In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. Attributed to Yogi Berra.
Mike Petrilli asked me to comment on “Brand-Name Charters,” an essay by business writer Julie Bennett in the Summer 2008 issue of Education Next, noted on Flypaper. Bennett wrote Franchise Times Guide to Selecting, Buying, & Owning a Franchise (Sterling Publishing, 2007).
Alexander Russo noted a March 14 story in the New York Times describing plans for a charter school in New York City that plans to pay its teachers at least $125,000 per year. As it happened, I read the same story on The Equity Project Charter School some time earlier and requested a copy of their business plan. Russo’s post prompted me to leave a comment on his This Week in Education website.
Here’s the post, somewhat revised:
I'm not above tooting my own horn.
From the Fall 2007 issue of Converge Magazine:
The utility of the charter idea lies in its potential rather than its performance. Its potential remains as powerful as the day the first legislation passed 17 years ago, but unrealized. It depends on the academic performance of the charter schools in existence now and others being formed today. If past performance is any guide, the path will be hard and the journey slow. Only when a threshold of quality is reached across most charter schools will state legislation and school districts become more favorable to charter formation.... Until the movement is able to align school founders and foundation finance with an operationally oriented leadership representative of most charter schools, charters will remain an idea for the future rather than the present.
Download the Fall 2007 issue here.
