Washington, D.C. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools president and CEO Nina Rees released the following statement today in response to the Senate Appropriations Committee passage of the FY 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Labor-HHS) that includes an increase of $10 million for the Charter Schools Program for FY 2017:
“We are deeply appreciative that the Senate Appropriations Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Cochran and Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, provided a significant funding increase for the Charter Schools Program. This three percent increase means expanded opportunities for students through support for the start-up of new charter public schools and the ability to replicate and expand high-performing existing charter schools across the country. Parent demand for charter schools is at an all-time high, and we applaud the encouraging message of support this bill provides to those parents and communities fighting to bring high-quality charter schools to their children.”
About Charter Public Schools
Charter public schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Since 2010, many research studies have found that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. For example, one study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. Separate studies by the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Mathematica Policy Research have found that charter school students are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, stay in college and have higher earnings in early adulthood.
About the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter sector. For more information, please visitwww.publiccharters.org
