Hillsdale Takes on Biden's DOE - The American Conservative

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

66% : In this case, the target is good education, namely charter schools, and the opponent is Biden's Department of Education.
65% : The original proponents of charter schools anticipated that charter schools would be shaped by educators and offer opportunities for developing and sharing new instructional methods and resources that address the needs of students and families in the community.
64% : In effect, the department has given public schools a veto over any new charter school they perceive as a threat.
60% : The DOE governs charter schools through CSP grants, which are the first infusion of funding a new charter receives in order to buy desks, books, and any supplies needed to start teaching.
56% : Applicant charter schools must also provide the DOE a letter from each partnering public school demonstrating the public school's commitment to participate in the proposed collaboration.
55% : In other words, in addition to picking up students in weak school districts by their bootstraps, charter schools will now be expected to lift up the other public schools, their teachers, and administrators, too.
51% : The rub, of course, is not simply that public schools are bleeding students to charter education, but that each of these charter schools is governed by a unique charter and a founding board; not, they note bitterly, school boards and teachers' unions.
50% :Charter schools, which use a combination of public and private funding to provide parents and their children an alternative to public schooling without the additional costs of private or home education, have long been a thorn in the side of public schools and "educators."
50% : Similarly, some charter schools may not fully engage other community members and organizations that are also well-positioned to help assess the educational aspirations and needs of students living in their neighborhoods and can offer important contributions to help improve the academic, financial, and organizational and operational performance of the school.
50% : O'Toole said she is concerned that new charter access to CSP grants will be limited by the new rule, but Hillsdale is still charging "full steam ahead."***"I think when when people learn that Hillsdale College is involved in charter schools, they expect it to be, or I guess hope that it is, a kind of political project," O'Toole said of the Times' coverage.
47% : If anyone needs to be held accountable for academic performance, it is the Department of Education and public schools.
47% : The new rules will have the effect of further centralizing public education, which O'Toole said is the problem charter schools were set up to resolve in the first place.
46% : This is in part due to the fact that children who attend charter schools have historically performed far better than their public school counterparts, prompting parents and voters to ask the obvious questions.
46% : The second rule builds on the first: To further prove community involvement, charter school applicants must propose a collaboration with one traditional public school with which they share one of the following: curriculum, resources, or course offerings; professional development opportunities for public-school teachers and leaders; evidence-based practices to improve academic performance for underserved students; policies to create a safe learning environment, including positive behavioral intervention; and one of a list of initiatives, including "transparent enrollment and retention practices," a shared transportation plan, or another collaboration designed to address a significant barrier faced by public schools.
45% : The Biden administration's new rule would give public schools a veto over charter-school applications, but Hillsdale is not giving up.
42% : It sets up the public school as the default option, and then says 'You can have a charter school if the public school is not doing it already.'
41% : While that is the case in some charter schools, in others, teachers, parents, and community leaders have expressed concerns about not being included as active participants in charter school decision-making....
36% : The new rule states that charter schools were created to invite "innovative approaches to teaching and learning for all students while being held accountable for academic performance," the twist of irony being that academic performance at charter schools typically far outstrips that of regular public schools.

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