Kudos to The Recorder for the August 1 editorial titled “Fix Funding Before Adding Charters.”
The question of whether to “raise the cap” and triple the number of charter schools in the next 10 years is a critical one, and voters are being asked to weigh in on it on the November ballot by voting on Question 2. Together with The Recorder, I urge a “No” vote.
As we head into back-to-school season, we will see many of the ways charter schools hurt our local public schools. As mentioned in The Recorder editorial, local schools already lose more than $400 million each year, leading to larger class sizes, cuts to art, music and other important programs and over-worked, stressed-out or laid -off teachers.
There is another issue that concerns me: the lack of public accountability of charter schools threatens our democracy. They are funded by us, the taxpayers, but are governed by private, appointed (un-elected) boards.
Unlike district public schools, there is little oversight when it comes to fraud, waste or mismanagement. Nationally, 40 percent of charters are managed by charter chains, many of which are run for profit.
For all these reasons, please vote “no” on Question 2 in November. Our local schools simply can’t afford more charters.
Ferd Wulkan
Montague