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On March 7, 2017, The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article by Martha Woodall about a bill requiring the expansion of charter seats. The article cited PennCAN’s Executive Director:
Jonathan Cetel, executive director of PennCAN, said his organization, which backs school choice, supports legislation that addresses the needs of families on charter waiting lists in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
He said families were desperate for high-quality public school options and he hoped Turzai’s measure would “create an environment where the best charter schools in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will be able to expand.”
Cetel pointed out that the bill would not restrict the SRC or the Pittsburgh school board from “holding charter schools accountable for student outcomes and revoking charters from schools that are failing to serve students.”
In fact, Cetel said PennCAN hopes that requiring a mandatory minimum of new seats would provide incentives for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to move more aggressively to close poorly performing charters so effective ones can expand.
Click here to read the full article.