Why is school choice not a Democratic issue?

[Orrex]

110. Good post. :thumbsup:

A few years ago I attended a school board meeting to speak out against a proposed charter school (even got quoted in the paper). Happily, the board wasn't on board, so they easily voted down the proposal, but I had time to speak with a few of the supporters.

This is a small town with a low median income, and there were only a dozen or so people in the gallery. Six of those were directly affiliate with the company seeking to open the charter, while the other supporters were elderly and white, none of them had children in the school system, and they were all remarkably passionate about it. Curiously, the company's spokesperson couldn't give any specifics about how they'd take care of students with special needs, or such minor programs as school nurse and janitorial duties. The one thing they were sure of is that they wanted funding.

As I noted in the meeting, if my town's school district has one problem, it isn't a surplus of cash, so a parasitic charter school siphoning off the real school's limited resources would be a disaster.


It's always interesting to see who's advocating for charter schools with the greatest fervor.