Many charter schools have long waitlists.

Unfortunately, many school districts – which are legally charged with providing families with good schools – use public power to prevent families from attending their preferred schools.

Finances are a primary reason school districts prevent families from attending certain schools. When a family attends a charter school, a school district loses revenue.

Despite the fact that school districts are not-for-profit organizations, they dislike losing revenue as much as greedy corporations.

One of the main ways school districts block families from attending the schools they prefer is by not giving these schools facilities.

So here’s a proposal: anytime a charter school has a waitlist that’s 4X it’s enrollment, the local school district must either (a) give the school an additional facility or (b) the next time a new mill is issued, the district cannot access any funds until a new or existing facility is allocated to the charter school.

Of course, you might argue that this policy should be triggered when a charter school has a waitlist that equals its full enrollment.

That’s why this is a modest proposal.

If 2,000 families want to sent their children to a charter school that enrolls 500 hundred students, I’m not being so bold as to propose that all these families get the schools they want.

Just 1 out of every 4 of these families.

Unfortunately, in many cities, this would be progress.

*Like many posts, this one was the result of a conversation: shout out to Kristi Kimball for ideas that this post was built upon.