Washington, D.C. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement today on the Ohio Legislatures passage of House Bill 2:
“We commend the Ohio Legislature for taking some important steps to reform Ohio’s public charter school law. Currently ranked number 28 out of 43, Ohio’s law needed improvement in several areas. By passing House Bill 2, the Ohio Legislature addresses several of the laws weaknesses. We are particularly pleased to see the provisions in House Bill 2 that will increase the independence of public charter schools from their authorizers and management companies and those that will strengthen accountability for schools and authorizers. On the whole, these changes are good news for Ohio’s students.
“We urge Gov. Kasich to sign House Bill 2 into law as soon as possible. We also urge the Ohio Department of Education and all of the other relevant entities to implement the law in such a way as to increase the number of high-quality schools and authorizers in the state, while decreasing the number of schools and authorizers that are low-performing.”
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, manyresearch studieshavefound 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 www.publiccharters.org.
