Cindy Byrd Abuses Office Demonstrating She Doesn’t Understand Charter Schools
By Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Epic Charter Schools, with 60,000 students, has gotten too big and successful for the public school establishment to ignore. Unfortunately, State Auditor Cindy Byrd has joined in a witch hunt by ignoring the philosophy behind charter school laws and the purpose of state audits, issuing a hit piece masquerading as a special audit. Her excuses for not following standard audit protocols remind one of Dean Wormer’s double-secret probation in the movie, “Animal House.”
There are three basic ideas behind charter school laws. First, public schools are more costly and less productive than they could be because they are monopolies. Second, parents facing relatively easy educational choices would choose to the benefit of their children. And third, charter schools must compete for students. This competition regulates charters far better than any government agency could, and because they compete, charter schools need less regulation that public schools.
Unfortunately, policymakers constantly try to shoehorn charter schools into the public education system, Cindy Byrd being a prime example. Charter schools are private contractors with whom the state has uniquely contracted to provide education. It’s unique that parents, not bureaucrats, independently determine the school attended. The nature of education makes the deliverables ill-defined, which means payments to charter schools, as well as to traditional public schools, are only contingent on enrollment. But, with charter schools, parents can instantly move their children other schools as they wish.
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