Ineffective laws and overregulation are strangling education opportunity, CER charter school law research finds
(WASHINGTON, DC)—Despite increasing demand for charter schools throughout the United States, an increased supply of new education opportunities for students has been compromised. This is owing to poorly written charter school laws and overregulation in many states, according to a new report from the Center for Education Reform. The 2018 National Charter School Law and Rankings is “the Essential Guide to Charter School Laws,” and provides not only state by state analyses and data but research and case studies which make the case for radical change.
“There is a huge gap between the best and worst state charter school laws,” said CER’s Founder and CEO Jeanne Allen. “Too many states and some advocates have forgotten the vision that built the original charter school movement: providing more opportunity for innovation, freedom and flexibility to enable better, more individualized schools for students, families and educators.”
“Too often regulations and cookie-cutter accountability systems force charter schools to abandon their often unique and individualized approaches,” added Allen.
Only three states, Arizona, Indiana and Minnesota, as well as the District of Columbia, received an “A” grade in the 2018 Scorecard. At the bottom of the CER rankings are Alaska, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland, and Iowa, all of which received a grade of “F” in the Scorecard. Iowa has the dubious distinction of having the worst charter law in the country, and only 3 charter schools 22 years after passing its charter law. All the “F” states limit operations, funding and authorizers to local school districts only.
“When the latest National Assessments of Educational Progress (NAEP) are released on April 10, we know that even with modest progress, more than half of our children are lacking in critical competencies. We must stop the overreach into these critical innovations and once again allow innovation to thrive.”
The 2018 Essential Guide can be accessed and downloaded from the CER website by using this link.
