Sen. Elizabeth Warren has built a political reputation as a leader willing to stand up to powerful interests. But in her education plan released on Monday, the senator’s courage failed her. While the plan includes important proposals to increase funding for Title I and students with disabilities, it would devastate the one reform that has proven most effective at helping students from working-class families get a better public education: charter schools.
The Warren plan on charter schools is right out of the teachers’ union playbook. In addition to suffocating existing charter schools with red tape and threats of investigation, she promises to eliminate the federal Charter Schools Program, which is a vital source of seed funding for new schools, helping nearly 60% of charter schools open between 2006-2007 and 2013-2014 (the latest data available). The Charter Schools Program has been especially important to leaders of independent, single-site charter schools — community educators who saw a need for better schools and took the bold step to open one.
