Resisting Charters: A Comparative Policy Development Analysis of Washington and Sociology of Education Resisting Charters: A Comparative Policy Development Analysis of

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Abstract Over the past two decades, most states have adopted laws enabling charter schools, as charter ad successfully presented charters as the solution to core problems in urban public education. Yet states with large urban centers, notably Washington and Kentucky, resisted this seemingly ine trend for years. What explains their resistance? Furthermore, why did Washington -a state with a teachers' union and long-standing Democratic political control (resources for charter resistance iden in prior research) -ultimately adopt charters in 20 1 2 while Kentucky has not? I use comparative-hi narrative analysis to trace differences in charter battles in the urban centers of the two states. I fin supporters framed charters as the solution in both cases but varied in their ability to name public as the problem in the first place. I identify the source of the discursive resources used by oppon charter schools in state-level "educational ecosystems": the cultural and institutional legacies of of state educational policies.