In 2013, I shifted from teaching to school leadership and founded a public charter school in Denver that went on to become a nationally recognized success. After seven years of leading that school, our family moved to our forever home in Minnesota. After meeting one-on-one with hundreds of Minnesotans to understand their struggles and needs, I tried to bring the same model to our state. But despite years of round-the-clock preparation from a skilled team, our school lasted only 10 days. Why? Not because the model was flawed, but because Minnesota’s education system — the birthplace of the charter school movement — now makes it almost impossible for charters to succeed and fulfill their true potential.
The Minnesota Star Tribune’s recent investigative stories (special section, Sept. 22) and the related editorial (“Minnesota charter school failures must be addressed”) correctly highlighted many of the difficulties Minnesota’s charter schools face, but they missed the broader picture. The truth is, it’s not just charter schools struggling under this system — it’s all of Minnesota’s public schools. Despite the heroic efforts of teachers, leaders and communities, both district and charter schools face near-insurmountable systemic barriers that prevent us from meeting the needs of students, particularly students of color and kids from low-income families. If we want to take seriously our responsibility to children and the future of our state, we need to be crystal-clear that the real issue is not about whether a public school is charter or district; it’s about the systems that fail to support our public schools effectively.
Minnesota's Education System: A Minefield for Public Schools
Minnesota’s education system, shaped over time by a mix of well-meaning reforms, power struggles and patchwork fixes, has created a minefield for public schools — charter and district alike. Examples include an ineffective licensure process keeping talented educators out of the classroom, wildly inequitable funding structures tied to local property taxes, cumbersome and ineffective reporting systems, a lack of access to adequate and appropriate facilities, and the confusing and complex landscape that families must navigate to find the right school for their children. These challenges affect public schools of both governance types and they affect children’s lives. A list of the challenges we face as educators in Minnesota couldn’t fit in a full issue of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Schools are set up to fail because they are forced to operate within a burdensome system that lacks vision, stability, resources and space for educators to do what they know is best for kids. Given that, it is downright miraculous that some charter schools succeed despite Mount Everest-scale barriers between them and their missions.
Shifting the Narrative: Systemic Issues, Not School Type
In my nearly 20 years of experience in both district and charter schools, I’ve seen firsthand that the narrative of “district schools are good, charter schools are bad” is not only misleading, it’s harmful. Both types of schools are filled with passionate educators who want to do right by their students, but we’re all being hindered by structural barriers to make breakthrough progress. The conversation needs to shift toward acknowledging the real issue: Minnesota’s entire public education system needs a bold, shared reimagining. The systemic issues that affect both district and charter public schools are the root cause of many of the failures we see today within and beyond the walls of our state’s classrooms. Until we address structural problems like funding, staffing, alignment and access to quality facilities, we will continue to see schools and children (our future neighbors) struggle.
Lessons from Other States: A Collaborative Approach
We’ve seen other states take a broader approach to solving these challenges and generations of kids and communities are flourishing as a result. In Rhode Island and Colorado, for example, collaborative coalitions of educators, policymakers and community leaders have come together to rethink how their public education systems work. By setting aside their own self-interest, building unlikely coalitions, using systems thinking and addressing issues that affect all schools, leaders in those states have created environments where both district and charter schools can thrive. Minnesota kids and educators deserve to thrive, too! Minnesota needs to take a similar approach — one that doesn’t pit district schools against charters in an endless fight for table scraps, but instead focuses on fixing the system as a whole.
A Vision for Minnesota's Education Future
Imagine a Minnesota where that’s our reality: growing public school enrollment, thriving district and charter schools, families empowered by multiple local high-quality choices, strengthened communities, and a significantly brighter economic and civic future for our state. Many Minnesotans I’ve talked to are tuckered out and have given up on believing these things are possible in our state. Our “achievement gap” is devastating, but our “belief gap” is even wider. The beauty is, if we can carry both the humility to learn from other states and the conviction that all Minnesota kids deserve the very best, of course we can accomplish this together. Just say when, and I’ll join you in this work.
Time for Action: Rebuilding a System for All
Minnesota was once a leader in child-centered education innovation, but that’s just not the case today. It’s time for us to come together and rebuild a system that supports all schools, regardless of type. We need to abandon the divisive narrative that separates district and charter schools and instead focus on the systemic reforms that will benefit every student in every school. This won’t be easy, but it is possible. We need to equip a coalition of educators, students, community members, union leaders, parents, philanthropists and policymakers with the resources, mandate and influence to reimagine and fix Minnesota’s public education system. Is there a leader, an organization or a coalition able and ready to pick up that mantle?
A Shared Future: A System That Works for All
Together, we can absolutely create a system that works for all public schools — charter and district alike — and ensures that every child has access to a North Star, high-quality education. Minnesota’s schools, our students and our shared future deserve nothing less.
