The debate about whether additional charter school seats should be approved for New Bedford has largely centered around whether a successful school — Alma del Mar — should be allowed to expand by almost 1,200 seats.
But Mayor Jon Mitchell’s letter opposing the renewal of City on a Hill charter school’s renewal application illustrates there are other charter issues for New Bedford to consider.
The argument for charter public schools is that free from the constraints of administrative, political and union issues that have sometimes held back public schools, they can do better. They can serve a valuable role in developing innovation that the public district can then potentially use.