Giving Compass' Take:

· Matt Beienburg discusses the recent calls for regulation on Arizona's charter schools, profiteering among charter owners, and why investors need an incentive to donate funds to charter schools.

· Should charter schools be held to stricter regulations as public districts? How much funding do charter schools receive?

· Learn more about charter school regulation and transparency. 

You know that “Pre-check” shortcut that lets some people breeze through airport security while the rest of us plod 6 inches at a time through the general boarding line? Does it strike you as just a bit unfair that they get to keep their shoes, laptops, and liquids in place, while your 40-minute crawl gets rewarded with a pat-down and an agent rummaging through your bag because of a “hazardous” 4-ounce sunscreen bottle?

Given that, would you vote to close down Pre-check or to try streamlining the process for the rest of us?

That’s pretty much the situation with Arizona’s charter schools, which were established to provide a nimble, streamlined alternative to the bureaucracy that governs district schools. Like travelers in the Pre-check program, charters submit credentials up front (including detailed educational, operational, and financial plans) to the government. Those whose applications are granted then undergo periodic reviews and renewals, just with far fewer burdensome protocols.

But various episodes and media coverage recently have prompted pundits and public figures from around the state to call for passing new regulations around Arizona’s charters to make them subject to the same screening processes as districts.

Read the full article about charter schools and regulation by Matt Beienburg at the In Defense Of Liberty.