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NEA Issue Explainer

Charter School Accountability

As taxpayer-funded schools, charter schools must be held to the same standards of accountability, transparency, and equity as traditional district public schools.
Published: December 6, 2021
This issue explainer originally appeared on NEA.org

All students—Black, white and brown —deserve a high-quality education in safe and welcoming public schools.

Educators originally supported charter schools as a place to experiment with educational ideas within the school system. Instead, political cynics and billionaire hobbyists have turned charter schools into a separate, overlapping set of schools that play by their own rules.

Although some charter schools are excellent and offer valuable contributions to their communities, many charters are corporate chains or run by financiers who put profit over students.

NEA opposes the failed experiment of largely unaccountable privately managed charter schools. NEA supports non-profit public charter schools that are authorized and held accountable by local democratically elected school boards.

The growth of charters has undermined local public schools and communities without producing any overall increase in student learning and growth.


Frequently Asked Questions about Charter Schools

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Keeping the Promise of Quality Public Education

The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is a union committed to the cause of providing the basic right of great public education to every student. OEA represents about 41,000 educators working in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 public schools and community colleges. OEA’s membership includes licensed teachers and specialists, classified/education support professionals (ESPs), community college faculty, retired educators, and student members. OEA members also belong to the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association (NEA).