Letter gets public and charter school comparison wrong
I am writing in response to the May 7, 2020, letter to the editor Bill Sines. Mr. Sines makes the claim that “charter would be better than public schools Unfortunately, Mr. Sines is misinformed on so many levels that I worry the readers of the 蘑菇视频 might come away getting the wrong idea about the reality of charter schools. His wide-ranging letter covers a number of different topics, but the chief take-away that the reader can glean is that Mr. Sines does not have an understanding of how charter schools operate, how they are financed, and how their students perform. I would like to rebut Mr. Sines’ letter and set the record straight.
First, Mr. Sines talks about sports in schools, and makes the claim that sports in schools were once funded exclusively by parents or local business donations. This is patently incorrect. Sports in public schools have long been an essential part of instruction, and have been funded primarily by tax dollars, of which property taxes are just a part. In fact, research shows that kids participating in sports funded by public school systems tend to do better academically, and experience much higher acceptance rates to college. In addition, public school sports connect the community to the schools. Can you imagine life in Western Pennsylvania without WPIAL football? But sports should not be limited to just football and basketball. Title IX federal legislation rightly requires that schools provide equal access to other sports as well.
Second, Mr. Sines seems to believe that charter schools cost less money than public schools. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Charter schools actually cost local school districts more money per pupil than regular public schools. For example, public schools must pay a charter school for all the services it provides to regular students, even if the charter school does not provide an equivalent service. That means that public schools are paying for charter schools to serve lunch even if they don’t provide any lunch! That money goes directly into the pocket of the charter school bosses, who are mostly big-money venture capitalists in Philadelphia or New York. In addition, most charter schools are failing academically. Mr. Sines’ grandson is lucky to have graduated from one – too many of those students don’t. In fact, two out of three charter schools perform worse than their public-school counterparts.
Further, public school districts get the money for charter school tuition payments from their own revenue — including local property taxes, and whatever they get from the state. That’s right: about half of all charter school revenue comes from property taxes, just like the school districts. These tuition payments to charters are made on top of what districts spend to educate the students that aren’t in charters. To cover these extra payments, districts must either spend less on the students that aren’t in charters or — you guessed it — raise property taxes, because the state doesn’t give them any more money to cover the additional costs.
And no, districts’ costs don’t go down as students leave for charters by the same amount as the tuition payments increase.
Third, Mr. Sines cites a laundry lists of social problems he seems to believe are caused by public schools, including bullying, peer pressure, drug-use, etc. These problems existed in Mr. Sines’ day as well and are not likely to be cured simply by shutting down public schools. Instead, we should work as a society to encourage parents to become more involved with their children’s education and upbringing. By engaging parents and the rest of the community, we can help our kids do better in school and in life.
Lastly, Mr. Sines talks about eliminating property taxes that fund our schools. Unfortunately, the elimination of property taxes would only cause further harm to our communities. Any realtor can tell you that the first thing prospective homebuyers look at is the quality of the public schools in the area. Without strong public schools, property values decline, and business will not move into the area. Mr. Sines’ recipe for eliminating public education will only hasten the economic decline of our region. Rather, let us work together to support our public schools and teachers and invest in a better tomorrow for Southwest Pennsylvania.
Missy Brant
PSEA Southwestern Region President