Washington, D.C. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement regarding the conference committee deal on the reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA):
“The National Alliance congratulates the conference committee for taking another step forward in the bipartisan effort to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. While we have not yet seen the full text of the conference agreement, we are pleased to learn the proposal would modernize the Charter Schools Program, supporting the growth and expansion of high-quality charter schools to better meet parental demand.
“The National Alliance also appreciates that the agreement would retain annual assessments in reading and math, ensuring continued access to disaggregated data and helping parents make more informed decisions about their child’s education. We look forward to reviewing the full proposal, and hope the final language will lay the strong foundation necessary to help every student regardless of income or circumstance have the choices and opportunities necessary for success.”
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.
