing salaries to hold a ballooning budget is simply unimaginable to union leaders and compliant school board members.
We should welcome the flexibility and innovations of a charter school to our area.
We should welcome the little bit of competition, knowing that study after study indicates that when traditional public schools and charter schools work cooperatively, both systems benefit.
All children are better served.
Tracye McArdle
