Negative Effects of Charter Schools on Public Schools: Why Low Income Areas Receive Worse Education?

Negative Effects of Charter Schools on Public Schools
Name
Institution
Negative Effects of Charter Schools on Public Schools
Introduction
Charter schools are non-religious public schools that operate on a contractual basis (Haerens & Zott, 2012). A contract is drawn, and it defines everything from the name of the school to the management, curriculum, and mode of operation. Both primary and secondary education is offered in charter schools to students who may eventually sit for state-mandated exams. Charter schools primarily receive funding that is fixed for a particular student. Both for-profit and non-profit charter schools exist in the United States. However, non-profit charter schools are the only ones that are eligible for donations from private sources.
The brainchild of charter schools is to give parents the freedom to make a choice on the places where they would like their children to study (Haerens & Zott, 2012). Parents are spoilt for choice on where they feel that their children will have a proper learning environment for improvement of student achievement. Additionally, charter schools are expected to adhere to federal laws. They do not charge tuition fees. Students apply to join these schools and in case the slots available are full, enrollment is done by lottery basis.
Public schools, on the other hand, are schools that are supported by public funds. These schools provide education at no additional cost to children of a community or district. In the United States of America, public schools are locally governed. Each of the fifty states in this nation has a Department of Education that is responsible for setting rules and regulations that govern the public schools of that state. The primary sources of funding for these public schools are local property taxes and individual state. A school board invokes the aid of a small committee of people who are either appointed by the local government or elected by the local community in the governance of each school district.
Charter and public schools are similar in that they both offer free education. Additionally, both set ups are open to all children regardless of their race, gender, or disability. Both schools do not have special entrance requirements. They admit students based on the availability of space in these institutions (Haerens & Zott, 2012).
The major difference between them is that charter schools have the freedom of experimentation. Charter schools, as opposed to public schools, have regulatory freedom in addition to being autonomous to state and local rules (Fabricant & Fine, 2012).  Additionally, some charter schools are out to make profits for individual organizations or persons. These differences put public schools at a disadvantage when compared to charter schools. Some of these adverse effects will be discussed in this paper.
Ease of Accountability in Charter Schools
As mentioned earlier, charter schools operate under a contract. In the contract are rules and regulations. Additionally, charters spell out parents’ expectations from these schools (Betts & Hill, 2010). Parents are allowed to hold management responsible for anything that goes contrary to what the agreement spells out. Management, o...