Admittedly, most everything I know about charter schools is anecdotal. When I've tried to figure out how well they work out in aggregate I see many conflicting narratives and evidence. It seems like they deliver an education as good as or a little worse than public schools on average.

I've been looking at the charter schools in my area of town since my kid started having problems in school. Trillium Charter School roils in turmoil. I never considered Trillium, I knew someone who taught there, I've known parents with children there, it's a fucking shit show. Trillium has a solid C grade on some school rating sites. It needs to be closed to protect kids.

The other charter school in our area has a solid B rating on one of the school rating sites. It's a Waldorf school and sounded like it might hold some promise. My mom, a former school teacher did some digging. it's run poorly. Unscheduled days off have been announced the week before they happen, and things like that. It's constantly in money trouble. If you look at their test scores are almost the same as the scores at the elementary school five blocks from my house. The charter a little better in reading than the local, but my kids is reading the first Harry Potter book to herself at age six. I don't need a school to teach her to read, she'll learn by doing on her own.

If we stay at the local elementary she will go to class with the kids that live around her, many of whom she'll continue to go to school with for a dozen years. She will be part of a neighborhood community, she won't need a ride to her friends house across town to socialize.

As far as giving control to the federal government goes I can only pray it never happens. Imagine our current education secretary guiding what goes in the syllabus. Worse yet watch the schools get privatized and handed off to the lowest bidder. The current system is choice if you have the means between good schools or less good schools, the alternative is probably no choice and worse schools.