pointcounterpoint
Should Corporations Run Publicly Funded Online Schools?
YES
Public education’s
biggest challenge is
providing quality
at scale, particular-
ly in low-income
communities. In
the near term,
This is where private enterprise can
help. Corporations should be eligible for
operating contracts for public schools
because they have the unique ability to
provide quality services at scale.
While state laws bar private companies from running public schools (
everywhere except Arizona), a school district
or nonprofit charter holder may retain
them for services ranging from content provision to school management.
Though this provides a double layer of
accountability (through a charter and
operating contract), it is an awkward
and unnecessary arrangement.
Private enterprise has three benefits
compared to government agencies and
nonprofits. First, private companies
can raise and invest capital, which is
critical to building quality content and
comprehensive learning platforms. Such
investments can easily exceed $100 million—an amount that is hard to come by
in state education budgets these days.
Second, for-profit companies have the
ability to rapidly respond to changes in
demand and to operate at scale. The first
benefit is the capacity for capital expenditures; this second one is the related
ability to manage working capital—to
turn cash or borrowing capacity into
public services quickly. Private operators
typically have more flexibility to redeploy human resources and other assets,
particularly if they operate at scale.
Third, return-seeking organizations
are usually better at managing outcomes
than nonprofits. I’ve worked with hundreds of both, and I usually see more
focus and urgency in for-profit versus
nonprofit organizations. But that also
means ensuring that contracts focus on
important outcomes.
NO
Educational op-
portunity and
achievement have
long been key to
the success of the
U.S. democracy,
economy, and way
of life. Continued success will require
our educational system to adopt mod-
ern means and methods to remain not
only effective, but relevant, in a century
marked by innovation, knowledge, tech-
nology, and global competition. Online
learning is one way we can better pre-
pare our students to be successful.
of true success. Working for a for-profit
company involved rigidity of curricu-
lum design, which stifled creativity and
innovation. Implementing this at the
school level violated the teacher collec-
tive bargaining agreement by restricting
academic freedom. At my online charter
school, we did not follow these man-
dated requirements, and our test scores
increased yearly.
