Cleveland.com first published this letter to the editor.

The Buckeye Institute agrees that the policy outlined in the July 13 article, “Educators want public input on proposed waiver,” regarding efforts to close or convert public school buildings to charters without public input, warrants debate. However, families deserve to know that chronically underperforming schools are unacceptable and that poor performance will be corrected.

Last year’s Ohio report cards and the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress confirm that performance in the state’s lowest-scoring public schools remains a challenge. Unfortunately, district schools too often operate regardless of outcomes, and that must change.

While current state law allows for the conversion of low-performing district schools into public charter schools, this rarely happens. The proposed federal waiver offers multiple pathways to improve public school performance, including more rigorous options than current state law allows, options that The Buckeye Institute has supported.

Ohio’s students and families deserve schools where children will learn and thrive, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to providing this environment. Converting to charter schools won’t always be the right option to address academic underperformance, but it might be in some cases, and it should be considered.

Greg R. Lawson,
Columbus
The writer is a senior research fellow at The Buckeye Institute.