Debating charter school reform in Pennsylvania

Guests:  Lawrence Feinberg and Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams

It’s been 16 years since Pennsylvania passed its charter school law. Today, across the Commonwealth, over 119,000 students are currently attending 174 charters schools. An additional 35,000 students are enrolled in 16 cyber charters. While there is disagreement over the place of charter schools in education, consensus is that it’s time to revisit the policies regulating them. State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams, a supporter of charter schools, is the co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1085 commonly known as the “charter school reform bill” which supporters say will better regulate how charters are opened and evaluated. Lawrence Feinberg, a member of the Haverford Township School Board and founder of the Keystone State Education Coalition, is an advocate for public education who is concerned about the growth of charter schools, how they are funded, and to whom they are accountable. They’ll both join us this today as we debate the role of charter schools and the controversies over the proposed legislation to reform them.