California Secretary of Education Alan Bersin hurled a dose of common sense at the crowd (and the education establishment) regarding school facilities for charter schools. Noting that while some districts in California are overcrowded, others have plenty of room to spare in their facilities due to declining enrollment. While the cash-strapped state is trying to free up funding for the construction of new public and charter schools, Bersin said charter school operators and school boards are going to have to start thinking more about the public interest and using existing space more efficiently.

"There is no use building new schools when there are empty schools a few blocks away," Bersin said, urging charter school people to engage local school boards on the issue.

The backstory for all of this is here, where the San Diego school board is doing everything in its power to keep public charter schools from using unused space in their buildings.