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Gates Foundation Calls for Lifting State Charter School Caps

With all the talk of massive federal spending increases Democrats have included in the so-called economic “stimulus” package (side note: what are States and school districts going to do when this money vanishes in two years?), we’ve been reading and re-reading a letter Bill Gates recently released on his foundation’s effort to improve America’s education system.  While the letter is definitely a good read for all of those stakeholders interested in improving student achievement, Mr. Gates’ call for lifting the artificial caps that many States have imposed on the creation of new charter schools, which is being led by many in the education establishment, is great news and one that we hope will be seriously considered by those offending States.

“…a few of the schools that we funded achieved something amazing. They replaced schools with low expectations and low results with ones that have high expectations and high results. These schools are not selective in whom they admit, and they are overwhelmingly serving kids in poor areas, most of whose parents did not go to college. Almost all of these schools are charter schools that have significantly longer school days than other schools…

"Based on what the foundation has learned so far, we have refined our strategy. We will continue to invest in replicating the school models that worked the best. Almost all of these schools are charter schools. Many states have limits on charter schools, including giving them less funding than other schools. Educational innovation and overall improvement will go a lot faster if the charter school limits and funding rules are changed.”

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 26 States have some type of limit on charter school growth with some States imposing more than one kind of restriction.  This artificial cap has and is stifling school reform movements all across the country.  Iowa, for example, imposes a limit of 20 charter schools in the entire state with not more than one per district.  In North Carolina, the state imposes a cap of 100 charters with five charters per district per year.  It’s no surprise, we guess, that when we see news articles and read reports about school districts making significant gains in raising reading and math achievement, they’re not from these States.

Posted by Education Policy Staff (01-29-2009, 10:52 AM) filed under Education

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