Inga Munsinger Cotton
photo © http://www.mean-baby.com
San Antonio moms (and dads) need more good choices about where to send their kids to school: not just the underperforming schools they are locked into because of where they live.
High performing charter schools have the potential to revolutionize education in San Antonio. The community of high performing schools in San Antonio is small for now, but if enough parents band together and take action, there could be many more here soon. A larger community of high performing charter schools could dramatically increase the number of San Antonio kids who are ready for college and prepared for challenging careers.
My interest in charter schools developed from my love for a historic neighborhood. My family moved to San Antonio in 1990. Soon, my parents fell in love with a fixer upper in the Monte Vista historic district, and I spent summers and weekends scraping paint, re-wiring electric plugs, pulling weeds, and all that other good old house stuff, until it was ready for us.
When my husband and I got married in 2005, we rented a house in Monte Vista. We thought it would be temporary, but six years later our family was outgrowing the house. Looking at our options for where to send our kids to school, we opted for moving to the Alamo Heights district. We love our new neighbors and our son loves his new school, but it was sad to leave the neighborhood we were so attached to.
There are many other families facing the same decision. Some choose private schools or home schooling. Some look for bright spots of improvement in the incumbent public school systems. A few lucky ones will win a lottery and find places in high performing charter schools, but there are still not enough spaces to go around. Many, like us, choose to move — leaving hollow places in historic neighborhoods where families should be growing up.
Bringing more high-performing charter schools to San Antonio will allow families to get the best quality education for their children, regardless of what neighborhood they live in, and without the prohibitive cost of private school tuition. This blog aims to raise awareness about the benefits of high performing charter schools for San Antonio, and to spread the word about events and opportunities for moms and dads to take action.
Inga Munsinger Cotton
San Antonio Charter Moms
mail [at] sachartermoms.com
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except author photo © www.mean-baby.com.
