Okay, the public may not really confuse the charter school down the street with Hogwarts, but they have a little trouble separating fact from fiction on this subject. 

Here are a few innaresting findings on charter schools from yesterday's PDK/Gallup poll:

• 53% of respondents say charter schools are not public schools
  
• 50% say charters are free to teach religion
• 60% say charter schools can charge tuition
  
• 58% say charters can select students based on ability
• 99% say the next Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor is not going to last long
  

The PDK/Gallup folks gave Chester Finn space for a short commentary.  Finn -- no demagogue, he -- took the opportunity to say that anyone who finds any good news about public schools in the PDK/Gallup polls is an evil-doing tree-hugger softie who should be kept 500 feet from any school.  At least that's the way I read it.  He also noted that a majority of respondents favored Hogwarts charters. 

Other survey findings discussed in this earlier post.