WASHINGTON, D.C. – House and Senate appropriators reached agreement today on a conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.
The conference report provides $440 million for the Charter Schools Program (CSP), which marks the highest-ever funding level in the program’s more than 20-year history. The CSP supports the creation of new public charters schools and the replication of charter schools that are producing results for students.
National Alliance President and CEO Nina Rees has released the following statement:
“We are very pleased with the record-high funding level for the CSP, which will help meet the needs and desires of American families who want to send their children to charter schools but can’t because demand outstrips supply. We commend Senate Labor HHS-Education Subcommittee Chairman Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Murray (D-WA), as well as House Subcommittee Chairman Cole (R-OK) and Ranking Member DeLauro (D-CT), for their bipartisan effort to grow the Charter Schools Program.
While the new funding levels for the CSP will help serve more students, the need for charter school funding is enormous. We look forward to the day when all parent demand is met with access to a high-quality public school and urge Congress to act quickly to pass the conference report and send it to President Trump for his signature.”
About Public Charter Schools
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.
