To the editor:
I found last week's editorial ("Did Bush hurt the charter movement by trying to help it?," January 15, 2009) largely inaccurate and petty in its attempt to attract attention by Bush bashing. The last paragraph in particular, wherein the author says that the new President, Secretary, and Department of Education's support for charters will grant it "bipartisan" support, is hypocritical. Are we to think that if Bush and his team supported charters, it's partisan, but if Obama and company do, it's not? Like it or not, No Child Left Behind was as bipartisan as any education legislation ever passed. That, in fact, is why it has some of its flaws. The editorial was partisan.
Bush came from a background of bipartisanship. The Texas accountability system passed into law during Democrat Ann Richards's term was first implemented by Governor Bush in his first term as governor in 1995. The Texas charter law advocated by Bush was also passed in 1995 with Democratic majorities in both state houses. Choice and charters were seen as an element of that accountability system as charters would be a direct consequence of poor traditional public school performance and a way out for families stuck in those situations.
For the next few years in Texas, Bush continued to have bipartisan support for his educational initiatives--from the business community, the Democrats, and state educational leaders. Bush helped us form a Charter School Resource Center, which provided management consulting services for charters, and a Charter School Financial Foundation, which supplied working capital loans to charters from funds raised in the private sector. Bush also advocated widely for successful charters such as KIPP schools, using his bully pulpit to garner public and bipartisan support for charters.
To say that Bush's support of charters made them a partisan issue could only be accurate if Democrats took their position on charters based on politics rather than merit. To say that because Obama supports charters the issue is now bipartisan is simply ridiculous.
Charles Miller
Chairman
Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education
