True North

Charter schools know their market.  Increasingly, their market is low-income urban parents who are disgusted with the performance of their local public school districts:

The Minnesota Department of Education recently announced the approval of 11 new charter schools state-wide, eight of which will be opening in the Twin Cities or first-ring suburbs.

This year’s crop follows a current trend in charter schools: aggressively pursuing poor and low-income families who are dissatisfied and disillusioned with public school systems, particularly in Minneapolis. Six of the eight say they will explicitly market themselves to these families.

One of eight Saint Paul families has deserted the public system; the number is higher in Minneapolis.

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Shot In The Dark.