Lina Bankert takes a look at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s post-secondary plan idea. While critics attacked it as being too bold, Bankert says the problem is that it’s not bold enough:

The detractors mostly miss the point — and inadvertently make Emanuel’s point about the absurdly low expectations we have for poor and minority students in Chicago. But while the mayor’s plan is well-intentioned, because it sends a clear message to students that high school graduation is not the end of their education, it ignores the reality that too many postsecondary institutions are fundamentally unprepared to see students, especially first-generation college-goers, through to a degree. That problem includes the schools Chicago students are most likely to attend and reveals a weak underbelly to the mayor’s vision.

Elsewhere in mayors, The New York Times takes a look at Mayor de Blasio’s new education idea.  Or, rather, the Times runs some talking points about it. Readers are left to speculate on actual performance data for the mayor’s ideas, other ideas like charters in New York City, or what’s happening in the city’s school’s in general. They did find enough real estate for a graf with a swipe at Trump.

Everyone’s a critic! Here’s Jeb Bush on The Times’ Florida voucher coverage:

Nor can I believe that in all the Times’s reporting, not one parent could be found whose child is flourishing in a McKay school.

Here’s an in-depth and hysterical-free look at how vouchers are playing out in Indiana.

Don’t miss this Nick Ehrmann article on the puzzle of underachievement. And The Times takes a look at “free” college lessons.

Jay Mathews looks at the question of whether ultra-rigorous schools – in this case charter schools – are a good idea. Seems to me the answer is obviously yes, it provides a public option for parents and more customization for kids. And few crusade against public magnets and other similar options so this is really a charter debate, not a what’s good for kids argument. But, and this seems like the harder question, how do we systemically approach education in a city or elsewhere to make sure all students have quality options and make sure that there is not simply a flow of students to less demanding options and lower-quality options? That’s a problem a lot of places are still struggling with – especially as charter schooling grows.

Entitlement spending or a lack of entitlement reform or a lack of taxes, depending on your perspective, is creating a squeeze play on a variety of other programs that matter to Americans.

Via ECS here’s a handy overview of charter accountability in the ESSA era.

A day late: Rock star moms via one Virginia teacher (and rock mom).