Throughout the 1990s and well into the new millennium, the massive Los Angeles Unified School District barely noticed the many charter schools that were springing up around the metropolis. But Los Angeles parents certainly took notice, and started enrolling their children. In 2008, five charter-management organizations announced plans to dramatically expand their school portfolios, and now more than 100,000 L.A. students attend independent charters (see Figure 1). Another 40,000 students are enrolled in dependent charters, which are created by the district and considered part of the district's portfolio of schools. Many people, including some wealthy philanthropists, are eager to accelerate that growth, while the district--and the teachers union--want to rein it in. The conflict between the two camps has polarized not just families and educators but the entire city. Last fall, after someone leaked a private multimillion-dollar plan to vastly expand the number of charter schools in the district, the hostilities rose to new heights. For now, the future of the Los Angeles schools remains both troubled and cloudy. It's possible that the conflict will bring new accommodations between the two sides. But it's equally possible that the leaked plan to dramatically increase the number of high-performing charters will, ironically, result in fewer charters.