The 21st Century Charter Schools Initiative

Reduced Lunch Program. Charter schools receive an average 36 percent less revenue per
student than traditional public schools, and receive no facilities funds. The number of charters
providing a longer school day grew from 23 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2012.
Pros & Cons
There are many benefits to attending a charter school, one main benefit is that innovative
systems allow for a unique way of educating. Because of school choice the parent and the
student are more likely to be involved in the commitment to the school. Another pro to a
charter school is the competition. Charter schools must work to maintain their academic
performance, student’s retention, and finances. Another pro to charter schools act as a catalyst
for improvement of the public system. One common con to charter schools is that they are
funded by the government. Nevertheless, they have the potential of closing if they don’t make
the numbers in the areas mentioned above. And finally the biggest debate with charter schools
is that they do a better job of reaching students than public schools, because of their style of
teaching and educating. The charter schools system allows for teachers to be creative in their
own work. Along with the environment being welcoming and encouraging to both the parents
and students there are a few downsizes to the of charter school for example the financial
jeopardy the school could fall under or even potential of not making numbers. Either way it
goes the pros and cons challenge people to do a true comparison of the school system they
would put their children into.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Ever since the 19th century, public education was the main foundation of education for
children. Just like charter schools, public schools have advantages and disadvantages to their
system. First and foremost public education is free, since taxes pay for the child’s education.
Another advantage of public schools are the various extracurricular activities, trained
personnel/administration, and offering of scholarships and continual education to college.
Public education also offers transportation to and from school that is hard to come by in
charter schools. The few example of advantages expressed indicate that public education has
been providing students with an equal amount of thumbs up whether then thumbs down for
the education.
One disadvantage to public school is that parents’ don’t have a say in the curriculum because of
the general standard set by the government as a result innovative thinking is squashed.
Another disadvantage is the large classroom sizes that can be disturbing to the student in need
of the extra attention and to teachers that desire to reach all their students. One pro and con is
that parents are required to have students from age five to seventeen attend school (2000). It's
a pro because children need education to advance in society, even if it is basic reading
comprehension and math. The con to requirement of attendance in today’s society is many
school systems lack the adequate material to teach students, therefore, most of the teachers'
efforts well fall short because of time and the restriction to the curriculum.
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