Here's Joel Klein with an op ed from a couple of weeks ago, rebutting the nonsense being spread by Bill Perkins and other defenders of the status quo:

Instead of pitting schools and parents against each other, we should be asking how to make all of our public schools better. One of the reasons so many parents are applying to charter schools is that quite a few of them are getting extraordinary results, typically with black and Latino children who have long underperformed their white peers. Likewise, the graduation rates of our new small schools are 15 points higher than the city average.

These schools are great options for our children. We should be trying to replicate some of their best aspects rather than make excuses to prevent their creation. Indeed, let's encourage schools to share space; hopefully, it will lead to shared ideas.

Charters are not single-handedly going to fix public education, but they are a vital part of the solution. Demand for more will certainly be on display tonight. But if you need more proof that charters are positively influencing entire communities, just visit the Harlem Education Fair this Saturday. There will be at least 10,000 families there "shopping" for the right public schools for their children - both traditional and charter - in one of the nation's poorest school districts.

For education truly to be the great equalizer requires that all students have access to high-quality schools. By creating options in long underserved neighborhoods, charters are helping to level the playing field.

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