For years The New York Times has magnified the voices of charter school critics and minimized the voices of black and Latino charter school families and supporters. The New York Times has also unfairly criticized charter school leaders and supporters. So last week I was surprised and pleased to notice something new from this paper. This change is worth noting and examining.   

Last week The New York Times covered the protest of charter school supporters at the Democratic presidential debate in Atlanta, where more than 300 people chanted “Our children, Our choice.” Notably, and with a change in tone, The New York Times treated charter school families with respect, explaining that “…this year, in a major shift, the leading Democratic candidates are backing away from charter schools, and siding with the teachers unions that oppose their expansion. And that has left some black and Latino families feeling betrayed.”  

The article reports that charter schools that “serve mostly low-income children of color in large cities tend to excel academically,” and that every year there are hundreds of thousands of mostly low-income, minority families languishing on charter school wait lists.

The article describes the difficulties of parents trying to educate their children:

“…As a single mom with two jobs and five hustles, I’m just feeling kind of desperate,” said Sonia Tyler, who plans to enroll her children in a charter school slated to open next fall in a suburb of Atlanta. “They’re brilliant; they’re curious. It’s not fair. Why shouldn’t I have a choice?..

“…Tariq Abdullah and his wife are planning to open a charter school in the Atlanta suburbs next year in part so their son can go to a school close to home without attending a failing school…”

The article gives charter school leaders a fair shake:

 “…Ricardo Mireles, the founder of the Academia Avance charter school in Los Angeles, said his predominantly Latino students could not wait for school districts to fix their problems. ‘If we wait around for them to address these things, we’re writing off years, if not generations, of kids…

“…What should be happening in a fair society is we would be asked for our opinions, rather than having candidates saying, ‘I have a plan for you---to shepherd you into the very schools that you left on purpose,’ said Ms. Fortune, a black, lifelong Democrat [who runs a non-profit operating seven charter schools in California]…”

One leader describes the Democratic shift against charter schools as a lack of respect for black voters:

“Richard Buery, the chief of policy at KIPP, the nation’s largest charter network, called the Democratic shift ‘a reflection more broadly of lack of respect for black voters in the party. These are the folks that should be champions of black children and allies of black educators,” said Mr. Buery, a Democrat.”

In this way, The New York Times identifies issues of vital importance to charter school families, including; 1) that families are assigned to failing traditional schools and need a charter school choice so they can educate their children; 2) that families cannot wait for traditional school districts to fix their problems; and 3) that parents assigned to failing schools feel betrayed by politicians who say more money will fix the traditional schools they decided to leave.

Black and Latino families only ask for the opportunity to educate their children at a charter school. The good news is their concerns are no longer invisible to the readers of The New York Times.