CHARTER SCHOOLS: R.I.P.
Nevada’s State Board of Education loves charter schools to death
BY CHUCK MUTH

Chuck Muth is president and CEO of Citizen Outreach. He is a professional political consultant. Find more about him and read more of his work at www.chuckmuth.com. Other stories by Chuck Muth

If anyone wants to know a main reason why the public schools in Nevada are so screwed up, all you need do is attend one meeting of the Nevada State Board of Education. I swear I’ve seen brighter bulbs in a dark room. But then again, I’m sugar-coating it. 

At the December meeting of this illustrious board, the following agenda item was put forward by Sen. Harry Reid’s daughter-in-law and board member, Cindy Reid: “Consideration and possible action to place a moratorium on approving all future state sponsored charter school applications and all future amendments to current state sponsored charter schools.” 

Debate and discussion commenced, including Reid actually consulting a dictionary in the middle of the meeting to look up the meaning of the word “moratorium” in order to explain what it meant to the board. Like I said, we’re not exactly talking about rocket scientists here. 

Every board member who spoke on the issue prefaced their remarks on the proposed moratorium by saying, in one fashion or another, “I love charter schools.” It reminded me of something Margaret Thatcher once said: that if you have to tell people you’re in charge, you’re not. 

Anyway, the ed-heads went on to prove just how much they all love charter schools — by unanimously passing a statewide ban on any new ones. Assertions to the contrary, these people simply don’t like charter schools. More importantly, the teachers union doesn’t like charter schools. So this board will do anything and everything in their power to get rid of charter schools. 

Indeed, let’s not forget “shall,” shall we? 

Nevada’s original charter school law stipulated that the state board of education “shall” approve the application of any charter school that met all the requirements to receive a charter. The education bureaucrats didn’t like that. So they snuck in a legislative amendment in 2005 changing the word “shall” to “may.” This means even if a charter-school applicant successfully jumps through each and every bureaucratic hoop to qualify to open a charter school, the board can now still deny the application for any reason at all … or even no reason at all. 

So don’t give me this bull that these people love charter schools. They don’t. Never have. Never will. And they will continue carrying water for the teachers union and take every opportunity to close down existing charter schools and stop any new ones from opening. 

Now, I’m not a huge fan of charter schools because charter schools are still part of the failed government-school monopoly. But they’re far better than many “regular” public schools and at least give parents some level of choice. But no, charter schools aren’t the answer. School vouchers or tuition tax credits are the answer. And home-schooling. 

But something is better than nothing. Which is exactly what the Board of Education gave parents who want choices in education: nothing. At 9:58 p.m. that night, the ed-heads declared Nevada’s charter-school movement dead. 

The post mortem concluded on perhaps the most surreal note imaginable. Cindy Reid wrapped everything up by asking all the charter school representatives in attendance to invite her to come see their charter schools. Apparently the author of the “Kill Charters” moratorium and Chair(wo)man of the Sub-Committee on Charter Schools has never actually been in a charter school. 

But she loves them! Loves them to death.