EDITORIAL: Charter conversions

Some 21 local campuses are now eligible for conversion to charter status thanks to their poor performance.

Under state law, schools that are in the bottom 5 percent statewide or have graduation rates below 60 percent are put on a list of potential charter conversions. Up to six schools will eventually be selected to pair with three approved charter operators by next year. Teachers and administrators will have to reapply for their jobs.

Not everyone is happy about that.

Clark County School District officials argue that many of the struggling schools are already involved in programs designed to improve achievement levels and deserve more time to yield results. And on Thursday, dozens of parents at a meeting of the state Board of Education expressed their opposition to such a move.

The sentiment is understandable. Change is difficult and even many families whose children attend deficient schools remain suspicious and wary of the unknown.

Perhaps a bit more information and transparency might go a long way toward alleviating parental concerns.

For instance, the Review-Journal’s Amelia Pak-Harvey reports that the state has yet to release individual test scores for each school, so there’s no way at this point for parents at the affected campuses to judge how their school made the list. That’s odd. Education officials might be able to quell some of the protests if they had hard data to better explain the process.

Not all parents showed up in opposition.

“What future will my children have,” Dalia Jimenez asked, “and so many children more, with a one- or two-star education?”

Indeed.