A decade ago, charter schools were heralded as the crowning achievement of bipartisan education reform efforts.
But during last week’s National School Choice Week observations, charters were barely an afterthought, their political energy having been largely reappropriated to newer, more robust systems of school choice.
The future of the charter school movement is likely to be determined by how they adapt to this new reality. If early returns are any indication, education journalists can start penning advance obituaries.
Charter schools—publicly funded, but independently operated schools that are supposed to have autonomy to innovate—were first introduced in Minnesota in 1992 and rapidly expanded to now serve 45 states and more than 7% of school-age children in the United States.
Charter sector growth was fueled by bipartisan support, which held steady for…
