Having worked in the public school system for a number of years, I have long advocated for school choice. If the state cannot enact a voucher system right away, at least the authorization of competing charters would force public schools to innovate and improve, or face the increased loss of their school population to better schools.
From the dedicated parents of South Torrance to the wary and disillusioned tax payers of Hermosa Beach, rich as well as poor, urban and suburban parents are getting tired of the public school government monopoly, one which rewards mediocrity without recognizing in a compensatory fashion the excellence of excelling teachers. Teachers' unions, the well-entrenched powerhouse in today's school districts, protect their stable stream of union dues while standing by the weakest members in the face of discipline or forced departure. School boards spend more time spending time and money rather than delegating policy and resources to students and their teachers. Parents have little say over the choices and character of these two politicized forces in public education.
Never would I have imagined or even considered that an entire district could go charter. Yet in a recent letter to the Daily Breeze, Ms. Suzanne Hadley renewed my hope that the Beach City Schools may be the primary movers to shake up the statist status quo of government run schooling that takes taxpayer dollars with no accountability . Arguing that the entire Manhattan Beach Unified School District should go charter, she cites that her local schools would be able to dismiss the weakest teachers in the district, which a charter could do without the costly legal battles of unionized stalling.
"Let's spend our limited funds more wisely by rewarding the best while weeding out the worst." I could not agree more, and I would like to see this trend break up the monopolized public education monotony in every school district in the state.