Several states stay off charter-school bandwagon - Boston.com

Several states stay off charter-school bandwagon - Boston.com

Several states stay off charter-school bandwagon

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010, Christina Williams, left, drives her sleeping son Stephen Herb, 12, to school in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he is in the 6th grade, from their home in Clark Fork, Idaho. Williams drives about 140 miles roundtrip each day to her son's charter school. "It's killing my poor little car, but it is so worth the drive to me," said Williams. "He was not getting the education he needed." (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

By Jessie L. Bonner and Dorie Turner

Associated Press Writers / May 11, 2010

• E-mail|
• Print|
• Yahoo! Buzz|
• ShareThis

Text size – +

BOISE, Idaho—In her small timber town in northern Idaho, Christina Williams enrolled her son in the closest public school because she had few other choices near her home.

	Discuss
	COMMENTS (0)

But as she watched him struggle for years -- many mornings prying him out of bed and forcing him to go to school -- Williams sought an alternative to the traditional classroom. The single mother now drives about 140 miles roundtrip each day to her 12-year-old son's charter school in Sandpoint.

"It's killing my poor little car, but it is so worth the drive to me," Williams said in a telephone interview. "He was not getting the education he needed."

Williams would like a closer alternative, but Idaho allows just six new charter