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Since eighth grade I dreamed of becoming a teacher. I dreamed about connecting with students and inspiring them like my social studies teacher did with me. Yet I never imagined I would enjoy the freedom to shape young minds like I do now.
That’s because I teach at a unique type of public school – a charter school – at Bear Creek Charter Community School.
I have seen firsthand from my seventh- and eighth-grade students the benefits of a charter school for the last eight years.
For starters, there’s greater flexibility to teach effectively, to demand accountability and generate results.
The creative license I enjoy in my classroom allows me to be a more enthusiastic teacher, and the ability to experiment and not follow a strict curriculum produces a more open learning environment. My students’ ability to flourish helps set charter schools apart from other public schools, and it’s not just what I observe in the classroom but what I hear from parents.
They point to their children displaying more confidence in and out of school, and more passion to learn. Parents describe how their children come out of their shells more easily and feel comfortable being themselves.
I see it. The kids feel it. The enthusiasm is contagious and endures long after they leave.
Years after leaving school former students tell me how much they were inspired by their experience in my classroom at Bear Creek and now want to be a teacher. I don’t share this to brag, but only to say I don’t think this would be the case if I taught at a district school.
I’ve also come to realize that the more adults learn about charter schools – public schools with qualified teachers and real flexibility – the more they approve. The level of support is 61%, according edchoice.org.
With more than 140,000 students enrolled in 180 charter schools across Pennsylvania, including 460 at Bear Creek, the benefits are clear. Charter schools have helped narrow the achievement gap by providing our children better access to education.
All families should have the same access to a quality education. Too many kids get stranded in bad schools without other options. In America, and in Pennsylvania, you should have the choice.
But now is not the time to stop our momentum. Rather, it’s time to keep marching forward with our children’s best interests in mind.
Unfortunately, Gov. Tom Wolf’s recent budget proposal takes the opposite approach. He is recommending to slash charter school funding by more than one hundred million dollars. In particular it would eliminate valuable resources to special education students, which our charter school serves a great deal of with personal attention and care.
This would be a shame. It would be the wrong approach, and if you ask the parents in our community, they would agree.
Charter schools were set up to innovate in the classroom and strengthen a public education system in need of vast improvement. The evidence of their success in that mission is overwhelming and points to only one conclusion; we need to keep supporting them.
We need to give our children the best environments to grow and learn.
We need our children forging an early foundation in education for later in life.
We need more charter schools because the next generation deserves every opportunity to succeed and dream regardless of their socioeconomic status.
William Barnes is a teacher at the Bear Creek Community Charter School.