These self - marginalizing alliances leave a numerical majority of American parents, who like
their traditional neighborhood public schools (and who've had it with high - stakes testing) or who don't identify as political progressives, regarding reform with either indifference or as a threat.
But in practical terms, what has now happened is that charters are draining resources from
the traditional neighborhood public schools.
As a reminder, the State of California has two options for parents in terms of public education:
the traditional neighborhood public school or a charter school which is also a public school and is publicly funded.
This could take many forms, but is usually where a state or district agency uses an algorithm to assign parents to schools (whether charter, magnet, or
their traditional neighborhood public school) based on their preference rankings.
It does not mean that the charter school will handle all disabilities in the same way as
your traditional neighborhood public school.
The scholarship program has given opportunity to students from low - income families who are being failed by
their traditional neighborhood public schools.
As a teenager, I grew to love several aspects of
my traditional neighborhood public school, but it didn't take me long to realize why my family did not view our neighborhood schools as transformative experiences.