The news that teachers in the KIPP AMP Charter School in Brooklyn have decided to unionize shook the charter school world. In Ohio, this movement toward reconciliation between charter schools and teachers unions does not come as a complete surprise. There is movement here away from the era of ruthless charter/district competition toward more partnerships and collaboration between the sectors.
The most innovative of these efforts in the Buckeye State are voluntary and include efforts like the Dayton Early College Academy in Fordham's hometown. DECA is a free-standing charter school that has close ties to both the Dayton Public Schools (its authorizer) and to the University of Dayton (which provides much of the school's organizational and academic leadership). In Cleveland, the district and a handful of charters have, according to Catalyst Ohio, been "meeting to discuss potential partnerships and ways to take advantage of each others' expertise." Similar conversations are taking place in Ohio's other big urban districts.
The drivers for these conversations are: 1) an appreciation by school districts that charter schools are here to stay and that they should figure out how to work with the good ones; 2) increasingly tight fiscal budgets that require more effective use of limited resources through partnerships; and 3) change in political leadership--from Republicans to Democrats--that have made charter schools not connected to districts increasingly marginalized in conversations at the Statehouse about things like money, facilities, and additional freedom for future innovations.
This movement away from zero-sum competition toward collaboration is positive, if it is done in a fashion that respects the essential operational freedoms that make charter schools successful, which include liberating schools in such areas as personnel, budget, and curriculum. Additionally, these partnerships need to emerge through a voluntary process based on mutual respect, as opposed to being foisted upon the charter school community by the state. State law should encourage partnerships, but not force them.
