As a recent graduate of Northampton High School, I have come to really appreciate what can be offered at a public school. I played sports every season, sang in the a cappella group, the Northamptones, and I became close with my teachers, administrators and peers.
I felt like I received a well-rounded education that allowed me to explore and be successful in many areas of interest, and knew that, when I moved on to Columbia University, my high school had provided me with a variety of skills, which I could use to be successful there too.
Therefore, when I read that President-elect Donald Trump appointed Betsy DeVos — champion of the school reform movement and advocate for the integration of charter schools in Michigan – as secretary of education, I grew concerned for the future of my high school and of public high schools everywhere.
In the early 1990s, charter schools began developing around the country with the goal of creating an educational system that was controlled by local teachers, families, and community members — not by the school districts. They were designed to foster an environment that was specifically tailored to meet the needs of the students and to, therefore, produce high-achieving, specialized citizens ready for the job market, college, etc.
We see this in practice with local institutions, like the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School, which provides an arts-centric education to students who are interested in creative fields and feel they can’t adequately explore these areas in their local public school.
However, many charter schools today do not live up to this promise of providing an excellent, taxpayer-funded education dictated by the local needs and interests of students who might otherwise be excluded from a fulfilling education.
As national charter school networks emerge, (such as KIPP, which is funded by Citi Foundation, a subsidiary of Citibank, and the Walton Family Foundation, founded by the owners of Wal-Mart) the schools begin to provide more generic and commercialized educations to their students.
We see many of these charter schools performing poorly in comparison to their public counterparts, over-emphasizing the importance of testing, reducing transparency in the school system as it becomes privatized, and, according to the NAACP, contributing to the “re-segregation” of the school system.
What I, personally, am most concerned about, however, is the diversion of funds from public schools to charter schools. According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in the past school year public school districts in Massachusetts lost over $400 million dollars to charter schools (which serve only about 4 percent of students statewide).
They also project that the Northampton public school district will lose almost $2.3 million to charter schools in the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. That $2.3 million could pay for almost 40 teachers in the Northampton public schools each year; it could provide vital technology and equipment to enhance to the learning of each student; it could be used to improve the schools’ extracurricular programs.
And we know that our public schools, like NHS, don’t simply have millions of dollars laying around to spend at their leisure. I remember the constant pressure my teachers, coaches, and even class officers felt from the administration to save, or in some cases, even generate money. My music teacher in particular, whose lessons I am still drawing on today as I continue music in college, was always feeling pressured to take on more students as a way to make her classes more budget-friendly.
Every year when administrators look for ways to cut costs, they look to the special programs — the arts, athletics, clubs, etc. — the exact programs that people who attend charter schools, like PVPA, want to explore. However, if the budget was not continually threatened, public schools would be able to invest in and develop these programs, and those who are attracted to the charter system for a good education in a particular field would find that they can enjoy excellent and specified studies in their public schools, while also reaping the benefits of a multifaceted education.
In Northampton, there is public support for these special programs; we saw this with the 2013 NHS walkout to support the arts.
Residents of Massachusetts also recognize the danger of increasing the number of charter schools in our state, as over 61 percent of voters this November voted against Question 2 authorizing 12 new charters.
But with the appointment of DeVos as secretary of education in the impending Trump presidency, we must now, more than ever before, unite to protect our public schools, continue to fight against the addition of any new, especially nationally organized, charter schools in our state, and demand that our public schools are adequately funded, so they can maintain the quality of education required to ensure that each student is given every opportunity to succeed.
Ursa Heidinger, of Westhampton, is a first-year student at Columbia University in New York City.