The move comes after alleged incidents of human rights abuses across the private prison industry, which includes about 126,000 inmates across 30 different states, said Stringer, who noted that private prisons have higher rates of security and safety
incidents than their public counterparts.
According to a recent evaluation by the RAND Corporation and comparisons in Philadelphia and Baltimore, Edison's record is not very different from that of similar public schools, though it has received greater
funding than its public counterparts.
While saying that Port Townsend or any other district could tailor the charter school to its needs, Mayer said charter schools are often more
disciplined than the public counterparts, with longer school days and shorter summer vacations.
A recent national study by CREDO, The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, concludes that only 17 % of charter schools have better test scores than traditional public schools, 46 % had gains that were no
different than their public counterparts, and 37 % were significantly worse.
You can also do a curriculum check yourself, to ensure that the independent schools you're considering follow courses of study that are the same or
better than their public counterparts in your province.