On March 19th, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed a bill that will soon bring charter schools to the state, making it the 42nd state to allow them (citation). And charter school advocates show no sign of stopping until they pass laws in all 50 states.
The widget below shows that Kentucky, Montana and West Virginia also have bills moving through their legislatures (including West Virginia’s SB14, which should get its House floor vote any day now).
Charter schools can be controversial. Advocates (and I include myself in that camp) say that charter schools allow for the most local control, provide a platform for innovative or disruptive experiments in teaching and learning, and school choice for families often left with no other options for quality education for their students.
Detractors will say that charter schools pull resources from already struggling public schools, that charter schools may or may not have certified teachers, and that charter schools lack accountability because they are usually not under the control of the local school board.
However, I believe even the most passionate advocates will admit that simply passing a charter school laws is not where the advocacy ends. Once passed, many charter school advocates face a myriad of bills in every state. While charter schools usually have charter specific bills to follow, charter school supporters often find themselves on the same side with traditional public school supporters on issues such as state per pupil funding, common core or other state standards of learning, student privacy and school safety issues.
Click here to see the more than 1,700 bills that simply contain the words “charter school(s)”
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