Iowa's Charter Schools

I'm proud to say I attended Iowa public schools from kindergarten through college, and it so happens that my education almost perfectly corresponds to the heyday of Iowa's education system.

In 1992, when I was 8, Iowa's fourth-graders scored higher than all but one state in math and all but four states in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Unfortunately, today's Iowa's children face a gloomier future than I did. Over a 15-year period ending in 2007, only three states had lower academic gains than Iowa, and Iowa now trails 14 states in both subjects.

These data are important to consider against the backdrop of a recent Des Moines Register piece on charter schools in the state. It found little drive for innovation in Iowa's public-school system, no surprise given its ranking from the Center for Education Reform that placed its charter law 40th out of 41 states.

Iowa's charter law earned this low ranking by placing an artificial cap on the number of charters that could open in the state and limited charter-school management to current districts only. Rather than accommodating growth and demand, Iowa's 370 school districts were arbitrarily limited to a total of 20 charter schools. Moreover, the law limits each district to only one charter school, so Des Moines, which enrolls 29,000 students, is limited to the same number of charters as Dows, which enrolls 65.

The second problem is the law's provision that only current districts can open charters. This is the primary reason Iowa's charters have struggled to innovate. They're run by traditional school districts, so it's no surprise they look more or less like traditional public schools. The most successful and innovative nonprofit charter networks operating in other states - such as the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), Achievement First or Green Dot - are legally barred from opening schools in Iowa. This is a major loss for Iowa's children.

More charter schools will not be a panacea for Iowa's schools, and the evidence on their effectiveness remains mixed (even after yesterday). To read more about Iowa's law and my suggestions for improvement, read my op-ed in today's Register.