The 74 Million – Matt Barnum
“New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Denver rank as the best cities in the U.S. for school choice, while Albany, Austin, and Pittsburgh rank as the worst, according to a new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank.
The study ranks 30 major cities on the extent to which they promote quality educational options. The report highlights the middling rank of New York City — which is attributed in part to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s perceived antipathy towards charter schools — as well as the fairly high scores of Southern cities like New Orleans and Atlanta. The study comes as school choice across the country is expanding, particularly charter schools, which have quadrupled in number — from about 1,500 to well over 6,000 — between 1999 and 2014. The foreword to the report by Fordham’s Amber Northern and Michael Petrilli says, “Our hope is that cities across the country will look at these rankings and work to catch up with New Orleans, Washington, and Denver … But we’re keenly aware that progress is not necessarily a permanent condition.” The research contributes to understanding how local political climate and policies influence school choice, with a wealth of carefully collected data. The report, however, doesn’t put enough emphasis on school quality or the impact of choice on cities’ traditional public school systems.”(more)