This policy paper outlines a set of proposals that would allow states to use School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds to open new and expand existing high-quality public charter schools. In January 2014, Congress took action to broaden states uses of SIG funds.
Between the 2008-09 and 2013-14 school years, the public charter school movement experienced a dramatic 80 percent increase in the number of students and an astounding 40 percent increase in the number of schools.
Each year the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools provides estimates of the number of student names and individual students on charter school waiting lists. In 2013-14, there were an estimated 1,034,311 names and 586,511 individual students on charter school waiting lists.
Over the past several years, state lawmakers have been devoting increasing attention to enacting legislation to better support the growth of high-quality public charter schools.
Each year, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools contacts state departments of education and state charter school associations to obtain lists of new and closed charter schools for the academic year. The numbers presented in this report are estimates.
In this report, we evaluate each states charter school law against the 20 essential components of a strong public charter school law. These 20 components are drawn from National Alliances A New Model Law For Supporting The Growth Of High-Quality Public Charter Schools.
The latest data on public charter school enrollment demonstrate once again that public charter schools are the fastest-growing sector of public education in the United States. Over the past five years, student enrollment in public charter schools has grown by 80 percent.
In November 2012, Washington state voters became the first in the country to approve a public charter school law by a ballot initiative. Initiative 1240 authorized the creation of 40 charter schools over the next five years beginning with the 2014 school year.
Application of National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for leave to file Amicus Curiae Brief
