Rather, much of the evidence illustrates that charter schools rely heavily on supplemental private resources and do what they can to extract a greater share of public dollars. In this way, we see charter school reform at the forefront of efforts to privatize public education, as the reform forces these schools to rely on private funds. Reframing the debate On other issues, this study s data speak to some of the claims about charter reform, not by confirming nor disconfirming them, but by reframing the terms of the debate. While advocates claim that charter reform will give parents more choice, our study suggests that the issue is considerably more complicated. We found that charter schools are both the chosen and the chooser.
Charter schools have more control than most other public schools in California over who can attend.
We learned that charter schools make use of various strategies for choosing parents and students e.g. targeted recruitment, and requirements such as parent or student contracts that dictate what families must give to the school. While this ability to choose students and families allows charter schools to create a community identity, which can foster a shared vision for change, our findings raise questions about which parents have the range of choices the charter policy assumes. Without transportation, faced with sometimes demanding parent contracts, and with limited access to information about the practices of charter schools, some parents face serious constraints on any choices they might make. The debate over charter schools and choice is often silent such critical policy questions. In addition, our data do not support the notion that charter reform, via competition, will spur changes in the wider system.