I had a conversation today with a friend, a mother of two young boys, who recently won for them, through a lottery, places in a Washington, D.C., charter school. My friend mentioned that she has been approached by several people looking to buy the spots she won; these people are offering cold, hard cash. The highest?offer so far, she said, has been $1500 per slot. But she's not selling. Her experience obviously illustrates the craving if not desperation of parents in D.C. for educational options for their children. One wonders how high the bidding could go for the charter school spots she holds.
?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow