National School Choice Week Kicks Off

This week, the Charter Blog will follow the National School Choice Week whistle stop tour—profiling public charter school facts along the tour route.
National School Choice Week, which brings together awareness and advocacy activities based on the belief that parents should be empowered to choose the best educational environments for their children, kicked off a whistle stop tour last Friday. Today, the tour is stopping in Topeka, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas ranked 39th (out of 42) on our 2012 model law rankings (check here tomorrow for new 2013 rankings), which find its public charter school legislation could use improvements across the board. However, the Walton Rural Life Center, located 30 miles north of Wichita, is cited as a strong example of using the public charter school model to serve rural populations. While there are not very many public charter schools in Kansas, when you cross the border to Missouri, Kansas City is #3 on the top market share list, and St. Louis is tied for the #5 spot. Missouri was ranked 18th out of 42 on our 2012 model law. At the time of the 2012 rankings release, Missouri charter law only allowed public charter schools in the Kansas City and St. Louis school districts. During the 2012 legislative session, SB 576—a bill expanding public charter schools—was passed. Check here tomorrowto see how SB 576 impacted Missouri’s 2013 model law ranking.