Louie Lemming stopped to pluck a berry. "Hurry up, Louie!" cousin Larry shouted. "We are behind and we have to catch up."

"Where are we going?"

"Not sure, but hurry."

"Louie, shouldn't we do some research before we head off?"

"Not necessary," replied Louie. "The Tri-City Herald says it's a good place to go."

So Louie and Larry pursued the crowd heading toward charter school heaven.

Had they done the research:

-- Charter schools typically hand over public funds to education management firms with no public oversight. Cheating and financial scandals abound.

-- Charter schools typically attract, contrary to Herald, fewer low-income and special education students and virtually no English language learners or children with severe disabilities (high-cost students stay in the public school).

-- Charters with the highest success rates have the highest attrition rates. Low performers either leave or are pushed back to the local school.

And how successful are they? A national study by Stanford University found that 37 percent of public schools outperformed matched-school charters and 46 percent were essentially the same. Wow! Then what could be behind the charter school movement? Follow the money.

Larry and Louie?

The last lemming meets the same fate as the first.

-- Bob Valiant, Kennewick