The Future of D.C. Public Schools: Traditional or Charter Education?

I think I sent this article out when it first came out last month, but just in case...  What's happening in DC, where charters now have 27% (!) market share is of critical importance...

Ten years after Congress imposed charter schools on a reluctant city, the District has emerged as one of the nation's most important laboratories for school choice and one of the first to confront a central tenet of free-market theory: Will traditional public schools improve with competition? Or will charters take over?

Both sides agree that the District is approaching a critical juncture. With public confidence in the schools at an all-time low, more than 17,000 public school students -- nearly one in four -- have rejected the traditional system in favor of 51 independently run, publicly funded charter schools. That share is one of the largest in the nation and is expected to rise when six more charter schools open their doors this fall.

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The Future of D.C. Public Schools: Traditional or Charter Education?

By Lori Montgomery and Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; A01

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/21/AR2006082101758.html