Sun-Times editorial gets it right
In something of a breakthrough, the Sun-Times editorial board today came out against CPS’s plan to open 13 new charter schools this year. Echoing my comments in the Tribune earlier this week, today’s S-T editorial agreed that opening new, unproven schools while claiming a need to close as many as 100 existing schools doesn’t make sense, especially given the fact that overall charters are no better than regular schools.
“How exactly can CPS square that circle? We aren’t convinced it can….Charters are like regular schools – some great, some mediocre, some lousy.”
This published opinion comes on the heels of a critical piece by the local public radio station WBEZ, “Charter schools with failing grades still featured at quality schools fair”: “A high-profile Chicago schools fair today is supposed to show off quality new schools, many of them charters….But a WBEZ analysis of the more than 100 new schools featured at the expo this year shows 34 percent of them are rated Level 3 by the district, the lowest