You have said it all! Bloomberg and his cohort are eveil but the unions that sat shameless on their hands and refused to come out in opposition to the elimination of term limits and his buying a 3rd term should be ashamed of themselves.

He and his billions could have been stopped but the unions were afraid-now he is after them too.

Great article. Let's not forget about the small schools: the charter schools that can't kick out 'low-performing' students. The small schools are charters that lack private funding and moneyed Parents Associations; that 'share' space with sometimes high-performing schools, and are sometimes shut down due to poor performance on high stakes tests. My question is: Why set up small schools to make them fail? I think there is no one answer to this question. Yes, Bloom-Klein have a long-term plan, but, like any ridiculously grand project, unintended screw-ups are made, massive amounts of money are wasted, etc. These guys are smart, but they're not that smart. Hopefully in the next 20 years, as each cycle of school reform seems to come in generational time-frames, we'll see another shift in school reform also destined to fail because the systemic problems of our society: race, class, and gender, will still remain unaddressed.

Everyone knows that NYCDOE is mad as the proverbial hatter - the scary thing is articles in this publication indicate this madness is becoming a nationwide plague headed by billionaires and arne duncan - however, they really don't have a business model because no business could run the way these folk want to run or rather destroy public education and for that matter education period because educated people who think are a threat to hegemony. A vocational degree whether from harvard or a designated vocational training school is not about analysis or thinking for yourself. Since the 1960s american education has been degenerating to more propoganda then thoughtful understanding of economics or history. Education is about surviving in a bureaucracy driven society and at the other end a business world that creates its own rules with the help of willing politicians. we live in controlled anarchy.

Charter schools and billionaires involved in the education system indicative of the government's abandonment of public education. Whether it be underfunding public schools in urban areas or skyrocketing tuition at large public universities, we the people feel the pinch.

Are you committed to educational change or to being forever marginalized, the better to tout your staus as a victim of the system and an outsider?

Do you really think Arne Duncan is at the head of a national movement by billionaires to destroy public education? What does that make Obama? Criminal mastermind or hapless dupe?

Do you have any idea how adults in poor urban schools typically behave around children? Have you worked in or sent your kids to one of these schools? If you had a clear idea what was happening in the trenches you might understand why it's in poor, black and brown neighborhoods that charters are opening in droves, and not in upper class white neighborhoods. In those places the schools are better funded (Bloomberg actually closed that gap, not made it wider, with Fair Student Funding), there are more teachers trying to teach there than there are open slots, and the principals are experienced and qualified. And dare I say nice.

For so long, through their inadequacy and inaction public schools in poor neighborhoods have been agents of oppression, not places where the working and lower class could go to for resources.

Wake up. There are thousands of families choosing charters because they want to take care of their kids, not listen to maniacal conspiracy theories.

And by the way, by state public school law, charters do not have a selective admissions process. And charters are not allowed to kick kids out just becuase they don't like them or they might bring down test scores. You might be better off putting your energy into investigating charters, reading the significant amount of public oversight information available about them, and if you come across fraud, exposing it. There have been two or three cases: one in the Bronx, one in Brooklyn, one in Albany, out of something like 150 charter schools statewide. Keep looking!

In response to Kitchen sink, I have taught in the urban schools for more than 20 years. I reamin an effective and popular teacher. I can tell you this, in the last 5 years, the behavior of many of our students has gotten progressively worse. With empowerment, a negative rating is being given for every suspension. It didn't take the kids long to figure out that they will not be suspende for anything unless it is agregious. This ripple effect has rendered many teachers helpless to teach effectively as they had done in the past. The cursing and sense of entitlement that is prevalent in these schools is like nothing I have ever seen anywhere, and quite honestly it is outrageous. Where is the accountability?

In addition, If the parents of many of our urban children cared enough to attend and apply for a Charter School lottery, we wouldn't need one! The apathy on the part of these parents towards their children's education is appalling.

I see children not go to class, fill out cut slips, and try to talk to them about how they are throwing away their opportunity at a good education. They listen to me, and then I see them 2 periods later trying to sneak into the gym for an extra gym period or just hanging out in the halls instead of going to class.

I have lived this every day for over 23 years and if you spent any time inside our inner city schools, you would know that principal's hands are being tied and the problems caused by this affect the entire school, not just the kids causing the problems. This is a result of Bloomklein trying to end teaching as a career and a brilliant way to blame the school as opposed to their own idiocy. I have no problem with charter schools as long as the playing field is level, which of course, it is not!

The irony is that if Bloomberg succeeds in this venture, the large quanity of charter schools will ultimately have to accept the wider range of students that they currenly ignore, and will encounter the same challenges. We'll see how they fare then. From what I've heard, charter schools that are already accepting the same kids as public schools not faring particularly well.

When our schools, charter or public, and our communities are given tools and resources to finally confront the factors that are affecting literacy, critical thinking and academic achievement, and are then empowered to address those factors, we may just see some improvement. And believe me, it won't be overnight. So the sooner we put aside the political powerplays and get to work, the better.,

The charters will never accept low performing kids or will kick them out if they happen to get in somehow. Look at New Orleans; 60% of the kids are in charters. The remaining 40% are not and they are the kids who have the lowest scores. The charters don't want them, won't take them. Separate and unequal access to education. The dissolution of public education. Privatization supported by Bloomberg, Gingrich, Sharpton, Klein, Duncan, and yes, Obama.