Dozens of leaders representing a diverse group of civil rights and K-12 public education advocates recently voiced their concerns that the platform drafting committee of Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force is snubbing charter schools and proposing policies that will harm these innovative public schools.
“It’s as if the platform drafting committee doesn’t know that all charter schools are public schools, and therefore deserving of equal support,” said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Charter schools serve even higher proportions of Black and Latino students and students from low-income families than their district school counterparts. And they do it very well. It’s baffling that the Democratic party would do anything to harm these schools, which are an important part of America’s K-12 public education ecosystem.”
More than 50 Charter Management Organizations released a letter in response to the draft platform recommendation from the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. Leaders of these networks found the task force’s recommendations for public education, especially as they relate to charter schools, to be disappointing, harmful, and misleading.
In addition, a diverse group of national education organizations released another letter expressing their disappointment.
These recommendations are to be expected of charter school opponents who will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo. But Mr. Biden knows better. We stand with education leaders who strongly urge the Biden campaign to reconsider this education platform that is dangerous for public school students, especially the large population of Black and Latino students who attend charter schools.
