Yesterday, readers in communities across the nation opened their local paper or logged on to their local news Web site to read about the fight for new charter schools in Rhode Island.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan chose to speak about Rhode Island in his interview with AP reporter Libby Quaid, after he spoke out for Rhode Island charter schools on stage earlier in the day before an audience of more than 3,000 people in Washington, DC. In a story that crossed the national news wires on Monday evening and was picked up yesterday in cities across the nation, the story reads:
Charters usually operate free from restrictions like tenure and other rules found in union contracts. Many supporters of charter schools don’t want that to change.
Duncan is pushing aggressively to expand the number of charter schools. He has threatened to withhold millions of stimulus dollars from states that put limitations on charter schools.
In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, he mentioned Rhode Island, where lawmakers have proposed to cut funding for charter schools.
“Anyone, including Rhode Island, who looks to underfund charter schools, they’re going to hurt their chances and put themselves at a disadvantage,” Duncan told the AP.
The story was covered in hundreds of publications, including:
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