Shrinking Possible
How did the vision of what’s possible get so small?
While this Tweet from former school chancellor Joel Klein refers to NYC, he could mean any number of cities where pitched battles over charter schools have raised a complicated question: Who exactly is a progressive when it comes to education?
Fierce fight
Take Boston, a city embroiled in a fierce fight over whether to raise a state cap limiting the amount of money that can be diverted from public schools to pay for privately-run charter schools. The dispute pits the teachers union
against charter advocacy groups, and families (overwhelmingly black and brown) who want more charters against other families (often middle class and white) who fear that continued charter expansion will mean the death of the existing system.
Take Boston, a city embroiled in a fierce fight over whether to raise a state cap limiting the amount of money that can be diverted from public schools to pay for privately-run charter schools. The dispute pits the teachers union
against charter advocacy groups, and families (overwhelmingly black and brown) who want more charters against other families (often middle class and white) who fear that continued charter expansion will mean the death of the existing system.But the story has begun to depart from this familiar narrative. Civil rights leaders like Mel King are joining the chorus of charter critics. At a recent hearing at the Statehouse, the 87-year-old King told members of the Education Committee that charter schools fall far short of what he calls the *Pledge of Allegiance* test. He said:
*If the solution is only meant for a few kids, and all the rest of the kids are left out, where is the liberty and justice for all?*
Bigger vision
When I spoke with King recently, I found it striking just how much bigger and more comprehensive his demands are than the *access to high quality seats* vision held by Shrinking Possible | EduShyster:
When I spoke with King recently, I found it striking just how much bigger and more comprehensive his demands are than the *access to high quality seats* vision held by Shrinking Possible | EduShyster:
