Charter School Comments Filed With Department Of Education

Washington, D.C. – Today, Club for Growth Foundation filed comments with the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) opposing their proposed plan to undermine a long-standing bipartisan charter school grant program. This program has provided high-quality educational opportunities to countless underserved students from hundreds of charter schools across the country. The proposed rules from the DOE thwart and contradict the statutory purpose of expanding student access to high-quality charter schools, by imposing additional, unnecessary, and inappropriate regulatory requirements on charter schools.

Club for Growth President David McIntosh said, “Club for Growth applauds Club for Growth Foundation’s submission of comments in strong opposition to this radical proposal designed to restrict access to high-quality charter schools. Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise that Biden continues to put his political alliance with corrupt and failed education bureaucrats before the needs of children.”

The Foundation’s complete report can be found HERE, some highlights include:

• Opposition to looking at the existing number of public-school seats available in a district to determine if there is a need for charter schools. Open seats in a district’s traditional public school environment do not mean we should halt the expansion of charter school options. Students in underperforming public school systems are more likely to leave in search of better educational opportunities, such as charter programs, leading to lower enrollment. Limiting access to charter schools based on this criteria continues the harmful practice of funding existing, and often poor-functioning, systems instead of students.
• Requiring charter school students to have racial and economic diversity means that many charter schools sited to serve the neediest students would never be approved. These charter schools attract a higher percentage of minority and low-income families looking to escape failing public schools because they are not meeting their educational needs.
• Requiring an applicant for a charter school grant to prove collaboration with regular public schools or districts, effectively gives school districts the ability to veto the opening of charter schools. For example, the charter might agree to collaborate on student transportation, but the district will only agree to collaborate if the charter limits student enrollment, caps grades served, will not locate a school close to existing districts schools, etc., all measures designed to impede, if not stop, new charter schools.

The primary mission of Club for Growth Foundation, which submitted the comments to the DOE, is to inform citizens of the benefits of economic freedom and limited government. As part of this mission, the Foundation educates the public about the benefits of free-market choices in education, including the creation of high-quality public charter schools.