Should Charter Schools Create More Competition In Education

Charter schooling is an intriguing phenomenon in education that has sprouted up in the last two and half decades. Charter schools are schools that receive public funding to educate students based on a management contract or charter under which a school operates. Charter schools are able to get exemptions from rules that potentially burden traditional public schools. Traditional public school often have mandated regulations regarding curriculum, staffing, and resource allocation that oftentimes do not apply to charter schools. A charter school is started by parents, teachers, or community groups who make an agreement under a charter with a local or national authority to provide education to students. Charter schools are meant to be a viable alternative to traditional public schools of

Nonetheless, overall data is inconclusive to tell whether charter schools improve equality of opportunity. Oftentimes, it depends on geographic region and other isolating factors. Another important topic to evaluate is whether charter schools have delivered in creating more competition in education. Additionally, is that competition fostering improvement? Proponents point out that in general, but not always, charter schools outperform traditional public school (Witzal). For example, charter schools in Wisconsin have performed better than public schools overall (Witte). Conversely, statistics from neighboring Minnesota show the opposite trend (Race). Oftentimes, proponents of school choice will argue that allowing parents to pick the best education for their child allows the tide of the free market to life all boats and improve instruction methods at every school. If public schools face the threat of losing students to higher performing charter schools than they will increase their performance to compete. However, researches have noted that sometimes parents choose school for their children based on factors outside of education performance. Factors