Be armed with facts in charter schools debate

In light of last weekend's presidential "2020 Public Education Forum," the public must be armed with the facts about public education. This week, the Network for Public Education, a union funded, anti-charter organization, released a publication titled "Still Asleep at the Wheel." It's a continuation of false claims about the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP), which is part of the unions' assault on school choice. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools debunks that report's claims here: "Bad Data and False Assumptions in Still Asleep at the Wheel." On how the federal CSP might be improved, Neil Campbell of the Center for American Progress lays out some good ideas. Tressa Pankovits' reaction to the inconsistency of some of the presidential candidates' anti-charter rhetoric on the Progressive Policy Institute Blog is also a worthy read.

There are nearly 3.2 million public charter school students nationwide, of which 68 percent are minorities- and a full 26 percent of them are African American. More than a million are on waiting lists nationwide. Charters are low-income families' only alternative to chronically underperforming schools. Private school and expensive neighborhoods with good public schools are simply unaffordable. There's nothing progressive about denying poor children quality educational choices.

Charter schools are public schools. Like traditional public schools, with very few exceptions, they are nonprofit. This debate needs to be centered on how to improve public charter schools and ensure their accountability, not on capping or eliminating them. It would be wonderful if every neighborhood school was a school of excellence, and we should work hard for that, too. But we can't sacrifice a generation waiting for that to happen. We need to expand high-quality school offerings so that more families can gain access to quality school choice.

Paul Vallas

Chicago