D.C. debates growth of charter schools

Emma Brown:

It's the latest sign that the District is on track to become a city where a majority of children are educated not in traditional public schools but in public charters: A California nonprofit group has proposed opening eight D.C. charter schools that would enroll more than 5,000 students by 2019.

The proposal has stirred excitement among those who believe that Rocketship Education, which combines online learning and face-to-face instruction, can radically raise student achievement in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Rocketship's charter application -- which is the largest ever to come before District officials, and which might win approval this month -- arrives on the heels of Chancellor Kaya Henderson's decision to close 15 half-empty city schools, highlighting an intense debate about the future of public education in the nation's capital.

A growing number of activists have raised concerns that the traditional school system, facing stiffer-than-ever competition from charters, is in danger of being relegated to a permanently shrunken role. And they worry that Washington has yet to confront what that could mean for taxpayers, families and neighborhoods.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 14, 2013 1:36 AM
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