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few thoughts about this piece, coming as someone who has covered charter schools + ed reform for last five years jacobinmag.com/2019/09/bernie…
I think it’s fair to think Bernie would oppose the education reform movement as president more than Elizabeth Warren. However: he never really lobbed any criticisms at it until spring 2017
Bernie has truly supported some things throughout his career for a long time, like single-payer. But this has led to a mistake where people then treat everything he’s supporting in the year 2019 as something he's also advocated for for a long time, or has never flipped on
I covered Bernie’s education platform in 2015. It was basically just about college. He voted for expanding charters in 1998, and then stayed out of the debate for next two decades. He also didn’t talk about big money in education. prospect.org/power/sanders-… 
That changed in 2017, when he endorsed Steve Zimmer for L.A. school board. That’s when Bernie started to bring his billionaire critique to education. prospect.org/education/bern…
Meanwhile, the piece makes no mention of Warren’s actual record and statements on charter schools, preferring to stick to insinuations about one legislative staffer who has worked for her for last 5 years who did TFA. Piece also suggests he now works on campaign side (he doesnt)
Warren's record: she praises Boston's charters (which are highest-performing in nation) but opposed a major ballot measure in 2016 to expand her state's charter school cap. She opposes for-profit charters + said she would not support additional funding for charters if president
I wrote about all the Demo candidates on charters in July. Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee actually staked out the most anti-charter positions, but it's notable that all the candidates - even Biden + Booker - were distancing themselves from them movement prospect.org/education/char…
okay I'm done. I like a lot of Bernie's education plan -- especially all his school infrastructure stuff. in general most politicians now prefer to talk about college affordability + pre-K expansion instead of k-12 because those topics tend to be less controversial
