Success Academy is the biggest example of "one guy ruining it for everyone" since someone put a razor blade in a piece of Halloween candy in the '70s.

My kids went to a charter in Jersey City, and not one of the knee-jerk criticisms the previous comment rattled off apply. My son had an IEP and they lavished support and resources on him. The school was more than 50% reduced lunch, they had special ed kids, they only expelled one student in my kids' 10 years there (and he was stalking and making threats against another student), and they did it all with less per-student funding than mainstream public schools and the state didn't pay for busing.

And I have no idea what business' pockets are being lined — like every charter in New York and New Jersey, the school is run by a nonprofit board. But the facts will never stand in the way of good talking points, and the "all charter schools are a corporate plot" one will never die.