Isaiah Trumbull: Now's the time to tackle the charter vs. public school problem

After having moved to Pittsburgh, my parents wanted what all parents want — to send their children to the best school possible. When I was in first grade, I attended the Environmental Charter School (ECS) in Regent Square, which at the time had 75 students per grade, because it looked to them like an engaging school where I would be able to learn and grow in a small environment. Once I was accepted, it was an obvious choice; the school had a wait list miles long. Who wouldn’t attend after seemingly winning the lottery?

I attended ECS through eighth grade, when the choice became much harder. Should I stay at ECS and be in the first class to move through its brand new high school, or jump ship and attend either a Pittsburgh Public or private school? I opted for what was the best school for me, and am now a junior at Obama Academy, a Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) International Baccalaureate and magnet school in East Liberty.

While I made my decision for personal reasons, as a student leader at PPS, I know more about how those decisions impact every student and have learned more about the issues that charter schools pose to the district.

Charter schools are not perfect entities, and both the organizational concept and the schools themselves are continually surrounded by controversy. As a previous charter school student and current PPS high-schooler, I have a unique view on the subject.

The charter school “issue” is only getting more important; every year they draw more students away from PPS. Today, charter schools enroll approximately 5,000 students compared to PPS’s 19,000.

Popularity, however, does not directly correlate to quality.

I often see ECS advertisements on buildings and buses around Pittsburgh. PPS is prohibited from having an advertising budget, and cannot viably compete for publicity with charter schools.

Although parents flock to the schools for better education and environments, charter schools’ success is not reflected in test scores. Pittsburgh charter schools consistently perform under the state average on state standardized tests, with many scoring below PPS averages.

Additionally, every student enrolled in charter schools who would normally attend PPS poses a financial burden to the school district. PPS pays $17,898.09 per pupil per year to charter schools, not to mention $42,851.39 per student requiring special education. This means that, for the 2022 school year alone, PPS has allocated $119 million to charter schools, about 17% of its total budget. Every dollar PPS spends on charter schools is a dollar not spent on improving PPS education.

My family’s decision to send me to ECS cost PPS over $140,000 at current rates. Although every child who enrolls in a charter school may appear to increase their opportunities and quality of education, their decision greatly decreases opportunities for every remaining PPS student.

PPS is at the same time facing an increasing budget deficit, aging buildings (the average age of which is 85 years) and emptying schools. Perilous is an understatement when describing this situation. The cup that is the district with facilities to educate 40,000 students has sprung a leak and is now beyond a doubt half empty.

While controlling this downward spiral is already a top priority for the district, every community member must be aware of the issue. Schools are the centerpieces of our neighborhoods. A city without a functioning school district is a city that is unattractive to job-seekers, that is unable to educate the next generation and that stagnates economically.

Closing a school is an almost irreversible action. We must tackle this problem before it is too late. The decisions that we make are vitally important. They can sometimes, like in my case, be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We need every impacted group to be aware of the consequences because, without action, a massive restructuring and reorganization of PPS facilities is imminent.

Isaiah Trumbull is a junior at Obama Academy in Pittsburgh.