In 1998, the San Francisco Board of Education granted a charter to Edison Schools, Inc., to manage the Edison Charter Academy. In 2001, it commenced a formal investigation of complaints that Edison had materially violated its charter and notified the school of its intent to revoke the charter. This briefing traces the events from the commencement of the investigation to the development of a parent advocacy group. It discusses a possible role for the state in addressing the situation and describes the growing divide between liberal education reactionaries and the minorities they purportedly represent. The major charges included material violations in matters concerning teacher turnover, charter governance, bilingual education, academic achievement, and counseling out of African American, low-income, and special education students. The investigation found that from 1999-2000 the school's academic achievement scores rose at a greater rate than nearly all of the district's 73 elementary schools; African American and Hispanic students improved their scores by 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively; most parents and teachers signed a petition supporting the charter; the shift in minority student populations followed a uniform district-wide trend; and the board could not provide names of African American parents who were counseled out. (Contains 36 endnotes, 5 tables, and 1 figure.) (SM)