Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), outlines next steps for education reform in NC. His News & Observer op-ed hits the target and then some.
While North Carolina is still reeling from its Race to the Top failure, how is the education establishment here responding? By remaining stubborn in its opposition to necessary reform measures such as lifting the arbitrary cap on public charter schools. What a shame.
In its rejection of North Carolina’s application, the U.S. Department of Education made clear that the state must go back to the drawing board and demonstrate more innovative ways to improve conditions for charter schools and to narrow the achievement gap. As one of the federal reviewers of North Carolina’s application commented, the charter school cap of 100 schools “is too limited a cap to provide enough charters in such a large state.”
By the way, Bill Harrison has yet to respond to my request for evidence of widespread cronyism in the state’s charter schools.
