Good day for school choice in PA

The Commonwealth Court ruled that Chester-Upland school district could not limit the number of students enrolling in charter schools. Read the Philadelphia Inquirer story. About 40% of Chester-Upland student opt for charter schools, in large part due to the abysmal performance of the district-run schools.

On the other side of the state, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a story about Penn Hills School district potential working with VLN Partners to provide online offerings to students. The district hopes to attract many of the students who have been leaving for cyber schools. This is exactly how districts should be responding – offering new and better services to students and compete with cyber schools – rather than lobbying for limitations on cyber school funding. This is just another example of the benefits of school choice and competition.