Charter schools are a controversial
means of education that are currently being discussed in Texas State politics.
Many people have arguments against and in support of this controversial means
of educating our children. This issue has exploded to the forefront of our
current state political talks due to current presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
He and his wife have launched a charter school in their home city of El Paso. But
he now must walk a line of trying to figure out his policy on the very hostile
issue.
Texans must decide whether the
money allocated to educating their kids is going to go to a public school or a
charter school. Many sides have very valid arguments to the support of their
mode of education. Charter schools are usually very good at supporting very
specific local needs. Amy O’Rourke, Beto O’Rourke’s wife, founded a charter
school in a Hispanic neighborhood of El Paso that was designed to familiarize
many Mexican immigrants, that recently arrived into the country, to English and
American lifestyles. She believed that the current public-school system in El
Paso was at giving these new Americans a chance at succeeding, by not giving them
the proper English education. In an interview she said, "The local school
district has failed to create an educational system that can generate true
success for all students in the community." It was the first school in the
area to take a dual language approach and caused it to catch on at many of the
public schools in the area later on.
There is also the other valid
argument that charter schools drain money from the public-school system and
will eventually cause it to collapse. In many areas in Texas, if charter
schools start to take away too many students from the public schools, it will
start to cause the public-schools to become more underfunded than they already
are. It could also lead to increased racial segregation in many cities in
Texas. These arguments provide a good reason of why charter schools could be harmful
to the majority of students that go to public schools.
1 comment:
"Charter Schools in Texas" was a really interesting read. I think that this is a troubling situation and I feel like it really goes back to the fact that Texas has such a weak legislative branch. I think that the bar clearly needs to be raised for public schools in Texas as they are not meeting the needs of all residents, but this will take liberal attitudes and a decent amount of time. I think it's not suprising that an issue like this would arise in a big, conservative state with weak government. In the mean time, charter schools are legal and they will continue to pop up wherever they're needed, especially in areas like El Paso. I absolutely think that public schools may become increasingly underfunded, but I can only hope that this may serve as a wake up call for legislators to prioritize education standards!! I think it is incredibly unfortunate and realistic that charter schools, in particular the kind that Beto has launched, may lead to increased segregation. This is the most worrying part of all of this to me. As a modern society, I believe we should strive towards racial integration whenever possible to promote unity and empathy. I strongly feel like the only solution to this issue is going to be a strong focus on changing public education at the legislative level.
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