America’s education system has been on a downward tend for many years. Many parents are now homeschooling their children. The downside of homeschooling is less interaction with other kids. The upside of homeschooling is less interaction with awful kids and no need to suffer unionized teachers.
One really bright spot has been charter schools. Many of these have been so successful that the Obama Administration has tried to clamp down on them. This, even though they work really well for minority kids, who suddenly realize they can do well at school.
Thankfully, charter schools have overcome these problems and now the concept is catching on fast. Statistics for 2013 show that the total number of students attending public charter schools exceeded 2.5 million. That is a big increase since 2003, when records show that only 790,000 students were enrolled. In 2013, 288,000 more students enrolled, than in 2012.
According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, more than 600 new schools opened last year, making a total of 6,400 public charter schools across the country. That is a 7 percent growth in the number of operating public charter schools, which helped to create a 13 percent growth in public charter school student enrollment.
The powerful teachers unions are not happy with this situation, but parents are happy because it gives them access to other options.
As more children change over to charter schools, enrollment in public schools has fallen. Charter schools have skyrocketed in popularity, due mainly to low academic performance in union-controlled public schools.
California led the nation in new charters for 2013, followed by Arizona, Florida, Texas and Ohio.
Iowa has the fewest at three, Wyoming has four, and Maine has five.
There are still some excellent public schools around, but the Charter School system is causing a real shakeup. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research reported that charter schools in New York City outperformed district public schools in 29 out of 36 performance categories over the last three years.
Competition is a good thing. The public school system better get its act into gear, otherwise it will sink into oblivion. A big question is, does it want to change, and if so, can it change fast enough to stop the loss of more public schools.
