"The Charter School Flood" by Tisserand

Michael Tisserand authored this excellent article about charter schools in New Orleans in the current issue of The Nation. Unlike most writings on this controversial topic, I found Tisserand offers a snapshot of our situation without the usual bias. I have seen first-hand how charters have widened the achievement gap, but I've also seen how they can at times with vision and quality boards create really great schools. I found the following quotation of John Ayers to be intriguing:

The charter movement is dominated in the trenches by progressives, even when we've been represented on the national stage by conservatives.

I think that is accurate. I'm currently on a board trying to charter a school. We met today, and the entire board seemed liberal and progressive, as do most people working to improve our schools through charters. Are we being used? Maybe there is a middle ground where some businesses can profit with charter schools, some schools stay public, and ALL children can get a great public education.