Success and Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member, thank you for the kind words.
I want to thank Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for their hard work. Particularly in a week where this body has been divided over issues like Benghazi and Lois Lerner, how wonderful that we can come together around our most underserved kids and families to help extend the hope and opportunity of a quality charter school to more families.
Most Members of this House have already voted for the provisions of this bill. Substantially, a nearly identical bill was included in the Republican ESEA reauthorization, H.R. 5. All but 12 Republicans voted for that bill. Almost identical language was included in the Democratic substitute for ESEA reauthorization as well. Only two Democrats voted against that bill. The vast majority, everybody in this body, except for 14 people in this session, this 113th Congress, have voted for the provisions of this bill.
Those bills, the Democrat substitute and ESEA reauthorization, have an enormous gap between where they were. Democrats and Republicans had a different vision for accountability, the role of the Federal Government, so many issues within that. So why not take language that is nearly identical in both of those bills with regard to reauthorization of the Federal Charter Schools Program and combine it into a standalone bill that can actually pass this body and pass the Senate.
We have done enough of these one-party bills. I know when we were in the majority we did them as well, where the House acts, and we yell at the Senate for not acting; they act, and they yell at us for not acting. Here is a bill, Mr. Chairman, that, with a strong vote on the floor of the House, can send a message to the Senate that while perhaps we cannot agree on the entirety of ESEA reauthorization, yes, we can agree on upgrading the Federal Charter Schools Program first conceived in 1994 to the 2.0 version.
What does that mean, Mr. Chairman? What do these improvements in this bill mean? They are commonsense improvements. They are neither Republican nor Democratic. They simply make the bill better to make sure that our very limited Federal investment that we have, the limited resources we have, is spent and invested in a way to have the maximum possible outcome in ensuring that kids across the country have access to a quality public charter school.
For instance, rather than just supporting the formation of entirely new charter schools that are innovative, under this bill we now allow the funds to be used for expansion and replication of successful models, models that we know work, schools that we know work, schools that are transforming lives and restoring hope to families across our country if only they can expand, if only we can have more to serve kids.
We have also heard from our constituents across the country complaints that some charter schools perhaps don't serve enough special ed students or enough English language learners or enough free and reduced lunch students.
Under the old language of this authorization that we still have, charter schools that receive these funds are actually prevented from remedying that. They are not allowed to have anything other than a pure lottery with regard to determining their student composition.
What we now allow with this bill is a weighted lottery to give charter schools, in concert with their authorizing entity, the ability to make sure that they can serve the most at-risk kids, pursuant to their mission; they can serve special-needs kids, commensurate with the district averages; they can serve English language learners, and make sure that they can fulfill their mission, rather than have some of those students squeezed out by those who are in a better position to exercise their school choice because they are better informed and better connected.
The underlying bill improves charter school access and services for all students. It truly will help ensure that the limited Federal investment we have makes the biggest single difference for families across our country.
Mr. Chairman, public charter schools are simply public schools with site-based governance. Public charter schools are free to innovate when it comes to scheduling the learning day, uniforms, staffing, curriculum, and yet they are accountable for student outcomes, and this bill adds additional layers of accountability and transparency to ensure that this Federal investment has the maximum possible effect.
I am proud that before I served in this body, Mr. Chairman, I founded two public charter schools--New America School in Colorado, and now New Mexico, and the Academy of Urban Learning in Denver. New American School works with 16- to 21-year-old new immigrants to help them learn the English language and even how to access a college education.
Mr. Chairman, absent a Federal charter school program I don't think I even could have started that charter school. Hundreds and thousands of charter schools that have benefited from this program across the country will tell you the same story.
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Mr. POLIS. Before the State or district money for a public charter school begins, before the doors open, there are expenses. Principals and teachers have to be hired, classrooms have to be configured and outfitted. That is what this money allows. Coupled with strong support from the nonprofit sector and from foundations, we have helped give with this program life to the ideas that have existed in the minds of social entrepreneurs and that have been transformative in the lives of kids and families.
However, Mr. Chairman, not all public charter schools are high quality, just as all district schools are not high quality. That is why H.R. 10 adds strong protections to ensure that public charter schools are accountable that they serve low-income kids and English language learners and at-risk kids.
We invest in quality authorizing practices. What does that mean? Well, there are two possible thoughts in authorizing. An authorizing entity like a district can hand out charters. Too easy? Hand out them out like candy to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes in, including low quality providers who have no sense of how to put together a school budget. Or they can lack quality by never handing one out to anybody because they view them as competition with the district.
But a quality authorizing practice is if you have a great idea and evidence that it will work, sound budgetary policy, and a team that will make a public school work for kids, you should be able to receive that charter and operate that school. We raised the bar on authorizing practices, something on which the original authorization for this program was silent.
For those on my side of the aisle who are skeptical of public charter schools, this bill brings stronger protections for oversight, transparency, and accountability. This program, the Federal charter school program, will exist under the old authorization or the new authorization.
I implore my colleagues on my side of the aisle to support the new and better 2.0 version for all of the Democratic priorities. Whether you like charter schools or not, this program is simply better under this bill. This bill has gotten better through every phase of the process--better than the bill in last Congress, better than the bill as part of the ESEA reauthorization of the Republican bill, better than the Democratic substitute. And now as a stand-alone bill, we have the ability to send a message to the Senate and a bill to President Obama's desk.
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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Chairman, I want to discuss today some of the priorities that Democrats have, which are important to Members of my party, which are included in this bill.
I hope that those on my side of the aisle who are listening tonight--or the capable Education LAs who are listening tonight, who will hopefully advise their bosses to vote ``yes'' tomorrow--will listen to how so many of our Democratic priorities are in the bill.
First of all, this bill makes sure that charter schools do not have entrance requirements, that they don't charge tuition, are not religious, and don't discriminate against students on any basis.
We also make sure that low-performing or financially irresponsible charter schools are closed and that the authorizer intercedes. We also have language in here that gives public charter schools additional tools to make sure that they recruit and serve students with disabilities.
We also improve performance oversight and the management for public charter schools, new provisions about transparency, and evaluation practices. We make sure that each public charter school considers input from parents and community members with regard to the operation of the school.
The public charter schools abide by civil rights laws, in that they can't charge tuition. We make sure that public charter schools have the same audit requirements as traditional public schools, in order to prevent fiscal mismanagement and fraud.
These are some of the reasons, Mr. Chairman, that I encourage my colleagues on my side of the aisle to upgrade this authorization--to upgrade from the version passed in 1994--to a new and better version that incorporates almost two decades of learning about what works and doesn't work within the public charter school movement.
Those on my side of the aisle support good public schools, whether they are district schools, whether they are neighborhood schools, whether they are public magnet schools, whether they are public charter schools, whether they are schools of choice operated by the district. We want to make sure that every family has access to a good, high-quality public education.
Public charter schools are not the silver bullet alone. They are not going to fix everything that is wrong and that needs to be improved about public education in the country.
What they do offer are examples of hope and opportunity for the kids they serve. Too many families, Mr. Chairman--almost a million families across the country--are languishing on the waiting lists for public charter schools; and they are forced to attend worse schools because the capacity doesn't exist to serve them.
This bill will allow quality public charter schools to expand, to replicate, and to serve more children, in order to help reduce that number. It will make sure that other generations of Americans--particularly Americans in poverty--are not consigned to lives of reliance on government programs or on an inability to attend college, but to, instead, have every opportunity that this country can provide because they have had a good education.
In the 21st century, Mr. Chairman, a good education is more important than ever for one to be in the American middle class and to live the American Dream. At the very time that it is becoming more important than ever, we need to redouble our efforts to ensure that every family has access to a high-quality school. That is why I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.
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