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From the beginning, the charter school movement was touted as a proving ground for innovations that could eventually improve traditional public schools. But friction between the two types of schools in California has largely prevented that from happening. Not in San Jose's Franklin-McKinley School District...

Nearly every parent on earth operates on the assumption that character matters a lot to the life outcomes of their children. Nearly every government antipoverty program operates on the assumption that it doesn't.

Here in Oklahoma City, a debate is underway about the expansion of a charter school called KIPP Reach. While KIPP is only one school in our city's public school system, I know that allowing KIPP to expand could have an enormous impact for children in northeast Oklahoma City.

As teachers do when creating daily lesson plans, I start to think from my students' perspective. I am engulfed by a tidal wave of fear. My fury grows. The realities of my white privilege violently collide with the social consequences of growing up in a poor, inner-city neighborhood. It felt as if the police stopped us with the intent to intimidate. While my interaction with police has always been positive and safe, it was not so for my students. Some as young as sixth grade have been harassed by police. How would I cope and grapple with this reality every time I walk outside? How do they? I can only imagine the persistent anxiety of mothers of black boys across this country.

...As a South Bronx native, I easily could've been a statistic myself. But last month I received my diploma from Syracuse University. I just started my first full-time job as a financial analyst.Why did I succeed where so many of my peers did not? Two reasons: my mother and my guidance counselor.

KIPP Minnesota opened its first middle school in 2008 to address the racial and economic achievement gaps in our schools. This fall, we will open our first elementary school, offer support to our first cohort of middle school alums who are heading to college, and make plans for a high school.

Parents should not be punished by lack of state finances for wanting the best for their children... For us, public charter schools are the right choice.