Eschaton points out that reality has caught up with Democratic charter school advocates, and it was perfectly predictable.
After more than 20 years of growth nationally, it is noteworthy that some of the trend lines for charters are on the decline. This experiment with deregulation has resulted in massive corruption, fraud and diminished learning opportunities for young people.
As a state monitor, I observed a number of incompetent people serve as charter school administrators because Ohio state law has no minimum educational requirements nor any professional licensing prerequisites for school leaders.
In addition, numerous conflicts-of-interest, including a board member serving as landlord and management companies charging exorbitant rents for properties conveniently used for charter schools, are only part of the problem of the charter experiment.
When your core premise is that teachers unions are evil, and throwing lots of money at unaccountable for-profit companies will fix everything, what could possibly go wrong?