The Biden Administration’s New Salvo Against Charter Schools

An Education Department study finds the regular system is failing. The same department seeks to block alternatives

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

“For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach those of their parents.” That analysis was cited in “A Nation at Risk,” a federal study of the U.S. education system, published in 1983. Education spending, which is presented by liberals as the be-all and end-all for improving academic outcomes, has skyrocketed since then. Per pupil expenditures in many low-income urban districts are well above the national average. Nevertheless, academic outcomes continue to disappoint.

In New York City, where the education budget is $38 billion and spending per pupil is more than double the national average, the schools chancellor has noted that two-thirds of black and Hispanic kids never reach proficiency in reading. This revelation is all the more tragic when you realize that a child who can’t read by third grade is far more likely to drop out of school, and school dropouts are far more likely to become substance abusers, single parents and violent criminals. 

In Chicago, another city where spending per pupil exceeds the national average, only 24% of middle-school students test at or above proficiency in reading and 21% in math. The connection between poor schooling and high crime rates is obvious, but too many on the political left play dumb and choose to focus instead on systemic racism and police misconduct.

Even where schools appear to be making gains, studies have often revealed those improvements to be illusory. A U.S. Education Department report released last month analyzed the transcripts of high-school graduates in the class of 2019 and compared them with those of their peers over the previous 10 years. Recent graduates had taken more-rigorous courses and earned higher grade-point averages, which looked like progress. 

But when those better grades in math and science were matched with scores on standardized tests, something was revealed to be wrong. The test scores were flat in science and had declined in math, even among students who took the more-rigorous courses, which suggested that over the past decade students had benefitted from grade inflation rather than from receiving a better education. “Algebra 1 is not Algebra 1 just because it’s labeled Algebra 1,” said the Education Department official who announced the findings."

"Bill Clinton and Barack Obama voiced strong support for charter schools, but Mr. Biden wants to limit their growth—in the name of equity, of course.

Under new Education Department rules proposed last month, it would become more difficult for charter schools to receive federal grants. Applicants would have to prove that the existing public schools are overcrowded, even though those schools have declining enrollments while charters have thousands of kids on wait lists. The new rules would also force charter schools to submit demographic data detailing the “racial and socioeconomic diversity of students and teachers in the charter school and the impact of the charter school on racial and socioeconomic diversity in the public school district.” This would limit the ability of charter schools to open in low-income minority neighborhoods, which is where they are most needed, are most popular and have the greatest impact."