No good charter goes unpunished

Compelling new data shows charter schools improve scores for all students; Sacramento moves to limit their growth.

It's a tale of dueling headlines. On October, 4, the Wall Street Journal reports on a new study that examined 21 urban school districts that shows the following: as the market share of charter schools in the districts increase, so, too, does grade-level proficiency (.8 and .7 in English and Math, respectively) in those school districts. The study, by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, found special gains for students of color.

Translation: the more charter schools you have in your district, the more your students' scores go up. All of them, not just the charter students.

On the same day, Governor Newsom signed into law a bill that would increase the power of school districts to close charter schools by making it easier for districts to deny charter school applications and making it harder for charter schools to appeal denial.

The California Teachers Association spent $1.3 million to help elect Newsom.