Recent teacher strikes across American opened people’s eyes to the chronic underfunding of public schools and spurred several states to increase investments in education. For that, we should be grateful. But the rhetoric accompanying the strikes in West Virginia, Los Angeles, Oakland, Calif., and elsewhere has made charter schools sound like an enemy of public education. They are not, and my fellow Democrats shouldn’t fall for it.
Democrats have long stood with both teachers unions and charter schools. Both make important contributions to public education. Charter schools operate with greater flexibility than most union contracts allow. Their versatility in responding to the needs of students, parents and communities has helped many charter schools generate superb results.
