Washington, D.C. – Public charter schools need federal support. That was the message from Nina Rees, president and CEO at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools as she testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education about the importance of the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP). In her testimony, Rees outlined the success of the charter school movement and its impact on communities across the country, and addressed the urgent need for increased funding for the Charter Schools Program.
The CSP is a federal program, currently funded at $253 million, which provides funds to help new charter schools open, replicate and expand the most successful of charter school models, and support the financing of charter school facilities. CSP has provided start up funds to more than 4,200 schools so far.
“Today, nearly 3 million children are attending more than 6,700 public charter schools in 43 states and D.C. Most recently, Oklahoma enacted a law to expand charter schools throughout the state and Alabama authorized charter schools for the first time, becoming the 43rd state with a charter school law,” said Rees. “Charter schools have become a prominent component of the public school landscape in many communities because they offer students and parents high-quality educational options.”
However, there is a great unmet demand for seats in charter schools, and Rees urged public officials at all levels to do more to meet that demand. For example, the National Alliance found that there were more than a million student names on charter school waiting lists nationally in school year 2013-2014. Rees explained that increased CSP funding will help charter schools to get off the ground and enable replication and expansion of successful charter models.
“In addition to opening new charter schools, charter schools also need support in financing and securing adequate facilities,” said Rees. “State and local programs often do not provide charter schools with the same support for capital expenses as is available to traditional schools. In those cases, charter school operators typically have to scramble to find acceptable facilities.”
Rees commended the Administration for including $375 million for CSP in its budget and asked Congress to support this funding level to ensure sufficient funding to open new charter schools in as many states as possible.
About Public Charter Schools
Public 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 independent 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 visit our website at www.publiccharters.org.
