The documentary Waiting for “Superman” portrays the decline of American public education, not through statistics, but through the stories of five children—Anthony, Bianca, Daisy, Emily, and Francisco—who struggled to navigate an unequal system. Though the film does not present an easy solution, it does offer hope for families. That hope is enrollment in a successful charter school, if only their children can make it through the lottery.
The film’s 2010 release culminated a period of increasing popular support for charter schools’ growth. This support was bipartisan. During the 2008 presidential campaign, for example, it was a rare moment of unity between incumbent President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, U.S. Sen. John McCain.
Obama advanced this policy in his second term through a $4.35 billion competitive grant program, called Race to the Top. Announced in 2009, this grant was intended to spur innovation in education at the state and local levels. One of the criteria for states to be competitive for grants was the removal of barriers to charter school growth. This prompted state legislatures to lift charter caps—Michigan in 2009 and eliminated in 2012, New York in 2010, North Carolina and Tennessee in 2011, for example—create more authorizing bodies, and create new appeals processes for charter applicants who were denied approval.
Bipartisan support for charter growth was promoted during this time on national media by Obama’s U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former Republican U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Rev. Al Sharpton.
The same year “Waiting for Superman” was released, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg pledged $100 million to support Newark’s public school transformation. Much of these funds were tied to charter growth. His announcement was made on one of America’s most-viewed television shows, The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he was joined by Newark’s Democratic Mayor Corey Booker and New Jersey’s Republican Governor, which demonstrated the popular and political support chartering had achieved at that moment.
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Secretary Duncan, Gingrich, & Sharpton talk Education Reform on ‘Meet the Press’
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