Quick Note on Charter Schools

Just a quick note from Oprah Part 6 and the discussion on charter schools. Charter schools ARE public schools, they are not private schools. A few comments and statements in the episode made it sound like they are private schools, and they are not. As discussed in the episode, this does not make them okay, but it is an important distinction.

Charter schools are free to attend, the majority must accept students who apply (unless they get too many applications, which then turns to a lottery), and they must follow all the regular laws in place surrounding education.

The problem with charters is that so many are terribly run, their teachers are usually not unionized, and they can frequently be worse than other school options. The problem is not that they are private schools that are only accepting rich white kids or something like that.

Edit: Just to make this clear, charters are a bad thing to exist. But it is important that you actually understand why something is bad! Understanding something more can only help when it comes to getting rid of it or making it better. Charters receive public funds and so are public schools.