Todd Ziebarth, Education Commission of the States
2004
This 12-page paper tackles the proposition, incorporated in NCLB, that one cure for a failing district school is to reconstitute it as a charter school. I've long harbored doubts about the feasibility of "involuntary" charter schools, since a successful charter school is likely to have been created and led by people who want to run a charter school, not people ordered to do so. If, however, a state is game to empty out a failing school and recycle its building as home to a brand-new charter school that's founded and run by people with the requisite zeal (and competence, a sound plan, etc.), and if the state's charter law and funding mechanisms are such that charter schools are really viable there - then by all means. At that point, it resembles "outsourcing" the school to a new operator while taking advantage of freedoms permitted under the charter law. Ziebarth's paper explores these and more issues; state leaders should surely read it and consider this option. You can find it here.
