The Durham City Council has now joined with the Durham school board in opposing the application of a public charter school that seeks approval to operate a school focusing on math, science and engineering. Once again, protecting the education bureaucracy from change and competition is what matters most to Big Education.

The same circle-the-wagons mentality is on display in Chapel Hill, where Big Education and its allies are vehemently opposed to the proposed public charter school that would be led by the daughter of former Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee.

Former Chapel Hill Mayor and State Board of Education Chairman Howard Lee — the first black mayor elected in a predominantly white Southern City since Reconstruction — said he is surprised the NAACP is using a diversity argument to oppose plans to open a K-8 charter school bearing his name in Chapel Hill this August.

“I thought that was a weak argument and one that should not ever be elevated above educating our kids,” said Lee, who also is a former state senator and current executive director of the North Carolina Education Cabinet. The debate, he said, “should be about choice and it should be about education, and not about diversification.”

Meantime, while Big Education sticks its collective head in the sand, kids and parents wait for a sign that any of the powerful local officials will recognize their need for options. Sad.