Did you know all high-school diplomas awarded to public school students are not equal in the eyes of the military? Unfortunately, students attending many of our nation’s public charter schools are learning this the hard way.
Why?
Well for enlistment purposes, the military classifies education in three overall categories: Tier I, Tier II and Tier III:
- Tier I - High-school graduate
- Tier II - Alternative high-school credentials including test-based equivalency diplomas (GED), occupational program certificate of attendance, correspondence school diplomas, home-study diplomas, online/virtual public school diplomas or high school certificate of attendance.
- Tier III - Non high-school graduate
The vast majority (more than 90 percent) of all enlistments are from the Tier I category. However at times, graduates from traditional and virtual public charter schools are labeled as Tier II candidates when they attempt to enlist in the armed services, making it a bit more difficult to enlist. It seems charter school graduates are being penalized for choosing a different public school option.
To correct this unjust policy, the U.S. Senate included language in the National Defense Authorization Act that requires the Secretary of Defense to develop a new policy guiding the recruitment and enlistment of charter school graduates in the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, that legislation has yet to pass and faces significant hurdles due to other social policies.
Nonetheless, given the Secretary of Education’s recent comments about many students being unable to successfully enlist, either because they didn’t graduate, have obtained a criminal record or are physically unfit, it seems counterintuitive to handicap a potential recruit who has graduated from a high-quality, state-accredited public school simply because it is a charter school.
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