A reader comments on the post this morning about a Republican proposal to give a new state charter board authority over charter schools, to low charters to hire as many uncertified teachers as they wish, to eliminate criminal background checks for charter staff and operators, etc.:

He writes:

So let’s get this straight…the same GOP who wants tougher standards, tougher evaluation systems for public school teachers, a school grading (rating) system using an A-F model based on standardized test scores, etc…now want to circumvent state law requiring that at least half of the staff at a charter school hold teaching licenses, as well as remove background checks as a requirement for school personnel. Oh, and only be accountable to a “board” made up of members who are handpicked by the owner of the charter school. UNBELIEVABLE!!! Folks, you can’t make this stuff up! I don’t know who is more stupid…the guys making the laws to fix education, or the citizens who believe their solutions will work. I solved our public education woes well over a decade ago. Want something that will actually work? Just ask me.

“Republican state Sen. Jerry Tillman, the sponsor and committee co-chairman, gave a gruff assessment of the state board’s view on charters since lawmakers eliminated a cap on the number of schools in 2011. He said charter schools are too restrained to be successful.”

“Tillman cited an example of a pharmacist who wasn’t able to teach chemistry because he wasn’t a licensed teacher, saying the pharmacist had more experience than most teachers. “Any time you’ve got a piece of bologna that has two sides to it, I don’t care how thin you slice it, you’ve got to look beyond what might appear on the paper,” he said.

*Laughs* Oh Tillman, you foolish, foolish little man. Just because someone is an expert in a field does not make them a good teacher. Case in point: Some years ago, in a Charlotte high school, a former Duke University professor decided she wanted to “make a difference” and work with minority, at-risk kids and “share her vast knowledge of the field in which she was an expert.” She lasted one year. The kids ate her up and spit her out. Duke. One of the most prestigious Universities on the planet. Expert in her field. Lasted ONE year.

Am I the only one tired of the lawmakers, educrats, and faux-reformers who write the laws and make decisions on education, while not having a degree in the field? It would be like me telling a physician how to treat his patients, and I don’t have a background in the medical field.

I think some of these guys think just because they went to school makes them knowledgable on how to fix a school. Remember, just because you know how to drive a car does not make you a mechanic.

North Carolina Republican State Senators have filed legislation that would remove oversight of charters by the State Education Board and turn it over to a new board hand picked by the governor.

Charter schools would no longer be required to submit applications to local school boards. All meaningful supervision and oversight would be eliminated.

Local school boards would be required to lease available space to charters for $1 a year. Charters would be accountable to the new state charter board, not the local board.

This legislation appears to be based on ALEC model legislation, which is intended to allow charters to flourish while gutting local control.

And here is where it gets scary.

The charters would no longer be required to assure that at least half the teachers are certified.

Charter schools would no longer be required by law to conduct criminal background checks of their staff.

The law would have no provisions barring conflicts of interest for members of the new charter board, implying that charter operators might be appointed to the board to advance their self-interest.

In the public comment period, Baker Mitchell, the incoming chairman of the NC Alliance for Public Charter Schools testified in favor of the bill. He “owns The Roger Bacon Academy, which is contracted to run two public charter schools in Brunswick County. In the 2009-10 fiscal year, Mitchell received more than $3 million from the two charter schools for management fees and the cost of renting the buildings from another company Mitchell owns….”

He is just the kind of person likely to be appointed to serve on the state’s new charter board.

The only thing public about these charters is the money they take from unsuspecting taxpayers.