The Philadelphia Inquirer posted an editorial saying it is time to revise the charter school law, written 20 years ago.
The charter-school law, over 20 years old, has never been revised to improve accountability or performance.
Charters were intended to create and spread innovations into traditional public schools, but the evidence they have done so is scarce, and study after study has found charters trailing traditional public schools in key areas of performance.
The latest of those studies, from Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, calls for stricter accountability measures for charters’ performance and renewals.
Last year alone, public school districts paid $1.5 billion for students attending a charter – out of their full budgets. And every action the state has taken – taking away reimbursements to the districts for those costs, being less than rigorous in oversight, and pushing an approval process that would take further control out of the districts – has created two separate education systems that too often work against each other.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
After all the nonsense, it still amazes me whenever anyone with a public voice expresses a common sense idea.
That’s how jaded I’ve become.
LikeLike
Re your first sentence—
Amen!
😎
LikeLike
The ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’s’ editorial comes a little late as Pennsylvania is on the ropes from the horrible policies of the Corbett administration. Corbett and his cronies created one of the highest per pupil expenditures to charters in the nation, and the legislature is filled with recipients of the charter lobby. Tom Wolf, the current governor, has been held captive by the charter cheerleaders in the legislature. Philadelphia is returning control of the schools to the mayor who is meeting privately with lobbyists as he appoints his “community” school board members. In short, the commonwealth is a mess from private corporations gaining too much access to public funds.
Peter Greene recently reported that the Republican candidate for governor is a “Tea Party” styled candidate that would be a disaster for the public schools. Tom Wolf also recently rejected the congressional districts laid out by the GOP. I hope the people of Pennsylvania come out to support Wolf as he is the best hope of bringing any level of the balance of power back to Pennsylvania.http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/
LikeLike
Sorry, but I can’t support accountability for the corporate charter/voucher education system. If the accountability movement wins, that makes this duplicate but inferior system based on greed and bully tactics, instead of educating children, legitimate.
The autocratic, corporate charter schools and vouchers for private/religious schools movement must not receive one cent from the public dollars — never.
Not one cent.
Instead, we must ALL demand those schools be closed and the billionaires and corporate CEOs supporting the privatization of community-based, democratic, transparent, non-profit, unionized traditional public education end up stripped of their wealth and power and sent to the same prisons working-class Americans are being crammed into.
LikeLike