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 FY2016 Labor-HHS Education bill that includes a funding increase of $20 million for the Charter Schools Program:
“We want to thank Chairman Thad Cochran and the committee for their commitment to public charter schools and the families they serve. The Charter Schools Program provides critical funds to open charter schools and expand or replicate high performing charter schools. With parent demand at an all-time high and over one million student names on charter school wait lists, this significant increase will help provide high-quality educational opportunities for students nationwide. The National Alliance is very grateful to Chairman Cochran and subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt for their support.”
About Public Charter SchoolsPublic 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, all but one independent research study has 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 SchoolsThe 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 visit our website at www.publiccharters.org.
