Los Angeles Schools going private?

The news that L.A. will carve out at least 250 of its schools for operation by charters and private companies is interesting on many fronts. In the long saga of trying to improve perennially struggling schools, Los Angeles Unified is clearly crying "uncle." So can smaller, less bureaucratic and non-union entities do it better? Unfortunately children will be the canaries. They'll either show improvement and educators can say the change worked or it will be another failed lab experiment.

This piece argues that charter schools are no better than the public ones. A must-see on the subject of education reform and charter schools is the PBS Newshour's multi-part look at the Washington, D.C. school system.

Ultimately, our children learn in myriad ways and its our job to find a way that works best. Could be private school, a strict religious one or a charter school with longer days and Saturday school. There should be room in the debate for all of these options. Instead, how you see it often depends on your political affiliation. If you're a Democrat you likely hate charters as a siphon on public dollars best spent on public schools. Labor unions, not just teachers unions, wield considerable clout and keep Democrats lock-step in opposition to charters. They don't like the fact that many of these charters are non-unions. So are private schools but when did we let facts get in the way.

If you're a Republican, you like charters as a step toward vouchers.
We would be appalled if our kids addressed issues in such black-and-white terms.