Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 2

23 A special thank you to Utah teachers . Medical | Dental | Life | Long-Term Disability | FLEX$ | HSA Utah charter schools are eligible for PEHP benefits. For more information, go to www.pehp.org or contact Derek Applegate at 801-366-7791. CharterSchoolAd.indd 1 9/16/2014 2:55:31 PM just shows how insulated some people in the public school sector have become. For example, school districts can raise property taxes and forcibly take money from property owners regardless of what is happening with their enrollment. The money they receive has no connection to the quality of the product they produce. An election is the only recourse available. District administrators are angry that a small portion of the property tax they voted to levy must now follow a student that chooses a charter school. They demanded this money be listed separately on the property tax notice. I support this 100%. But it’s not about accountability for charters, its about accountability for districts. As this number rises, it tells taxpayers that more parents in their district are choosing charters. And second, the dollar amount on this line-item will be so low that it will inevitably raise the question, “why isn’t all the money following the student?” Additionally, charter public schools are obligated to operate in accordance with the terms of the specific charter they have been granted. The Utah State Charter School Board (USCSB) has granted 114 of the existing 120 operating charters in Utah. Each charter is a contract and that contract is aggressively enforced (in addition to all the laws and rules governing public education.) Last year two charter schools were closed because they failed to comply with their contract. I would guess that either one of those schools would have gladly exchanged the accountability they faced from their parents and the USCSB for an election every four years. No matter how you look at it, charter public schools are the most accountable public schools in Utah. The elections they face everyday are far more significant than the superficial ones held once every four years, because these daily elections are directly tied to funding. Taxpayers don’t even have to stress too much over what the legislature decides as it relates to charter school funding, because in the end, legislators are not driving the funding to individual schools, the free market is. These market forces provide an immediate and automatic accountability. The only people who don’t get this, are those in the public sector who are protected from market forces. They face the ultimate form of accountability—the free market. If parents don’t choose to investigate, enroll, volunteer and carpool their child to a charter school everyday, that school doesn’t get paid.