Opinion

RANDI’S CHARTER-SCHOOL REVELATION

Sometimes wisdom comes from un likely sources.

Thus it was with United Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten, who gave a surprising boost to charter schools Thursday at a forum on teacher compensation.

“We can use charter schools not only for experimentation with instructional practice, but also with labor-relations practice,” she said.

As it happens, Weingarten was referring to recent UFT efforts to unionize the successful KIPP Amp charter school in Brooklyn.

But we can’t think of a better way to put the case for all charters.

Labor relations, after all, are the biggest part of what make charter schools unique: Nearly all of them have no unions whatsoever.

And it’s precisely the freedom from burdensome union rules that allows charter administrators to run their schools as best they can — including by firing teachers who can’t make the grade.

Actually, this “experiment” has already turned out to be a smashing success.

Charter schools regularly rout traditional public schools on standardized tests, and parents are turning out in greater and greater numbers to try to get their kids in.

Indeed, fully 5,000 kids showed up last week for a lottery for 450 spots at Harlem Success Academy charter schools.

Unfortunately, Weingarten’s UFT has been the chief culprit in stifling the growth of charters even further.

So it’s good to see that — just maybe — she’s starting to come around.