Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, issues the following statement on the Congressional Review Act to overturn the U.S. Department of Education’s Final Priorities, Requirements, Definitions, and Selection Criteria (NPP) for three grant competitions of the Charter Schools Program:
“The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the only federal program to support the growth of public charter schools across the country. When the U.S. Department of Education proposed new rules which were developed without stakeholder input, in violation of the statute, it could only be interpreted as a direct threat to the existence of these unique public schools. Nearly 27,000 individuals commented on the proposed CSP regulations.
“Despite modifications made by the U.S. Department of Education to the final rule, we remain concerned that the regulations will delay or prevent thousands of students from accessing seats in high-quality schools with its burdensome requirements. We are grateful our charter school supporters in Congress share these concerns and are taking action. We particularly applaud Senator Tim Scott and Congressman John Moolenaar’s joint resolution to overturn the rules.
“Last week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released Long-Term Trend data with sobering results across the board that only serve to confirm our nation must do all it can to undo the harm the pandemic brought on student learning. It’s more important than ever to support charter schools, which overwhelmingly serve students who are Black, Hispanic, or from low-income families—those who suffered the greatest learning losses during the pandemic.”