Charter schools see growth and continued concerns, including from Hillary Clinton

But many parents have embraced charter schools, which, by and large, have been well run in L.A. Unified. Hall ranks 8th in the country for the percentage of students attending a charter school. It would create division without action, and could backfire by making any future votes against individual charter school applications appear biased.

In a report released today, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools finds at least 10 percent of students attend charter public schools in more than 160 school districts nationwide. With many teachers against her education positions and parents supporting rather than opposing charter schools, she has positioned herself far out of the mainstream and opposed to the attitudes of most voters on the issue.

Since then, though, vouchers have largely dropped out of the national conversation (although they could still make a comeback among Republicans in 2016), while the Democratic Party has divided between education reformers like Arne Duncan and teachers unions, their traditional backer.

The highest increase in enrollment is in urban areas. They have proven to be very popular among students, with waiting lists in most places where they are available. “Charter schools continue to provide a growing number of families with high-quality public school options, and have been a vital part of D.C.’s educational revitalization, with total public school enrollment growing for the first time in decades”, Rees said.

Using student enrollment data for the 2014-2015 academic year, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit calculated the highest enrollment of charter school students across the country.

Here is the charter school resolution that L.A. Unified needs: It’s time to end the conjecture about whether charter schools enroll students selectively or whether they make the achievements of their students look better by pushing out low performers. If charters are doing that, go after them; if not, stop complaining about them. Students’ departures accounted for, at most, one-third of KIPP’s advantage on standardized tests.

“Most charter schools – I don’t want to say every one – but most charter schools, they don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them”, Clinton said. If that’s true, charters have an advantage traditional public schools don’t.