Like a lot of parents across America, I watched as state governments and public school monopolies failed our children when schools were closed during the covid-19 lockdown. For years, states like Pennsylvania told anyone who could listen that they could do online learning better and cheaper than charter schools.
But when that moment came, many Pennsylvania districts, like so many others, weren’t ready at all. Cyber charter schools were. In fact, they offered to help and partner with public school districts. Districts declined. Many of their students suffered.
Gov. Tom Wolf likes to go on “Schools That Teach Tours” in Pennsylvania, yet he’s never visited a charter school. How does he reward these schools that actually kept teaching during the pandemic? By trying to ram through something he calls “charter school reform,” which is really a poorly disguised “charter school closure” plan.
Wolf is just the latest in a long line of Democratic governors who feast on teacher union contributions and then work to close the competition. In doing so, he will cut a lifeline to families who value the ability to choose the schools that are best for their children and are trying to escape failing school districts.
Letrisha Weber
Indianapolis, Ind.
The writer is president of the National Coalition of Public School Options.