Washington, D.C. Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement after the passage of H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
"We commend the House for passing the Student Success Act. The bills charter schools provisions are similar to legislation introduced in the 113th Congress, H.R. 10, to reauthorize the Charter Schools Program (CSP). H.R. 10 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. The CSP provisions in H.R. 5 support the growth of high-quality public charter schools, thereby addressing parental demand, and providing public school choice options for thousands of students on charter school wait lists across the country.
"We are disappointed that H.R. 5 does not include stronger accountability provisions aimed at holding schools accountable for helping all students meet high standards and helping our nations worst performing schools but adds a provision that weakens student test participation requirements.
"Moving forward, the National Alliance is hopeful that a bipartisan ESEA reauthorization bill, which improves educational opportunities for all students, reaches President Obama's desk."
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 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 www.publiccharters.org.