DN letters: Charters offer students a quality education

LISA HAVER'S Oct. 3 opinion column, "Charters not really a good choice for parents and kids," is a classic example of teachers' unions and traditional public education establishment organizations fighting to maintain the status quo and protecting the adults in the public education system at the expense of students, who have been forced to attend failing traditional public schools for too long.

If public charter schools are "not really a good choice for parents and kids," as Haver suggests, then why do nearly one-third of Philadelphia's students attend public charter schools, with tens of thousands of students remaining on waiting lists?

According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, students who attend brick-and-mortar charter schools academically outperform their peers in those traditional public schools in which they previously attended. More often than not, students who leave traditional public schools and enroll in a public charter school are academically two to three years behind their grade level. It takes considerable time and resources to address these deficiencies, but charter schools have consistently gotten the job done.

As of the 2013-14 school year, Philadelphia School District's graduation rate was 68 percent, while the combined graduation rate for all public charter schools in Philadelphia was 84 percent.

Based on the results of the 2015 state PSSAs and Keystone Exams, charter school students scored higher than district students in English language arts, math, science, algebra and literature. Furthermore, in the content areas of English language arts, science, algebra, literature and biology, charter school students had a higher academic growth rate than their peers in district-run schools.

While many charter school opponents desire to take away the rights of parents to choose the public school that best meets the needs of their child, high-quality public charter schools in Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania have offered tens of thousands of children a second chance to receive the public education they rightfully deserve in a safe and secure environment.

Tim Eller, executive director

Keystone Alliance for Public Charter Schools

With all his sniffing and huffing and puffing, Donald Trump failed to keep his hot air balloon from deflating. He prowled the stage, pointing at Hillary Clinton, attacking her with the same old lies that have been debunked scores of times. He even threatened to have her jailed if he were to become president, oblivious to the irony that he could be convicted of bribing the Florida attorney general, for bilking thousands of Trump University students and for using his so-called charitable foundation for personal gain.

Clinton reminded the audience to look at his exaggerated words and deceptions as indicative of his character, then moved on to the "high road," explaining how her intentions and policies would address the critical problems our country faces. The Blustery Bully could do little more than repeat what is wrong with America, again and again, never saying how he would solve those problems.

Should Clinton have been more combative, and respond to every spurious charge Trump spewed? To most of the audience who came to hear what she stands for, that would have wasted their time. To a few, however, her lack of response could be interpreted as acquiescence. People often see what they expected to see. And voters vote for people to represent them who look like themselves.

Bruce Joffe

Piedmont, Calif.