The Charter School Network (Almost) No One Wants: Mobilizing Regulation and Litigation to Serve the Public Interest

Abstract

Although publicly-funded, independently-operated charter schools are an established part of the education system, a recent entrant has created new and urgent concerns. Hillsdale College’s charter school initiative has been making escalating inroads into public education, capped most recently by an invitation by the Tennessee governor to establish 50 to 100 new charter schools in the state. Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools base their teaching on the “1776 Curriculum,” which has been highly criticized by educators and historians for its ideological bias and distorted portrayal of U.S. history, especially with respect to civil rights. Hillsdale has used its considerable political and financial influence to remove legal guardrails that would limit its advance. Its supporters have funded PACs that have successfully replaced local school boards, and it has affiliated with governors who have seized authority over local educational decisions. Federal and state laws and policies implemented in support of charter school expansion over the three decades of charter school history provide little protection against unchecked expansion of the Hillsdale agenda. We offer proposals to mitigate unintended consequences of charter school expansion by using regulation and litigation to ensure that charter schools serve the public interest.

Keywords: school choice, public education, local government, education policy, school regulation, classical education

JEL Classification: H75, I21, I28