Possibility Prep is an all-boys science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) charter school in Prince George's County with an enrollment of 250 students grades 6 through 8. Founded in 2010 by 100 Black Men of Maryland, the school's mission statement is "to motivate young men to work harder and to foster a spirit of life-long learning so all students acquire the skills, knowledge and habits needed to succeed in a global society." The Largo-based academy serves a largely African American student body and is the only all-male public charter school in PG County, which has the dubious distinction of being one of Education Week's "dropout epicenters" -- one of 25 school districts that, together, accounted for one out of five non-graduates in the class of 2011.

Earlier this month, Possibility Prep sought an injunction against the PG County Board of Education in an attempt to prevent revocation of its charter. The Board of Education moved this spring to shut down the school after only one year, citing low enrollment and lax student discipline -- despite support from parents and an administration seemingly committed to the making the school a success.

The PGCPS move hardly comes as a surprise to observers of the charter school movement. Maryland has one of the weakest charter laws in the country, and the state's entrenched education monopoly has become ruthlessly adept at exploiting that weakness, at the expense of its most vulnerable and at-risk students. The regulatory roadblocks that Maryland throws in the path of its charter schools do nothing but hold hostage kids who have nowhere to go. The wealthy have always enjoyed school choice; they write hefty checks to private schools, or they buy an expensive house in a leafy suburb. But seventy-nine percent of Maryland's charter school students are African American, and the vast majority of them are low-income.  Of the 44 charter schools operating in the state, 34 of them are in Baltimore City, where public schools perennially rank among the worst-performing and "persistently dangerous" in the nation. Over 86 percent of Baltimore City's students are African American; 84 percent come from low-income households. For too many of these kids, going to school every day is an act of physical bravery. It's hard to blame them for dropping out. They're safer on the streets.

It can't be said any more clearly than this: access to educational opportunity is the civil rights issue of our time. In fifty years, we have gone from de jure segregation to an even more pernicious de facto segregation that achieves the same result -- denying the poor and the (mostly) black an equal shot at the American dream. 

Meanwhile, back in PG County, the ultimate fate of Possibility Prep remains up in the air, but it doesn't look good. It's hard to argue with shutting down a school if it can't offer its students a quality education in a safe environment. Indeed, it's what proponents of school choice have been pushing for decades. But why single out Possibility Prep for the axe? PG County Public Schools have seen a systemwide decline in enrollment in recent years, with 5,000 fewer students than just three years ago.  As for the claim that the school should be shuttered because of problems with discipline? That's just laughable. See here. And here. And here.  The message the PG County Board of Ed seems to be sending is this: "If you're gonna send your kid to a dangerous, underperforming school, it had better be one of ours."