In Defense of Charter Schools

Over at Education Policy Matters blog, UK's Dr. Wayne Lewis has launched a defense of charter schools for Kentucky. Lewis began by simply laying out some charter basics, which he follows with his opening argument: Choice.

Charter schools provide additional school options for parents. I firmly believe that every parent should have public school options when deciding on a school for his/her child. No parent should be forced to send his or her child to a school that cannot adequately serve his/her child's needs; yet hundreds of thousands of parents across the country and tens of thousands of parents right here in Kentucky are forced to do just that. Parental options in the form of magnet schools, intradistrict and interdistrict public school choice, and charter schools all provide public school options for parents. I believe that as we work to improve our traditional public school systems we must also work to increase the availability of options for Kentucky parents both inside our traditional systems and outside. All parents deserve school options; regardless of their zip code, education level, income, or social capital. Quality public charter schools can be instrumental in giving parents across Kentucky access to public school options.

We'll keep an eye out as his rationale develops.

Lewis is an Outreach Coordinator for the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). BAEO is a national pro-voucher, pro-charter, pro-tuition tax credit group that has recently targeted Kentucky for activism.