Governor, feeling isolated on charters yet?

By Jim Stergios
September 17th, 2008

A very astute reader writes:

I wonder if Gov. Patrick is starting to feel isolated on charter school policy. With comments like these from Rep. Rangel (D – Harlem), our Gov. is increasingly looking like an elitist on the left fringe of his own party.

Well, take a look at the Globe today, where the editorial page carries a full-throated cry about Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino’s myopia on charters. Un tout petit morceau:

Once a leader, Massachusetts is now falling behind. It’s time for Patrick and Menino to put the interests of children and families first. That means supporting more charters.

There are Mayors Bloomberg, Booker, Fenty, and on and on who are full-throated supporters of charters as a critical piece of delivering high quality education to inner city school children. Al Sharpton is now on board, but he is always willing to push outside the boundaries of the usual politics. Now there is Charlie Rangel, who is as establishment as one can be among Democratic leaders.

Elizabeth Green of the New York Sun writes:

Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat of Harlem, said in his remarks that he was initially skeptical about charter schools but has come to think that the successful ones should be replicated.
The second sentence in his brief remarks addressed the city teachers union. “No one loves the United Federation of Teachers more than I do,” he said, but added that if the union were “brain surgeons,” schools would have made more dramatic progress by now.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “it’s not just tenure and pension. It’s ‘what have they accomplished for our children?’”

Charter school supporters at the event said they were pleased by Mr. Rangel’s remarks.
“If there’s any other doubt about whether the climate is right for change in the Democratic Party, Congressman Rangel settled that debate,” the executive director of the lobbying group Democrats for Education Reform, Joseph Williams, said.

To quote the Kinks: “Well, I’m not the world’s most religious guy,” but amen, amen…