I’m talking to you Delaware Charter Schools Network, Rodel, Schools That Care, and Publius! In the next six days, Delaware legislators will be signing on to co-sponsor Kowalko and Lawson’s Parent Opt Out House Bill. You may even be scratching your head at some of the legislators that will put their name on this. But it’s going to happen. This bill will be submitted.
The first reason you need to support this is because it’s a parent’s CHOICE. I was reminded of this last night by two school board members. You folks are all about the CHOICE. You live and die by that one word. Now it’s time to put your support where your mouth is. While choosing a school for your child’s education is a CHOICE, so is determining how your child is educated. It’s a parent’s CHOICE. If you do not support this bill, we will all know that you don’t truly believe in CHOICE.
The second and more important reason is because of the nature of this bill. Students who, for various reasons, may not be able to take the test will not count in the proficiency ratings. This will make your scores go up! Why is this good, aside from the obvious? I know you aren’t going to go away. You are a part of the landscape, and that’s not a bad thing. But when the ACLU complaint goes forward with the OCR, and they rule on it, you know what’s going to happen. You will be court-ordered to include more of the minorities, low-income and special education kids in your communities. By default, test scores will go down. You will be screaming for parent opt out then, so why not be proactive and do it now! Many charters in Delaware pride themselves on their academic framework and proficiency ratings. But when your populations change, and the new School Accountability System kicks in with the letter grades of A-F, your school could very well become the next priority school!
The Season Of Myths 