Democrats declaring war on charters is particularly insidious considering the majority demographics these schools serve are low-income and minority students. These students often flee to charter schools because their normal district schools — the schools assigned based on zip code alone — are unsafe, failing, or both.
Nationwide, nearly 70 percent of the 3.5 million students served by charters are minority students, while two-thirds are low-income. In places like Philadelphia, more than 60 percent of the enrollment in charter schools are black children, as opposed to less than 50 percent in the district’s traditional schools. More than 150 of the commonwealth’s bottom 15 percent of underperforming public schools are in Philadelphia.