A charter school proponent lays out his case

Derek Viger of The Maine View has a comprehensive interview today on charter schools with Steve Bowen of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center.

It's a wide-ranging interview on the independently run schools with a fervent proponent of allowing them in Maine. As it stands now, Maine is still one of 10 states that do not allow public charter schools.

Bowen, in the Maine View interview, speaks out against state legislators' decision to keep charter schools outlawed during their most recent session. And while Bowen is under no impression that the schools are a panacea, he says they're an important part of education reform.

Bowen evokes the view that competition from other types of schools is needed to hold Maine's traditional public schools accountable.

The difference is that bad charter schools close, whereas bad public schools remain open forever and continue to be fed a steady diet of students who are given no other options. What charter schools have that conventional public schools lack is accountability."

For taxpayers, Bowen says, charter schools aren't such a bad deal.

Charter schools don't use taxpayer funds for buildings, he says. For school districts, they could represent a savings, Bowen says, since only the amount of funding provided for in state funding formulas follows a student to a charter school. That doesn't include the amount in addition to what's provided for in the funding formula that most school districts spend. That amount stays with the school district with one less student to educate.

Bowen says this structure of money following the student is what could spur traditional public schools to innovate. "The fact that the money follows the child is what encourages new approaches," he says.

The interview touches on a number of predictable points about charter schools. It's still worth reading as a comprehensive summary of the pro-charter school side.