"This is a Job Where You Need to Earn Your Keep"

New Orleans School Superintendent Paul Vallas says, "People want lifelong job security. But this is a system where you have to earn your keep." In a nutshell, this is the fundamental difference between traditional public school educational systems and public charter schools.


This year the New Orleans Supt. gave principals the authority to hire whomever they wanted to teach at their schools. Makes sense?


Not according to the New Orleans teacher's union and they're complaining.


Ever since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the city was rebuilding--and in a different way--a focus on academic achievement of students has begun. New Orleans now has by far the highest percentage of students in public charter schools when compared to other regions of the country.



It didn't take long for Denver Public Schools administration to realize their charter schools were having a competitive advantage because they were hiring teachers in January and February, months before the traditional schools were able to select teachers. Moreover, founders of the two new Innovation schools in Denver realized that having wavier from certain statutes provides a greater likelihood that they will be able to achieve academic success with their students.

What Teacher's Unions Think About Charter Schools

Over at Ed is Watching, Eddie makes a great point about how teacher's unions really feel about charter schools. Probably the single greatest identifier of potential success in charter schools is the fact that they are not bound by the district's collective bargaining agreement and instead use at-will employees. A teacher who isn't effectively teaching students probably won't stay in a charter school for very long.

It should be noted that Colorado had a charter school created by representatives of the teacher's union and they, too, applied for and received a waiver from teacher licensure and the district's collective bargaining agreement.