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Everywhere you look today you'll find profits prophets of doom bemoaning the quality of our public school system.

But as education professors Christopher and Sarah Lubienski wrote in their landmark book The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools there's little evidence behind the hype. Public schools are far from perfect, but even given their deficiencies, they have benefits that far outweigh those of privatized schools. Indeed, market-based educational reform, wrote the Lubienskis, is "increasingly a belief system rather than a policy theory."

Privatized schools are sometimes great at boosting standardized test scores, but when it comes to authentic indicators of student learning, they often fall well behind their traditional public school counterparts.

Clearly we're speaking in generalities here. Every school - public or privatized - is different. But there is enough commonality to identify certain trends between each type of school to make general conclusions about each category. In short, despite any media or political propaganda to the contrary, public schools come out on top.

Here are the top 10 reasons public schools are the best choice for children, families and communities

1) Public Schools Attract the Best Teachers

When choosing a school for your children, you want them to have the best teachers possible. You want life-long, committed educators - people who entered the profession as a calling, who dedicate their lives to young people.

This is not the case at many charter or private schools. Their teachers often don't have the same high level of education, experience, or commitment. In many states, they aren't required to earn a four-year degree from an accredited college, they routinely have less experience and higher turnover.

Compare that with public schools. With rare exceptions, teachers must have at least one bachelors degree in a specialized education field, and many have masters degrees or more. In addition, teacher turnover is much lower. This is partly because public school teachers usually earn a higher salary than those at privatized schools. ( It's still not comparable with professionals in other fields with similar levels of education, but it's better than they get at privatized schools.) In addition they have higher job satisfaction because of increased union membership, which enables greater stability and helps create a safer workplace for teachers and their students.

Think about it. If you were one of the best teachers in the country, wouldn't you want to work where you get the highest salary and benefits? Of course!

2) Public Schools Have a Greater Sense of Community

Most public schools have been around for a long time. They are the heart of the communities they serve. They do so much more than just teach children. They host continuing education courses for adults, extracurricular activities, sporting events, academic clubs, public swimming pools, open libraries, and invite the community for local events, concerts, seminars, etc.

This is rarely the case at privatized schools. Charters and private institutions are often fledgling startups. They're located in rented office spaces, renovated store fronts and other locations chosen more for their cost benefits to investors and not for their efficacy as places of education or community outreach.

Public schools have histories that go back generations. Everyone in the community knows the teachers who work there. Parents often send their kids to the same educators who taught them when they were young. Sometimes this goes back to grandparents and even great grandparents. Older brothers can advise younger sisters what it was like to have this teacher or that principal. The kinds of relationships you get at public school just aren't there at institutions that model themselves on big box stores like WalMart and Target.

3) Public Schools Increase Educational Choice

Privatizers often talk about charters and voucher schools as if they are the only places that offer parents and students choice. It's simply untrue. Many public school districts offer a tremendous amount of alternatives for students living in their neighborhoods. Larger urban districts often have magnet or theme schools. But even beyond that, most schools offer a wide variety of classes and curriculum. Students can take foreign languages, vo-tech, arts and humanities, independent studies, and advanced placement or college credit courses. Students can take advantage of a plethora of services designed to personalize their academic experience to meet their individual needs with special and gifted education, even choosing which teachers are the best fit for their learning styles.

Obviously, these options increase with the degree of wealth in a community, but they prove that increasing choice doesn't have to mean privatization. It means equitable funding.

4) Public Schools Have Greater Diversity

Students learn a lot more than reading, writing and arithmetic in school. They also learn how to deal with different kinds of people - they learn to share this world with other humans from various racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual backgrounds. The more diverse an environment they grow up in, the more well-adjusted they will be for the adult world, and the less racist, sexist and prejudiced they'll probably become.

Public schools are often a sea of diversity. They are the best place to meet the entire spectrum of humanity. On the other hand, charter and voucher schools are routinely segregated and homogenous. Sometimes privatized schools make efforts to fight against this, but you can't make much headway when your entire system is based on sorting out the underprivileged in favor of white, affluent children whose parents can afford tuition (private schools) or poor black but high achieving children (charter schools).

5) Public Schools Are More Fiscally Responsible

Public schools spend their money more wisely than privatized schools. They have to! Their records are an open book. All the spending decisions happen in public view. And the law requires that all expenses must relate to educating children.

Privatized schools rarely do this, and if they do, it's by choice not necessity. They could close their books any day, make whatever decisions they like behind closed doors and layout bundles of cash for their CEOs or investors. Privatized schools are for-profit. Even when they aren't explicitly labeled as such, they usually operate in the same way - cut student services to increase the bottom line. Their explicit goal is to make money off your child - not simply earn a middle class income like public schools. No, they want to get rich off of your dime.

Privatizers buy mansions and yachts with your money. Public school teachers pay off their mortgages. And in the rare instances where public school employees break the law and try to embezzle funds, they are much more likely to be caught because the books are right there for all to see.

6) Public Schools Are More Reliable

When you send your child to most privatized schools, you never really know if it's going to be there tomorrow. Charter schools often close without a moments notice. Private schools declare bankruptcy.

If there's one thing you can be reasonably sure of, it's that your neighborhood public school will still be there. It's been there for decades, sometimes hundreds of years. Charter and voucher schools are often fly-by-night affairs. Public schools are solid bedrock. If public schools close, it's only after considerable public comment and a protracted political process. No one ever shows up to find the local public school chained shut. Not the same at charters or private school s.

7) Public Schools Have Greater Commitment to Students

Charter and vouchers schools don't have to accept your child. Public schools do.

When you enroll in a privatized school, the choice is all up to administrators. Is your child a safe bet? Can they let your little one in without breaking the bank? Will he or she make the school look good with better test scores? Will he or she be easy to educate?

Public schools, on the other hand, have a commitment to educating every child who lives in the district. They even take homeless children. Only under the most extreme circumstances would they expel a young person. No matter who your offspring is, no matter how good or bad a student, public school operators have faith they can help the youngster succeed.

8) You Have Ownership of Public Schools

With privatized schools, you're paying for a business to provide services. Public schools belong to you. In fact, you're the boss.

Public schools are run by your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Privatized schools are most often run by appointed boards of directors who are not beholden to you but to the investors. As education blogger Peter Greene puts it, "The charter is a business, run by people who don't ever have to let you into their board room."

In addition, many public schools go beyond even this level of parental involvement. They more often have PTAs or PTOs. They have advisory councils where elected parents, teachers and community members can work together to advise the school board on important maters like hiring superintendents. If parents and the community want a voice, the public school system is overflowing with options. Ironically, the community rarely has any say over privatized schools and parents can only vote with their feet.

9) Public Schools Provide More Amenities

Public schools routinely offer so much more than privatized schools. At many charter and voucher schools, parents are required to buy supplies for the whole institution. Public schools accept donations and sometimes teachers ask for help, but if parents can't (or won't) send in pencils or tissues, the school provides it gratis. And even when the district is cheap in this regard, teachers often make up the difference from their own pockets. It's not right that they have to do so, but they constantly step up for your children.

Moreover, public schools offer a much expanded range of services for your children than privatized schools. Special education and gifted programs are first rate at public schools while often intermittent or nonexistent at privatized schools. And the requirements put on parents at public schools are much lower - less restrictive dress codes, fewer demands on parents' time and they take a greater responsibility for your children.

Heck, private schools rarely even pay for transportation. Public schools offer a free ride via the school bus from home and back again.

10) Public Schools Match or Outperform Privatized Schools

When it comes to academic performance, comparisons all come down to what data you think is indicative of student learning and which factors you exclude. You can find plenty of studies funded by privatizers that unsurprisingly conclude their backers business model is the best. However, when you look at peer reviewed and nonpartisan studies, the story changes.

The Lubienskis, in particular, paint an extremely compelling picture of public school superiority based on numerous complex statistical models including hierarchical linear modeling and multivariate regression. In short, the authors conclude that after accounting for the demographic differences among various school sector populations, traditional public school students outperform those at private schools over time. Students typically enter public schools with much greater degrees of poverty than those entering private schools. As such, public school students start with greater academic deficiencies. Even so, public schools are able to make up for these deficiencies over time more easily than privatized schools. And by fourth grade, public school students actually have greater academic success than their demographically similar peers at private or charter schools. The Lubienskis call it "The Public School Effect."

With all these benefits, you'd think we'd be cheering on our public school system, not denigrating it. However, the failing schools narrative sells a lot of people on privatized alternatives. But it's not fact. It's marketing.

Public schools, they're what happens when we value children over profit.

This article was originally published on Gadfly on the Wall.

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Top 10 Reasons Public Schools Are The BEST Choice For Children, Parents And Communities

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Everywhere you look today you'll find profits prophets of doom bemoaning the quality of our public school system. But as education professors Christopher and Sarah Lubienski wrote in their landmark book The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools there's little evidence behind the hype.

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What the Mulvane High School Drama teacher Thinks...

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What the Mulvane High School Drama teacher Thinks...

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Why are public schools important to Kansas?(only Kansas not others states)

I think that one major reason that public schools are important to Kansas, or at least something that shows the importance that Kansas places on public schools is the fact that our State Constitution has a specific prevision that requires our legislative and executive branches to provide "equitable and adequate" funding to public schools.  The part in quotes is something that has been addressed by our State Supreme Court for the last few years.

Now not being a native Kansan, I don't know the history behind why the State Constitution has that provision.  But I think it's clear that the importance of public education was so great that either the founders of the State or statesmen who came after wanted to protect and preserve it with our State's highest legal document.  I can only assume that they believed that an educated citizenry was vital to the development and survival of the State.  Which while very noble, is not very original as Benjamin Franklin felt that very same way during the founding of our nation.  What makes it unique is that they felt so strongly, they wove that belief into our Constitution.

Why are public schools better than private schools or charter schools?

Because success should not be tied to privilege.  I know that this is a disputed claim, but I really do believe that private and charter schools amount to academic privilege.  And if one of the chief goals of an educator is to prepare students for what comes after they are done with their schooling, building a sense of entitlement is a disservice to the student.

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What is the relationship between private schools and the public good? Opinions tend to be shaped chiefly by philosophical commitment to either individual choice or communal welfare. Arguments rarely examine the tension between private schools and the public good, or address whether it can be resolved.

At the root of that tension is the issue of status competition. Families in the U.S. choose private schools for many reasons, religious affiliation historically first among them. But for many parents, enrolling their children in private school is primarily about giving them an edge over their peers. And that, it turns out, is incompatible with the public good. When status is the chief aim of schooling, as it so often is in private education, everyone ends up suffering - even the privileged.

Parents at all kinds of schools desire a broad and humanistic education for their children. But private school tuition is often justified by the idea that it will produce a return on investment. Private schools, then, face tremendous pressure to provide students with an advantage over others, particularly on the admissions rolls of prestigious colleges and universities. This, in turn, situates education as a very particular kind of commodity - what economists call a positional good. The value of a positional good is dictated not by any inherent worth, but rather by its relation to what is possessed by others. And this directly undermines the public good in two ways.

First, if the purpose of school is to give students an advantage over others, then the content of education is largely unimportant. When we conceive of education as a public good, by contrast, learning is the only thing that matters. Are young people learning to be citizens and functional members of the community? Do they have interesting and valuable skills that they can bring to bear on social and economic life? These are the questions that we must answer if educating students matters. But if education is merely a positional good, we need only ask: Are their credentials perceived as more valuable than the credentials possessed by others? This approach undermines learning for all parties, including those enrolled at high-prestige schools.

The second reason that status competition conflicts with the public good is that if status is the aim, there must be losers - lots of them. After all, if we are all roughly the same, there is no difference upon which to base unequal distribution of social and economic rewards. Thus, a valuable education is not only predicated upon something tangential to real learning, but also requires that a majority of young people draw short straws.

As inequality pulls at the seams of the social fabric of the developed world, private schools have faced strong criticism for their role in reproducing advantage. If they are going to make a case for their existence, they need to resist the inherent contradiction between the private good and the public good that status competition engenders. As long as such schools remain well-situated to pursue a positional advantage - standing apart from the public system in the marketplace, as they do, with the ability to present themselves as a higher-prestige alternative for a higher-prestige clientele - they will need to intentionally cultivate a relationship with the public good. What, then, might such a relationship look like?

At the most basic level, private schools must work to include a broad representation of the public on their campuses. Only then can advocacy on behalf of a single child - pursuit of the private good - also serve the public good. Providing rich learning experiences that develop a single student's full potential will invariably spill over to benefit all in the community. For that to serve the public good, however, there must be a representative community in place. As it is, private schools, on the whole, are less diverse than their public counterparts. Yet they are at a significant advantage in that they can actively cultivate highly diverse campuses.

Still, being at a private school makes the student separate from the larger system of public education - in the U.S., the system where the vast majority of American children are educated. Thus, even when an independent school cultivates a diverse and representative student body, and supports the mission of actually educating young people rather than arming them with valuable credentials, the fact remains that the school's work is bounded by its campus. The unit of impact is a single school, which is a relatively constricted definition of "the public." The world of private schools is a closed network, with no connection to the broader world of education. Yet things need not be this way; in fact, if the public good is of any concern, private schools have a mandate to network themselves into larger systems.

Imagine an alternative. Imagine a great school, with high levels of autonomy and enough resources to experiment. Imagine that this school sees itself as a laboratory, with a mission of testing out promising practices - leveraging its autonomy and resources so that many schools might benefit. Imagine such a school, for example, fusing arts into the traditional academic curriculum, and doing so in a deep, powerful, and sustainable way. It would take time, certainly. Faculty would have to develop new skills and knowledge. A curriculum would have to be developed. Key processes and procedures would have to be identified, tested, and either kept or discarded. Whatever seemed to work, though, might be documented - captured in some transmittable way. And, as a result, such a school might not only improve outcomes for its own students, but also do so for many others. Needless to say, this is not how most private schools operate today.

What is the cost of these kinds of efforts? In dollars and cents, it is hard to say. But the cost to authentic learning is precisely zero. In fact, such efforts will strengthen the education on offer. In light of this, private schools seeking to advance the mutually reinforcing aims of deep learning and the public good must set their sights on three specific targets.

First, private schools must focus on educational practices rather than status-based outcomes. It is quite possible to possess high status while providing a subjectively worse education than a typical public school. After all, status and quality are not the same thing. Many times, they are even at odds with each other. Across all aspects of the program - from the hiring of teachers to the admission of students to the way that schools communicate with parents and the public - schools must ask: Are we doing this because it will improve the learning experience, or are we doing it in pursuit of status? And they must be aware that when they promote schooling as a positional good - the darkest form of the private good - they undermine the broader public good.

Second, private schools must prioritize diversity - not as charitable work, but as a core element of their missions. Students in diverse schools will learn more socially, gain new perspectives on the world, get along better with others, and develop a greater ability to empathize. But they will also benefit academically. That's exactly why the best colleges and universities have need-blind admissions - because they know that more diverse student populations foster stronger educational experiences. Deep learning is not the result of accumulating information; instead, it requires learning to see the world from the broadest possible perspective and, as a result, seeing the world more fully and more clearly.

Finally, private schools must prioritize innovation and communication with the broader world of education. Innovative schools that actually share their practices with other schools will benefit the public good. But it is also the case that such schools will better serve their own students. Innovation is a faddish word in education. And all too often it is conflated with the acquisition of technological gadgetry. This is a mistake. By and large, there is little evidence that technology represents "innovation" in education. Innovation means constant engagement with the status quo - analyzing processes and outcomes, observing strengths and weaknesses, theorizing and hypothesizing, generating and testing new ideas, and tracking the progress of experimentation. And, again, it is most useful to the public good when it is documented and communicated.

No school, if it is to realize its full potential, and if it is to foster the public good, can be conceived of as private, parochial, or even independent. These terms imply ownership, competition, disunity, disconnection. Schools with the most freedom to act and the greatest power to affect change must not be fortresses and silos. They must be laboratories and lighthouses. And all of us, wherever we send our children, must begin to see ourselves as caretakers of all that the light can shine upon.

This article was originally published by Aeon, a digital magazine for ideas and culture. Follow them on Twitter at @aeonmag.

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What is the relationship between private schools and the public good? Opinions tend to be shaped chiefly by philosophical commitment to either individual choice or communal welfare. Arguments rarely examine the tension between private schools and the public good, or address whether it can be resolved.

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During my four-years at an elite private high school, I have learned priceless life lessons that are definitely more valuable than my comprehension of logarithms or foreign policy.

Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware that it's a privilege to go to private school, but as someone who went from attending a chill-public-middle-school to the city's most competitive high school, I have a few things to say.
1. Ugly fashion trends spread like an incurable plague.
Only at private school will the already homogeneous school population voluntarily wear the same clothing. Patagonia (commonly referred to as Patagucci), Sperrys, rose-gold Marc Jacobs watches, LuLu Lemons, and Longchamp bags dominated the halls of my school.
2. Do I look like I'm made out of money?
The school administration naturally assumes that parents can pull money out of their asses. Yearly tuition at my non-boarding high school was approximately $44,000. That means that you just dropped $176,000 on four-years of high school tuition. (Most kids also came from private elementary and middle schools with a similar tuition. Those crayons better have been made out of panda.)Keep in mind that this doesn't include the cost of textbooks, school events, lunches, and that expensive British tutor you had to hire so you don't fail out of AP chemistry.
3. Your 'friends' are your biggest competitors.
If you attend one of the top ten high schools in the country, you care. Although my peers were wealthy, they put an incredible amount of effort into their work.

We would often brag about the hours of sleep we got. It was not unusual to hear shit like, "I only got 5-hours of sleep last night," to which their friend would proudly reply, "That's nothing, I was working on AP Chem, APUSH, and Latin IV till five-in-the-morning." *Side note: This was not just the obnoxiously studious kids, this was everyone.

I can not even begin to describe the countless seminars I was forced to take throughout my high school career. These illegitimate "classes" would take up hours of our school week, where the teacher would speak in only ambiguous PC terms. Instead of Community Service Learning (CSL), our required class was modified to "human development," because watching documentaries on volunteering molds and betters our morals, right?
4. Instead of calling it what it is, seminars are disguised with ambiguous names like "metacognition" and "human development."
Competitive private schools often attract a specific type of person. Usually wealthy, white or Asian, charming, hard-working, competitive people. And while they definitely weren't horrible peers (most of them friendly) they were terribly boring. The majority of my peers were too content with staying in the sheltered microcosm of their neighborhood, which in turn made them unexposed to different facets of the city that were teeming with different cultures and people.
5. Everybody is more or less the same person
Don't be fooled by the cool black guy and Indian girl holding hands and singing Kumbaya on the school page. My school was probably 70% white, 28% asian, and 2% other. Although this didn't particularly bother me (I grew up in a very white neighborhood) I did wish that my school was more diverse, not because people were racist or unaccepting, but because different cultural backgrounds give people depth.
6. The diversity that they advertise in their brochures is a scam.
Perhaps this was just my school and my experience was an anomaly among private schools, but my school was incredibly liberal. While I would definitely rather attend a liberal school rather than a conservative red-neck one, my school was aggressively liberal. I read an anonymous "school confession" on the school newspaper that seemed to embody the school's political attitude. It read: "I'm a Republican but I act super liberal because I don't want to commit social suicide." I think it is perfectly fine that the majority of people were liberal (I myself am liberal) but it pissed me off that people could not disagree about things without your political views being circulated around the school like mono.

Now in no way am I suggesting that I can dance.If you saw me dance, you'd probably think that I was suffering a small seizure, b school events that involved dancing (whether a party or a school dance) were unbelievably painful due to the sheer amount of awkward dancers crowded into a small space (this phenomenon was intensified when people were sober). Now every time I see anyone pulling the one arm pump, I have flashbacks and have to lie down.
7. Either you're with us or you suck and you should go curl up under a rock and never speak again 8. An interesting phenomenon: white people and dancing.

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During my four-years at an elite private high school, I have learned priceless life lessons that are definitely more valuable than my comprehension of logarithms or foreign policy. Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware that it's a privilege to go to private school, but as someone who went from attending a chill-public-middle-school to the city's most competitive high school, I have a few things to say.

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What a Mulvane pre-school teacher thinks... 

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What a Mulvane pre-school teacher thinks... 

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Why are public schools important to Kansas?(only Kansas not others states)

Public schools offer students quality education for free. Kansas currently has 309 public school districts of those 285 were considered to be Title 1 schools in 2017.  Title 1 is a school wide program that is available to schools with a student base where at least 40% of students come from low-income families.  This means that in Kansas the majority of schools serve families that are considered to be low income.  If it weren't for public schools offering free education many of these children would not be able to get an education at all; their families simply could not afford to send them to private schools.

Why are public schools better than private schools or charter schools?

This goes along with my first answer- offering free education ensures that students will have access to education.  Another reason that I think that public schools are better than private or charter schools is that public schools cannot discriminate who they offer education to.  Private and charter schools do not have to adhere to IDEA or other laws that guarantee education for students with special needs. IDEA requires public schools to give free and appropriate education to students with special needs.  While many people in education don't like to deal with special education laws no one can deny the protection and benefit for our students with special needs. Public schools are closely monitored and held accountable for the level of education that is provided to each student. This helps to ensure that EVERY student receives an education that is appropriate for them.  Most private and charter schools do not have the same series of checks and balances in place.

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Public education has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent decades, as many families are exploring other education options, like homeschooling, private schools and charter schools. However, public schools still serve a significant role in preparing the next generation of world leaders. Check out these 10 potential advantages a public school education can provide.

The cost of a public education can't be beaten. Although some parents might complain about the recently added expenses of supplies and participation in sports teams, these schools are still much more budget-friendly than their private counterparts. According to GreatSchools.org, the average tuition for private schools in the United States during the 2016-2017 school years was $19,310. The average cost for a boarding school during that same year was $35,118. Schools affiliated with the National Association of Independent Schools charged even more.

This video looks at the advantages of public school.

In addition, private schools get additional funding through private donations. In many cases, this could mean parents of students at the schools may have to invest time and money in fundraising events for the school throughout the year. While public schools also participate in fundraisers, the bulk of their funding still comes from federal, state and local government sources.

Public schools provide access to an education for every child in a community. The Huffington Post notes that by law, public schools cannot turn students away based on academic performance, income level or disability. This ensures that every student in a neighborhood has the same educational opportunities as the neighbors down the street, regardless of their current personal or financial situation. Since education is frequently seen as the great equalizer for society, the availability of education for all is a key benefit these institutions offer.

Because public schools admit all children in the community, those that attend the schools are more likely to be in classrooms with other children that don't think, act or look exactly like them. Students are more apt to be exposed to students from different cultures or income levels. They may learn to work with other students with mental and physical disabilities. The diversity of the student body can be an important learning experience in itself for all of the children that attend a particular school.

According to the website for New York Schools, funding for schools is often dependent on the number of students in a school, with consideration for smaller, more manageable classroom sizes. Typically, class sizes in public schools tend to remain smaller in the early years, from kindergarten through about third grade. At that point, classes may gradually grow in accordance to the students' age and ability to work independently.

Here is another video discussing the advantages of public education.

Public schools often have the resources to offer more academic opportunities like advanced classes and courses in specialized subjects like technology and the arts, according to Education Bug. Options might include gifted and talented programs, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes. Students that want to excel will find various chances to do so, while those not inclined to academic acceleration find choices at their ability level as well.

Extracurricular Opportunities

In addition to the choices in the classroom, students in public school often have more options in activities after the last bell rings for the day. From athletics to music and theatre, most schools offer a variety of extracurricular activities to keep students learning and excelling in the areas they are most interested in.

By law, public schools are also required to provide certain services to students. Some, such as transportation to and from school, are offered to all the students. Others, such as reduced-price lunches and academic assistance, are provided to students who qualify. Because the services are required, public schools have a staff of special education teachers and learning specialists at the parents' and students' disposal. Private schools may not offer such services because they are not required to admit students that meet these needs.

According to PublicSchools.org, teachers in public schools are required to be certified by the state. Certification also requires ongoing education and periodic renewal of credentials. Charter schools and private schools do not have this requirement, which means parents don't always know the level of training attained by the teacher in their child's classroom. In some cases, these schools might not even require teachers to have a four-year degree to work in the classroom.

By the same token, public schools are held accountable by the state for their academic performance. While some have complained this has led to an overabundance of standardized testing, the schools do at least have a higher authority they must answer to. This prevents abuse and leads to management of failing schools much more quickly than if the school did not have such accountability.

According to the Huffington Post report, students in public schools score comparably on standardized tests to students in private schools. In some cases, they outscore students in charter schools. While some public schools turn up relatively poor results, those results are often found in areas with high poverty rates. When comparing apples to apples in terms of student demographics, public schools are right up there with other types of schools.

While many are complaining about the state of public schools today - and some with good reason - these schools are still working effectively for the majority of students in the system. With many benefits from public schools, it is no wonder the majority of students and their parents are still choosing the public school in their neighborhood as their first choice for education.

Questions? Contacts us on Facebook. @publicschoolreview

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10 Advantages to Public Education | PublicSchoolReview.com

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Public education has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent decades, as many families are exploring other education options, like homeschooling, private schools and charter schools. However, public schools still serve a significant role in preparing the next generation of world leaders. Check out these 10 potential advantages a public school education can provide.

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Why students think public schools are important 

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Why students think public schools are important 

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The Kansas School Public Relations Association (KanSPRA) announces the Kansas Student Publication Showcase Awards to explain why public schools are important to the future of Kansas in the personal words and artistic expressions of our students. This statewide publication contest offers an opportunity to share individual stories from our Kansas students and their perceptions of their public school experiences.

KanSPRA invites students to express themselves in three different formats: writing, video and still graphic. Students may submit, as individuals or as teams, publications that address the question "Why are public schools important to the future of Kansas?" One student entry from each category will win $500. In addition, KanSPRA will present the Ad Astra Award to the overall showcase winner, along with a $500 prize. Submitted publications may be shared with statewide education organizations via social media, websites and printed materials. Students must have a parent, teacher or sponsor's permission to submit an entry. The deadline for submission is 10 p.m. Sat. March 31.

Here is a link for more information.

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Contest asks students "Why are public schools important to the future of Kansas?"

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The Kansas School Public Relations Association (KanSPRA) announces the Kansas Student Publication Showcase Awards to explain why public schools are important to the future of Kansas in the personal words and artistic expressions of our students. This statewide publication contest offers an opportunity to share individual stories from our Kansas students and their perceptions of their public school experiences.

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The Foundation for Economic Growth

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What the Cheney Elementary Principal thinks...

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What the Cheney Elementary Principal thinks...

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Because they include everyone and gives people opportunities in all areas such as academics and extra curricular where private schools can select only certain academics and extra curriculars.

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What the Cheney High School Principal thinks... 

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What the Cheney High School Principal thinks... 

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Every student regardless of their socioeconomic status, deserves an education. "It is fair to everybody."

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What the Cheney Middle School principal thinks...

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What the Cheney Middle School principal thinks...

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Mr. Horace Mann "The great equalizer" which means  education dosen't see the true problems in children's life and, that the teachers really get out what you put in and that whatever social stand point you have or whatever race you are you are excepted.

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For our future. Our students and our youth are our future caretakers. And so a society without education would not be sustainable. Public Education is nice because it provides for all.

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Are public schools the same as Charter?  

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Are public schools the same as Charter?  

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This has the similarities and differences of charter schools and public

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What is a Charter School? | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Charter Schools in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey | Uncommon Schools

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What the Cheney superintendent thinks...  

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What the Cheney superintendent thinks...  

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90% of student got to public school 1/6 people. pre-k- 12. states responsibility to produce schools audit for everyone.

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The difference between Public, Private, and Charter Schools 

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The difference between Public, Private, and Charter Schools 

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We found the cost differences and the actual differences between schools

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Long gone are the days of one and only option when it was time to hit the books. These days parents have myriad schools to choose from for their children. Which is great! But confusing. So we've broken down the three most mainstream educational outlets for students and given you some background so you can find the right fit for your kids.

Take notes - there's sure to be a test on this later.
Public Schools
The most traditional environment for education is at a public school. They educate the majority of American students, though that number has shifted in favor of other options in recent years with the advent of other choices. Public schools are generally neighborhood-based, but in the Philadelphia area, many students can apply for an exception. Should a student not get a desk at their preferred public school, they'll be guaranteed a spot at their local or feeder school. Public schools are funded by the government, but not all are created equal. The quality of your local public school is likely determined by your neighborhood (if you pay a high property tax, your school will have a leg up on others). So it's a good idea to do your research and ensure your public school (or any of these education options, for that matter) makes the grade.

Pros: Offer no cost, local and hopefully balanced education across subjects deemed important by the Board of Education

Cons: Quality varies widely

Cost: Free
Private Schools
The second most popular outlet for education has historically been the private school. Private schools are largely religious (roughly 75%), and though your child will be subject to religious teachings you don't necessarily have to belong to the school's faith. Private schools rely on tuitions and grants in order to keep the lights on, so will be your costliest option. They may not offer the full range of activities available at a public school (think sports teams, arts groups and the like), but what they do offer will likely be well-funded. And private schools in the Philadelphia area tend to have the best student-to-teacher ratio (10:1, on average).

Pros: Individualized focus, reinforce family faith in most cases, as parents foot the bill they have more say than on your typical PTA

Cons: Some students thrive in a bigger pond where there is more diversity, in both thought and clientele

Cost: Varies widely, but $15,000 to $30,000 seems the standard in the Philadelphia area
Charter Schools
It may come as a surprise to some that charter schools are actually an offshoot of the public education system. That means they receive local, state and federal money, but are also allowed to accept private funding on top of tax dollars. They've been around since the 1990s, but a recent boom has brought them a lot of attention in recent years. Currently, there are 84 brick-and-mortar charter schools in Philadelphia that serve roughly 70,000 students, as well as another 84 Philadelphia-based online charter schools. Charter schools tend to be founded with particular missions; for example, if it's important for you to have your child leave school bilingual, or if your child has special needs, or shows an aptitude for engineering, or if you're a low-income family and could use a focused institution to fast track your child to a college on scholarships, a charter may be just the place for you.

Pros: Address particular needs, affordable personalization

Cons: You'll need to do your homework to find out each individual charter's history and success rates

Cost: Free

Though parents may find it more challenging to make the right choice when it comes to their family's education due to all of the options available these days, a bit of research will reveal the right option. And though it may not be the school you attended that's just down the block it could benefit your child and their future when you discover perfect fit.

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What, exactly, is the difference between a public, private and charter school?

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Long gone are the days of one and only option when it was time to hit the books. These days parents have myriad schools to choose from for their children. Which is great! But confusing. So we've broken down the three most mainstream educational outlets for students and given you some background so you can find the right fit for your kids.