The Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted, Feb. 18, to approved five of the 39 applications for new charter schools. 
Gov. Tom Wolf chimed in decrying the decision. Oh, the Philadelphia School District can’t possibly handle it he said. He cited the district’s $80 million budget deficit.
Charter schools, of course, are cheaper to run than traditional schools so one would wonder what exactly is Wolf thinking until one realizes that he, like the rest of the Democrat Party, is in the pocket of the teacher unions. These entities get the lion’s share of the blame for the inflated cost of public education.
Anyway, this creates a very nice opportunity for the GOP. Charter Schools are strongly supported by a significant section of the city and these supporters had in the past not been willing to look twice at a Republican candidate. If the party starts championing Philadelphia charters there is a pretty good chance this will change for many of them.
You would not need all of them or even most of them to start making a difference in elections.
