Wounding Public School Choice in L.A.
Posted on | February 25, 2010 | Comments Off on Wounding Public School Choice in L.A.
The Los Angeles Unified School District board did serious damage to their Public School Choice plan on Tuesday. They amended Superintendent Ramon Cortines’ recommendations to remove the strongest of the charter school applicants, those that could have been future contenders to take over failing schools. The district has more than 100 schools that have been in federal program improvement status for more than three years. This action represents a real setback for the District as it muddles its way from a hierarchy to a network. A contest over school design is impossible unless there is a variety of applicants, and the chilled competition rather than inviting it. More about the Public School Choice process in my Huffington Post columns.