Anti-school choice Professor Diane Ravitch, 79, of New York University, just blocked the twitter account of education researcher Dr. Corey DeAngelis, policy analyst at the CATO Institute. She will not interact with him on Twitter. By blocking Dr. DeAngelis, Professor Ravitch sends a signal that her opposition to public charter schools is ideological and fear-based.

At Washington Policy Center, we don’t block people from speaking.  Last week, Dr. DeAngelis presented his new statistical research at Washington Policy Center’s our statewide Solutions Summits in Bellevue and Spokane. His research shows public charter schools in eight large cities are delivering better results for students at significantly lower costs to taxpayers. Dr. DeAngelis also described a study showing girls in high-quality charter schools have a 59 percent reduction in the likelihood of having a teen pregnancy, and boys had a 100 percent reduction in the likelihood of committing a crime.

Instead of being open to this new research, Professor Ravitch blocks it.

There is a movement on the Left to shut down free speech and block the open exchange of ideas, facts and viewpoints.

Fortunately, parents are less ideological and more open-minded. Public charter schools are popular and continue to open across the country.  Most charter schools have waiting lists, and two more will open in Washington state this fall.  Charter schools are one option for serving children within the public school system.  They are innovative, popular and create a safe and caring learning environment that helps children. That’s shown in the data. Yet there are some people, like Professor Ravitch, who don’t want you to hear that.