The Obama administration has a message for Virginia: If you want to be eligible for certain stimulus money, embrace charter schools.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan didn't single out the Old Dominion the other day when he said, "States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund." And it's not clear whether "artificial caps" refers to statutory funding ceilings, or merely to laws that impede charter schools from growing at their natural rate.
What is clear, however, is that Virginia lags behind much of the nation. Of the roughly 4,600 charter schools in America, Virginia is home to only four. Much of the fault lies with the commonwealth's anemic charter-school law. And even those charter-school efforts that do get off the ground, such as the Patrick Henry endeavor here in Richmond, often confront unjustifiable institutional hostility. (Former Times-Dispatch editor and columnist Robert Holland discussses charter schools on today's Op/Ed page.)
Two other things are clear as well: President Obama is a strong proponent of charter schools. So is Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. A spokesman for Creigh Deeds says he supports charter schools, although Deeds does not exhibit the enthusiasm for them that McDonnell does. And across the country, Democratic legislatures and the interests to which many of them are beholden have tried to put the charter-school genie back in the bottle.
Can the president lead his party down the road to Damascus? Can pressure from the White House induce Virginia to relax its charter-school law? That would be change we can believe in.
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