Charter Schools, and of course the Governor wants to double up on them.
Waaal lemme tellya, charter schools sound nice and all, like boot-camp for youth offenders and the rock pile they tend to be the sort of third-way measure that deeply impress state legislators and local columnists.
The rest of us though, derive little benefit from them as they inevitably siphon money away from public schools and in fact creative a two tier class driven English style education system.
Proponents say that charter schools help skim off the best and the brightest from low income families....they might do that but then that is part of the mission of public schools isn't it? Along with promoting good citizenship, inculcating life skills, imparting the holy mysteries of readin', writin, rithmetic' and AP calculus.
Why divide the mission? Why not strengthen the institutions we have? Are charter schools really a good fit with the needs of democratic education?
I say no...a few might suit the needs of poor performing districts, but setting up some statewide parody of parochial schools on the public dime is a formula for disaster.
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