Charter Schools
By Kristina Hong
In response to the Trump Administration, Frederick County public education officials show praise for their current system involving public charter schools.
After much controversy following the 2017 election, President Trump appointed Betsy DeVos to his cabinet as secretary of education. For most, this decision was met with skepticism.
“I was not excited about Betsy DeVos as secretary of education because of her lack of experience with public schools,” Brad Young, president of the Frederick County Board of Education said. “I felt there was a much better choice that could have been made.”
“I’m concerned about secretary DeVos,” Liz Barnett, vice president of the Board of Education added. “During her confirmation hearings, for example, she did not demonstrate knowledge of special education and civil rights laws… She lacks a genuine understanding of public schools.”
One of the education policies the Trump cabinet intends to push involves more private institutions and for-profit public charter schools. Hoping to open doors to better educational opportunities, however, their main concern focuses on exclusivity and generating funding.
“While I am supportive of new ideas and community involvement that provide the impetus for public charter schools, I am opposed to private charter schools run by corporations,” Barnett said. “Private schools and charter schools take funding away from public schools… They can also exclude students.”
“When you put a profit motive in education for our students, their interests are not always met,” Young said. “Mixing a profit and education is not a good idea, in my opinion.”
In Frederick County, the charter schools are run within Frederick County Public Schools in conjunction with the local Board of Education. Superintendent Theresa Alban expressed praise for this current system and the functionality of their three public charter schools.
“That, for me, is the best way to do it because it keeps it local, so it’s designed to meet the needs of your own community,” Alban said. “It ensures that there’s accountability for the performance of that school.”
Although the three charter schools, Frederick Classical Charter School, Monocacy Montessori School and Carroll Creek Montessori are chartered, they are treated no differently than a Frederick County public school.
“The administrators and teachers participate in training with all the other administrators and teachers, and they are a part of our family,” Alban said.
Nancy Radkiewicz, president of Monocacy Montessori School, affirmed the closeness the charter schools have with the school system.
“I feel we are supported by FCPS, although many in this country still have misconceptions about charter schools,” Radkiewicz said. “FCPS helps us with our hiring and our staff receive the same pay as the other schools, day to day management… We have a direct line to FCPS with our director and we follow their calendar.”
The Frederick County Board of Education officials showed their support as well.
“In Frederick County, we were the first county in Maryland to have one and we currently have three, two Montessori and one classical charter school,” Young said. “I am very happy with the charter schools we have and their performance is very good.”
“Our public charter schools in Frederick County are working well,” Barnett added. “They serve all students and are not allowed to select based on disability or religion.”
Not only does the Trump Administration intend to reform education policy, but the President intends to adjust the national budget aimed towards education. According to the 2018 Fiscal Year budget, the U.S. Department of Education could lose $9 billion in funding.
“I am hopeful that President Trump’s proposed budget faces significant scrutiny in Congress,” Barnett said. “Education funds cannot be siphoned off to private schools and for-profit charter schools, and any entity that receives public tax dollars must not exclude students.”
Despite the major decrease intended for the government agency, Trump and DeVos are said to use the education budget directly to enforce change and innovation head on and funnel them right to the schools. However, many believe that the Trump Administration fail to recognize what the issues are.
“DeVos does not understand the major challenges facing public schools, namely the increasing poverty among families in our country,” Barnett said. “The primary obstacles to effective public schools are student poverty and economic inequality coupled with uneven state and local funding, like states that use property taxes to fund schools.”
Despite the intentions of the Trump Administration, Frederick County education officials hope they will recognize the positive outcomes of the current system in Maryland and leave it up to the states to decide their policy.
“Wide expansion of private charters and vouchers has not been successful in state and localities that have tried,” Barnett said. “Any push nationally to expand voucher systems, private or for-profit charter schools would be met with resistance from Maryland. We have strong public schools across this state, including strong public charter schools that have accountability.”
“The Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, has proposed a charter school bill each of the last two sessions in Annapolis giving charter schools much more autonomy than they currently have,” Young said. “Those bills have been unsuccessful so far.”
On the off-chance that federal policy favored charter schools, local and state school systems are prepared to speak out.
“Maryland’s charter law is strong and effective,” Barnett said. “Principles of federalism are important, as is local control.”
“If federal law changes, Frederick County Public Schools will comply and do what we need to do to make sure the needs of our students are served,” Young said. “I am confident that no matter what happens, Frederick County Public Schools will do what is best for our students and the community.”