Today, I wrote in Real Clear Education that it's time for the quality-based charter school community to start raising some money for political campaigns to offset the clear political advantage Ohio's poor-performing, for-profit charter sector has.
What was so frustrating about the outcome of Sub. HB 2 was that every fair-minded education policy advocate in the state, be they pro-free market or pro-local public school, agreed it was a great step forward, regardless of minor (or major) quibbles.
Yet that consensus -- both here and around the country -- couldn't offset the political power that has always dominated our state's charter school discussion.
I hope that this episode acts as a wake up call for well-meaning charter advocates that great ideas don't win over Ohio legislatures and governors on this issue: Money does.
I hate that it's this way. Especially in my home state.
But this is Ohio's education policy Real Politick. And, as I argue this morning, only money can eradicate this noxious weed.
