Senator:
I would be interested to see this 'evidence' you mention. I've already offered you some anecdotal evidence from people who really teach in an (Dallas-Fort Worth) area where there are charter schools, and I am drawing on some of my own experiences in education. I am always open to new empirical reports on the issue. However, I have often been disappointed in the so called 'data' that I've read in the past against charter schools since their samples were usually selective, and the researchers and data analysts often proved to be tendentious in their findings. Nevertheless, I would like to see any new reports on the subject.
However, your analogy of the best public schools in Mississippi as the ones with 'little or no competition' is a 'non sequitur' for me because Mississippi almost has no competition anywhere. I graduated from Clinton High School in 1996 where there is no other competition for 6-12 grades. My wife graduated from a private school in Yazoo City where city children have only two choices--private or public. Neither Clinton, nor Yazoo City, nor Holly Springs (where we live now) are exactly replete with choices, especially when you compare them to other states such as Texas and California. Therefore, in Mississippi and states like it, it is probably equally true that the worst public schools (as well as the best ones) have 'little or no' competition in the local area. Because of the current laws, forcing parents and independent educators to go cap in hand to the local school board, there is an obvious paucity of educational competition in all districts, good or poor.
On another point, I share your concern with the 'fragmentation' of our society, but where do we live? I've lived in Texas, and my mother's side of my family lives in California so I get to visit that state as well. Both states have charter school systems, and neither state could possibly be 1/10th as fragmented as Mississippi (which has never had charter schools) already is, especially Mississippi north of Madison County. Holly Springs is a case in point, where the community is separated not only on racial lines, but along historical pedigree linage verse new residents, education levels and personal wealth, social conservatives verses alternative lifestyles, etc. It would take a book to explore how Holly Springs ever got this way, but I am sure of two things: (1) charter schools had nothing to do with it, and (2) I highly doubt that charter schools could do anything to further aggravate the situation that already exists. Indeed, they might ameliorate the situations in some ways since parents, who could not afford Marshall Academy or even Holy Family (which does have a reduced tuition based on needs), could have another choice if they wanted to. If parents in Holly Springs turned out to be as pleased as punch with their public and private education choices, then they wouldn't have to support a charter school in their neighborhood.
However, the point of this whole discussion should not be whether I think charter schools are a good idea or you think they are a bad idea. That is not right at all. In my opinion, it should not be up to us. The people of Mississippi may be depicted as children in Hollywood movies, but they are adults who can make up their own minds about what is best for their communities. If it were me, I would vote for the bill not so much for the sake of charter schools themselves, but to free Mississippians from their current constraints so that they could best decide what was in the interest of their communities. Sorry...didn't meant to write another essay. ;-) God bless, and good luck.
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