Regarding the RTT's ability to drive change, I wrote this not too long ago (emphasis added):
I've??been warning that there's a big difference between changes in law and changes in practices and therefore we need to drastically scale back our excitement about all of the RTT-generated changes in state laws. For example, hostile districts may erase a charter cap lift's ability to generate new schools.
Tennessee lifted its charter cap recently to much celebration. Last night, however, Nashville denied six charter applications.