Charter School Association of Nevada
Legislative Outlook 2017
Chartering better education for Nevada
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Let us know if your school is in the news!
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Charter Leader's Discussion-- This Monday!
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Phone number: 1-480-385-2536
Access code: 4867-458
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Charter and Magnet Schools Among Best in U.S.
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Charter and magnet schools rank among the best in the country at a time when the Trump administration is pushing a pro-school choice policy agenda and proposing billions in federal funding to give parents and students more educational options.
Among the top performers are BASIS charter schools, whose Arizona campuses in Scottsdale, Tucson, Oro Valley and Peoria rank Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5, respectively. The charter school operator is known for rigorous coursework and accelerated classes.
Other charter school operators that made a splash: KIPP schools received 11 nods in the rankings and YES Prep garnered six.
Charter and magnet schools have historically done well in the rankings because of the emphasis they place on college readiness and college-level courses – one part of U.S. News' methodology. But their prominence in the rankings comes as the sectors are booming. Charter schools, in particular, have seen an explosion in growth over the past decade – a 100 percent increase in the number of students enrolled since the 2007-2008 school year.
Nearly 2.7 million students were enrolled in charter schools during the 2014-2015 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The 6,600-school sector is present in all but six states that don’t have charter school laws on the books.
Moreover, President Donald Trump recently included $1.4 billion in new funding for school choice policies in his fiscal 2018 budget proposal, including a $168 million boost for charter schools and $1 billion in Title I funding for poor students to use at the public school of their choice.
“Charter schools continue to be one of the most popular reform strategies there is,” says Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think-tanks that supports the expansion of charter schools.
“It has this built-in positive which is it has created a powerful political bloc of parents who like their charter schools and will defend them if they are threatened, and that’s something new in education reform,” he says. “It’s not just a bunch of policy wonks pushing them. That makes it something that’s quite sustainable politically, and I think we’ll continue to see it grow.”
Notably, charter and magnet schools are public schools – as are all the schools in the high schools rankings – and are separate from various private school choice policies that the administration is also touting, such as private school vouchers, scholarship tax credits and education savings accounts.
Opponents criticize those programs for sending public dollars to schools that cannot be held accountable because they’re privately run and aren’t held to the same standards as public schools. But even charter and magnet schools receive their fair share of opposition.
Indeed, BASIS schools were skewered in an op-ed last month in The Washington Post for their high attrition rates, for opening schools in wealthy neighborhoods, and for their over-enrollment of white and Asian students and under-enrollment of students of color, especially Latino students, compared to the populations in their communities.
“It’s not like the opponents of charter schools are letting up or changing their minds and saying, ‘Wow these results are really impressive, I guess we’ll support them after all,’” Petrilli says. “Teachers unions continue to see them as a threat, especially in cities, and are acting accordingly.”
On the whole, though, school choice is having a moment. Just last week, for example, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the organization that represents every state education chief, named a charter school teacher the teacher of the year for the first time.
The U.S News rankings assesses more than 22,000 eligible high schools, a list that’s whittled down to about 6,000 medal-winning schools by taking into account a variety of factors, such as graduation rates, performance on state assessments and student participation in and performance on Advanced Placement tests.
For this article and more by U.S. News and World Reports click here
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KCBD – April 27th, 2017
he Texas Senate has approved public charter schools receiving state funding to cover facilities costs for the first time. New Braunfels Republican Sen. Donna Campbell's bill had mandated $400-plus million for charter schools' building and facilities over two years. But an amendment Thursday by Austin Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson reduced that to $100 million, with half going to traditional public schools.
CBS Boston – April 24th, 2017
For the first time in its 65-year history, the award for National Teacher of the Year has gone to a teacher from Massachusetts.
Livingston Daily – April 27th, 2017
Former Michigan Gov. John Engler praised Charyl Stockwell Academy District at the charter school district's 20th anniversary celebration Thursday. Engler, who served three terms as governor beginning in 1990, supports public schools of choice and funding charter schools with state dollars. As governor, he pushed for the passage of the Michigan Charter School Act in 1994.
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Opinion/Commentary Articles
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Please Note: The following is a sampling of opinion articles about charter schools that appeared in the media. The opinions in these articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Charter School Association of Nevada (CSAN).
The Press Enterprise – April 23rd, 2017
A new labor-backed study charges that California charter schools are opening schools where they aren’t needed, but parents — not special interests or governmental bodies — should be the final judges.
The report from In the Public Interest criticizes charters for opening in areas where there is existing classroom space in traditional public schools, criticizes them for using public funds for their facilities — as they are entitled to do under Proposition 39, passed by voters in 2000 — and alleges that they are misusing funds.
Anti-charter bill would harm students, not help them
The Los Angeles Daily News – April 27th, 2017
Dressed up in rhetoric of accountability, local control and transparency, Senate Bill 808 is little more than an attempt by California teachers unions to restrict charter schools.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, would limit opportunities for charter schools to be authorized and reauthorized, make it easier for charter applications to be denied and undercut the due process for charter applicants.
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Education Blogs, Forums and Resources
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Below are some other great education reform news, blog and discussion sites that may be of interest:
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