The North Penn School District must face the possibility of charter school additions again, and while the ideas behind the charter school seem good on the surface, there may be harmful effects on the district as a whole.

In a recent school board meeting, the estimated cost of having a charter school running by the next school year rings in at about $4.2 million. Without this increase in expenditures, the projected budget would be easier to balance for the 2014-2015 school year. Also, the obvious consequence of funds going to the charter school would be budget cuts in other areas of North Penn, whether it be elementary programs, arts programs, or even teaching positions. Looking to increase the already vast options in the district, the implementation of the charter school could pull funds from worthwhile departments, thus leading to the eventual extinction of beneficial school activities and programs.

A seemingly positive aspect of the charter schools is the ability to transfer children from North Penn schools into the charter school, which could lead to decreased teaching positions and savings for the district. However, the charter school will only take a few children from elementary classes, so these classes will not be able to be cut with only one or two children leaving. Also, the presenters of the charter school noted that while children in the North Penn District will be admitted before children from other districts, the possibility that a child from another district will enter the charter school is present. This situation will increase the funds needed to support students previously not included in the district before.

When the charter school application was discussed at a recent school board meeting, some audience members came forward to profess their support for the charter school system. One parent of a young child in elementary school claimed all North Penn teachers did not have the desire to help their students past normal instruction time. How can a parent condemn the entire teacher faculty of North Penn if she had experience with such a minimal amount of teachers? Yes, it is more difficult on the teacher’s part to give one-on-one time to children because of rising class sizes, but I have not encountered or even heard of a teacher in my thirteen years in the district who has denied a student extra help. If a student requires help in his or her public school classes, all he or she needs to do is ask for that extra time. And then, if the teacher unexpectedly denies help, there are tutoring programs in place to assist a struggling student. Insisting that a student cannot get time for feedback and singular instruction only points out a flaw in motivation.

A charter school may work in a school system that does not care for its students, but the beneficial programs and considerate teachers offered by the North Penn School District provide all that is needed to thoroughly educate a willing student.  As the school board assesses the validity of the charter school application, they have a strict set of criteria they must follow in order to approve or deny the charter school.

While the decision lies in the hands of the school board, it is of the utmost importance that members of the community understand the detrimental effects of the addition of a charter school to the district.