Charter schools have been growing in popularity over the past few years in communities across the country, most notably in New York and Washington, D.C. Advocates say they're the solution to failing inner city schools, while critics argue they're corporatizing public education. We have a lot of questions about charter schools, and on today's Please Explain we'll talk find out how they began, how they're funded, as well as some of successes and failures of the system. 

Dr. Michael Fabricant, a professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work and executive officer of the Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare, and Dr. Michelle Fine, a Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Women's Studies, and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY, will join us to talk about charter schools. They’re the authors of Charter Schools and the Corporate Makeover of Public Education: What's at Stake?