hopeful of Hope, ME To learn the facts about public charter schools, see www.mainecharterschools.org.
They are non-religious and not elitist. They have to have a lottery if more students want to attend than seats are available.
They cost towns the same per pupil allocation as now.
They are highly accountable. Their 5 year contract will not be renewed if they are not meeting financial and academic performance goals.
They will close if parents do not choose to send their children, because funds follow each child to the public school he or she attends.
They are entirely voluntary - no one has to create one, attend one or teach in one.
They provide incentives for innovation and greater responsiveness to the needd of individual children.report abuse

middleone of Portland, ME One of the keys to fixing the public schools is to remove the strangle hold the unions have on protecting incompetent teachers. It takes 18 months to 2 years to remove a lousy teacher. That's the truth!

If charter schools had to follow the same rules as public schools, they might make sense, but when they don't have to be accountable to anyone, why should they get taxpayer money?report abuse

SlyME of Augusta, ME The editors "challenge the Legislature: If you don't have the courage to stand up and beat off the prophets of doom who are so scared of charter schools, then just reject the bill."

Other than the concern over rights to appeal a sponsor's decision (which deserves explanation), I can not see that the ammended bill eviscerates the experiment. Tactically, it seems that passage of the ammended version makes good sense. If Charter Schools prove to provide the benefits many of us expect, new legislation expanding their scope can always be introduced.

Guarantees of equal access to these schools needs to be an integral part of any legislation authorizing them.report abuse

catsome of portland, ME "So the key difference between Charter Schools and the union-run, union-controlled, over-administrated, old-fashioned, turn-the-crank, take-it-or-leave-it PUBLIC SCHOOLS would be _________________________________?"

equal opportunity for all--- protected BY those mandates and rules!!!!

"Charter schools" in a nutshell = public funding for private schools (sometimes religious schools )Schools that don't have to meet any educational bench marks, don't have ANY accountablity to the public, or have ANY rules to protect or provide civil rights, special ed etc...

Trying to reapply "separate but (un)equal" banned by the constitution.

Putting a new name on it and dressing it up with a bow...doesn't fool anyone.report abuse