Washington D.C. – We are pleased to join many of our colleagues in the education community in supporting the Secure Our Schools Act, sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Cornyn (R-TX). The bill authorizes funding for evidence-based strategies and programs to prevent school violence. We recognize and thank the Senators for taking this action and ensuring that charter schools, as public schools, may participate.
This bill is a critical but modest step toward protecting our students and our teachers. That said, we believe that to truly protect our children, their families and educators, Congress must take even bolder steps immediately to stem the epidemic of gun violence that has infected our houses of worship, college campuses, our neighborhoods and other gathering places as well as our nation’s schools.
About Public Charter Schools
Public 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.
