Can Democrats Embrace Charter Schools Again?: Matthew Yglesias

Los Angeles last week made it dramatically harder to launch new charter schools in the city, the latest sign of an anti-charter backlash that’s taken the Democratic Party by storm even as the evidence in favor of charters has gotten stronger.

Charter schools are, by design, operated outside the framework of public school districts. But they differ from private-school voucher programs in crucial respects. With a voucher program, the government subsidizes the cost of private-school tuition, but schools are allowed to charge fees above the value of the subsidy. Charters receive public funding based on a formula, and cannot charge ...