(From The American Prospect, November 17, 2008)
By DANA GOLDSTEIN
Democrats for Education Reform, a pro-“school choice” group generally skeptical of teachers’ unions, is circulating a petition asking the Obamas to consider public charter schools for Sasha and Malia. It’s safe to say this is unlikely; Michelle Obama has visited two private academies in Upper Northwest, D.C. — Georgetown Day School and Sidwell Friends — but no public schools. This isn’t surprising; the girls attend private school in Chicago and Barack Obama himself was educated at Hawaii’s most exclusive private school. But hats off to Democrats for Education Reform for keeping the education conversation where it belongs — on the school choices typical families face:
As parents who have selected public charter schools (and other schools of choice) for our own children, we understand the importance of having excellent educational options. We encourage you to include public charter schools in your school shopping list. More importantly, however, we encourage you to remember that all parents should be able to make these kinds of crucial, life-changing decisions on behalf of their children. And they should do so with as many excellent options in front of them as we can possibly provide.
On a related note, the group, which approaches choice-based education reform with the needs of the Democratic coalition in mind, has floated Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp and Chicago schools superintendent Arne Duncan as their picks for secretary of education, GothamSchools reported. New York’s Joel Klein and Washington’s Michelle Rhee, who have waged protracted battles with teachers’ unions, are too controversial, DFER concedes.