In a move that may end up assisting both district schools and charter schools, several cities around the country have signed up to cooperate with charter schools in ways that allow sharing of resources--including facilities. Facilities are a large portion of the charter school budget and have been a sore spot with charter school supporters for a long time. The latest to sign on is Rochester, New York.
Other cities working with charter schools are Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans and New York City.
Both charters and traditional schools could gain from sharing ideas, facilities, group purchasing and other factors that would allow both cost savings and increased creativity and success in the classroom.
Some may fear that this blurs the lines between traditional public schools and charters, but if education is really about the kids, then that shouldn't matter much. If school leaders use this as an opportunity for real collaboration in raising both student and teacher expectations, then this could be a real break through in education.
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