Star agrees on need for more charter school regulation

Arizona was a pioneer in the charter-school movement 15 years ago and the subsequent proliferation of tuition-free, independent public schools bears out the theory that the market will respond if given essentially free rein to meet demand.

Unfortunately, the charter-school experiment has also illustrated that in the absence of meaningful regulation potentially substandard schools will not be weeded out by consumer choice.

Arizona must strengthen oversight of charter schools so that sorry examples, such as those revealed in a Star report by Rhonda Bodfield and Enric Volante, are no longer allowed to operate.

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…success stories [like BASIS Tucson] make the disappointments all the more frustrating. While performing charter schools have been able to offer their programs because of flexibility allowed under the Arizona charter school legislation, that same freedom has allowed problematic schools to keep their doors open for years.

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The charter-school movement is based on the idea that parents, given the information and the power to choose, will find the school that best meets their child's individual needs.

To make an informed choice, however, parents must be able to figure out if students are in class for the required amount of time, that teachers meet standards and that operators aren't profiting at the expense of students. Without proper oversight to ensure the most basic level of education and easy access to the records, parents really have no choice at all.