Washington, D.C. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools President and CEO Nina Rees expressed her strong support for the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 in a letter today as Congress approaches final action on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The letter, written to Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Scott, Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray, thanked the lawmakers for their leadership and bipartisan efforts to update and modernize the Charter Schools Program and ESEA.
“The charter public school movement has undergone tremendous change and experienced significant growth since Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the Charter Schools Program was ready for an update,” said Rees. “The new law will strengthen public education by supporting the growth of high-quality charter public schools and increasing educational opportunities for all students.”
“We encourage the House and Senate to pass this important legislation and send to President Obama for his signature. We look forward to working with the U.S. Department of Education on the successful implementation of this law,” said Rees.
About Charter Schools
Charter 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 movement. For more information, please visit www.publiccharters.org.
