This needs to be on everyone’s radar screen as it very well may define the future of public education as we know it. The Boston Globe reports the following: “Civil rights fight looms on charter schools cap”
“The highly charged charter school debate, waged for years in the Legislature, could soon become a constitutional court fight, launched by three prominent lawyers who believe students in Boston and other urban districts are being denied their right to a quality education.
“Paul F. Ware Jr., Michael B. Keating, and William F. Lee, who are partners at three top law firms, say the lawsuit they will file to overturn the state cap on the number of charter schools will break ground on two fronts.
“It will be the first constitutional challenge to a charter school cap in any state and the product of an unusual alliance among lawyers from rival firms — ‘a unique occurrence in Boston legal history,’ according to Lee.
Following the announcement of the impending lawsuit, reaction set in, as reported by the Globe in a second day report:
“Charter schools opponents on Sunday blasted an effort by three prominent lawyers to overturn the state cap on charter schools, calling it misguided and potentially harmful to the vast majority of students who attend traditional public schools.
“Leaders of several teachers unions said they vehemently disagree with the lawyers’ argument that the cap relegates children, particularly minority students in poor neighborhoods, to failing district schools and thereby violates their constitutional guarantee of an adequate education…”
Read more. And stay tuned.