Duncan needs to pressure Washington State

Sec. Duncan has put pressure on several states to either change their charter school cap policy or pass a charter school law. For example, Duncan has pushed Tennessee to increase the number of students that could attend a charter school. He discouraged Indiana from imposing a stricter cap on charter schools. There are still 10 states that do not allow charter schools. The Secretary called out one of these states a while ago as the state’s legislature was considering a charter school law – Maine.

Charter schools in Maine, really? This is a state where the largest city Portland, Maine has a total population of 63,000. Most communities in the state are too small to support a charter school even if they were allowed. Portland has a total of 14 regular schools including 8 elementary schools and these are all relatively small schools by national standards. So, maybe it could support one or two charter schools. In addition, the state’s population is decreasing. So, how many other communities in Maine would have a large enough student population to support multiple elementary schools? Is this one of the places to wage a war to expand charter schools?

I spent a chunk of last summer doing some work in Montana, another rural state without charter schools. I can’t imagine more than a few cities in that state even having enough students to support a new school let alone a new charter school. Perhaps Missoula Billing or Helena, but not likely anywhere else. To my knowledge there are only a couple private schools in the whole state. Perhaps there may be some reason to create distant learning charter schools to support home schoolers in these rural states, but site based programs would be limited in many of these states.

There are some states where the Secretary has not made enough noise about the lack of charter schools. At the top of my list is my home state of Washington. Washington has over 1 million students, the 15th largest student population in the country. The largest city has almost 600,000 people, and most of the state’s population is centralized along the west coast of the state within a couple of hours of Seattle. In the largest school district in Seattle – Seattle school district – almost a quarter of students attend private school. So this is not a state that is opposed to school choice. It is the home of Bill Gates, one of the most important charter school supporters. It is also home to the Center for Reinventing Public Education, one of the leading charter school research groups that could help design an effective charter approval and oversight process. So, here is a state where charter schools could really make an impact, but the state is not stepping up.
The state’s teacher union has been able to keep the charter school advocates at bay including a $3 million state initiative effort funded by Paul Allen around 2000. And in 2004, when the legislature finally acted to approve a charter school law, WEA and NEA will able to go to the voters and have it repealed.

This is a state where an Obama support for charter schools would likely make a difference. This state loves Obama. In the fall election he received 58 percent of the vote. But, perhaps more important in this Democrat controlled state, 68 percent supported Obama against Clinton in the primary. So encouragement to Sec. Duncan, put Washington state on the top of your list of states that need a charter school scolding. Based on a quick look at demographics add Kentucky, Alabama, and Nebraska to the states that need a little harassing on charter school law. You can likely leave the rest of the non-charter school states alone including Maine.

Basic Demographics of Non-Charter school states.

Washington
1,033,000 students, 97.2 people per sq mile, largest city Seattle (593,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 6 cities

Alabama
749,000 students, 91.3 people per sq mile, largest city Birmingham/Hoover (229,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 4 cities

Kentucky
683,000 students, 106.8 people per sq mile, largest city Louisville (558,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 2 cities

Nebraska
288,000 students, 23.1 people per sq mile, largest city Omaha (433,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 2 cities


West Virginia
279,000 students, 75.3 people per sq mile, largest city Charleston (53,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 0 cities


Maine 189,000 students, 42.7 people per sq mile, largest city Portland (63,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 0 cities


Montana – 143,000 students, 6.5 people per sq mile, largest city Billings (102,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 1 city


South Dakota – 121,000 students, 10.5 people per sq mile, largest city Sioux Falls (152,000), Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 1 cities


North Dakota – 95,000 students, 9.3 people per sq mile, largest city Fargo (93,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 0 cities


Vermont – 92,000 students, 67.2 people per sq mile, largest city Burlington (38,000),
Cities with greater than 100,000 people – 0 cities