Charter Schools

Today's Seattle Times has a terrific article about the KIPP charter school program.

For the past six years, KIPP was the highest-scoring middle school in the entire Bronx in reading and math, and last year among the top 10 percent in New York City. In contrast, the middle school that operates in the same building as KIPP has test scores that rank among the area's lowest.

The Times can't find anything negative about KIPP, except this:

Critics question whether KIPP skims the more-motivated parents and students from nearby public schools, making its job easier

That's not a bug, it's a feature! Traditional public schools don't offer options for more-motivated parents and students to escape the tyranny of disruptive students. It's an enormous benefit that KIPP offers a way out and a supportive environment to children who are eager to learn.

KIPP wants to open a charter school here in Washington state and this week we'll find out whether it can. Even though Governor Locke recently signed a law that would permit charter schools to open this fall, the teachers' union is out gathering signatures on a petition to kill charter schools. Yes, the union bosses are so desperate to enlarge their revenue stream that they'll do whatever it takes to keep more poor children hostage in their crummy schools. (I'm not going to call the WEA a "terrorist organization", but I will call them a bunch of selfish greedy child abusers). Word on the street is that their signature gathering effort is a miserable failure and they're far short of the goal. But we'll find out for sure after this Wednesday.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 07, 2004 11:44 AM