Janet Cowell, D-Wake County, is quoted in the Raleigh newspaper as saying that North Carolina shouldn't have more than 100 charter schools--the current legal cap--because "Until you can ensure a standard of quality, it's hard for me to justify lifting the cap."

The same article reports that Franklin Academy, a K-12 charter school in Wake Forest, currently has a waiting list of more than 1000 students.

Question to Ms. Cowell: doesn't that look like a "standard of quality" to you?

But the dopey opposition to charter schools is by no means restricted to Wake County or North Carolina. A planned "virtual" charter in Chicago is opposed by the Chicago Teachers Union: "You can’t sit a child in front of a computer and expect him to learn things he needs to succeed in society,” says the union president. (Via Slashdot.)

Oh, really? Will the union be in favor of returing the zillions of dollars various governmental and private entities have spent to provide computers to schools? I won't hold my breath.

Comments

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

From, 'Reclaiming Our Schools: The Struggle for Chicago School Reform', by
Maribeth Vander Weele:

"Richard Haley in June 1987...stopped by Garvey Elementary School where his
father was assistant principal....when he reached to open a window he was
electrocuted. Faulty wiring from a heating unit below sent a current
through the metal frame...Richard died in his father's arms.

"The heating unit and others throughout the building were not properly
grounded...."

and:

"At Clay Elementary School...a six hundred-pound piece of concrete crashed
through the roof one day...."

and:

"At Calumet High School...a rain soaked chunk of thick ceiling plaster
crashed between two students sitting only three feet apart...."

and:

"On election day at Graham Elementary School in 1984, poll watcher Kenneth
Thompson walked out of the wrong second story door and onto an unlit landing
with no railing....He kept walking and ultimately fell to his death."

All the above happened in Chicago public schools.