“The suggestion that district schools are being resegregated through ‘white flight’ schools to schools of choice is nonsense.”

That was Baker Mitchell, founder of the Roger Bacon Academy charter school in North Carolina, writing in the Wall Street Journal last week. It was a powerful op-ed that pushed back against the smear campaign taking place against charter public schools in North Carolina.  

Like their counterparts in the Tar Heel state, charter schools in California have been up against their own smear campaign. Powerful special interests, like the California Teachers Association, spent $3.6 million in just three months to ensure hundreds of thousands of parents across the state are denied access to public schools that better meet their needs.

Rather than drive policy changes through a fact-based conversation, CTA and their allies have turned to dishonest attacks and scapegoating to promote their misguided and wrongheaded policies. They’ve blamed charter schools for everything from segregation in our education system to bankrupting districts. Facts alone make the outlandish claims easy to debunk.  

But what’s really made the difference in putting this smear campaign back on its heels is the thousands of parents, educators, and kids who have raised their voices in unison against a status quo that leaves too many students trapped in failing schools. All that to say, thank you for speaking out, Mr. Mitchell. We know exactly how you feel.