Washington, D.C. Senate Bill 782, which would allow charter schools to open throughout the state of Oklahoma, passed the House floor today by a vote of 64-31.
Nina Rees, president and CEO at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released the following statement:
“Thanks to the leadership of Rep. Lee Denney and Sen. Clark Jolley, we have taken a significant step toward meaningful education reform in Oklahoma. The passage of this bill will lead to more public school options for families across the state.
“According to our recent rankings report, Oklahoma has one of the weakest state public charter laws in the country. The current charter school law allows charters only in approximately four percent of the states school districts mostly those located in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. We expect Oklahoma will move significantly higher in our rankings if this bill becomes law.
“We want to take this opportunity to thank the bill sponsor Lee Denney in the House, for her leadership on behalf of the states students. We also want to thank the wide variety of organizations that have been working with us on this legislation, including the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association, the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, the Oklahoma State Chamber, the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration, and the Oklahoma State School Boards Association.
“We now urge the Senate to concur with House amendments and send the bill to Governor Mary Fallin to sign into law.”
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.
