It’s not often that one thinks about William Shakespeare while advocating for public charter schools. But I found myself doing just that a few days ago at the kick-off event for the new Kentucky Charter Schools Association at which there were two Republican U.S. Senators (Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul) and one Democratically affiliated education reform organization (Democrats for Education Reform). NAPCS and the Black Alliance for Educational Options also participated in the event.
The phrase “politics makes strange bed fellows” is adapted from a line in Shakespeare’s Tempest, where a man who has been shipwrecked finds himself seeking shelter beside a sleeping monster. In the unpredictable world of public charter school advocacy, we also see unlikely allies coming together, as we did last week in Kentucky. In fact, one of the major strengths of the charter movement is the diverse range of support it receives – from the left to the right. At the highest levels of the federal government, we’ve had support throughout the administrations of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In Congress, the only public education reform issue (and one of the only public policy matters) to garner bipartisan support recently has been public charter schools, as best exemplified by the House’s vote in support of a charter school bill in September 2011 by a vote of 365-54. From the Democratic Party, we’ve received strong support from the likes of Congressman George Miller (D-CA), Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and others. From the Republican Party, we’ve benefited from the backing of individuals like Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Congressman John Kline (R-MN), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and others. In state capitols around the nation, charter schools can also bring together people who otherwise may have little in common. In Mississippi, Democrats like Senator Sampson Jackson, Senator Willie Simmons, Representative Chuck Espy, Representative Bennett Malone, and Representative Deborah Dixon joined Republicans Governor Phil Bryant, Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, Senator Gray Tollison, Representative John Moore, and Representative Charles Busby to enact legislation overhauling the state’s charter school law earlier this year. And last fall in Georgia, a bipartisan effort helped ensure the passage of a state constitutional amendment allowing the state to create an authorizing board for charter schools. We saw Republican Governor Nathan Deal and Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones join Democratic Representatives Alicia Morgan and Margaret Kaiser, the first sponsors of the original constitutional amendment resolution, in this historic win for families and children. As we continue to navigate the political challenges facing public charter schools, building and maintaining bipartisan coalitions will be essential to winning the day for the 2.3 million students enrolled in public charter schools, the more than one million names on charter school waiting lists, and the millions of children who don’t have a chance to attend a charter school because their state does not allow them. Lisa Grover is the senior director of state advocacy for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
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