Charter schools better able to innovate

A recent letter to the editor faulted charter schools, stating that charter schools are only required to have 75 percent certified teachers on their staffs.

I inferred from this that the writer thinks that charter schools can and do hire unqualified teachers. Is this the case?

If a renowned astrophysicist wanted to be a regular teacher in your local high school, it is likely she would not be hired, regardless of her qualifications.

Why? Because she does not have certification from the state to teach in this area.

One of the reasons charter schools were approved by states is to provide them with flexibility to innovate with different models of education. If that innovation proved useful for certain populations or could be adapted more broadly, we would all benefit from that.

John P. Brennan

Mount Prospect