Did the department of Education lie to the Times Union?

In a piece about Charter Schools, Matt Dixon wrote, Because most charter schools receive high annual grades, Department of Education officials say the growth of students enrolling in schools overseen by a few private companies is not a concern.

Lets examine the claim that charter schools mostly get high grades.

First over 200 have failed in the last decade, there grades probably aren't factored in.

Next 130 charter schools that are currently operating, about a third of them did not receive grades.

Next yes 74% of charter schools made As or Bs but compare that to 72% of public schools that did. The real difference is F schools where 5% of charter schools received that grade where 1% of public schools did. 

I also want to remind you that charter schools benefit from selection bias and that they have extremely low numbers of ESOL and ESE kids, plus many council out poor performers which both inflates their numbers and makes me see concerns everywhere!

The department of education has been taken over by pro charter school supporters who are more concerned with pushing their agenda rather than educating our children and that should concern us all as well.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-06-21/story/charter-school-management-companies-flex-political-muscle-