For those of you that have not heard the term, a charter school is a public school that gives parents an additional educational option for their students. They provide parents a different option or atmosphere for their student that may not be succeeding in their current setting. Charter schools are set up similar to most public schools. However, some cater to special needs or specific subjects, but all are held to the same accountability as traditional public schools. The charter schools in Indiana have been quite successful. The concept began in 2001 when we passed legislation to start the first charter school in Indiana. Since then, the state has 60 charter schools serving more than 22,000 students-and there are more than 3,500 students on a waiting list to attend. In the past, most charter schools have been in major cities, including Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Gary. However, we have received a lot of feedback from voters encouraging the legislature to make charter schools more accessible and available in other areas of the state. In fact, in the "Indiana K-12 & School Choice Survey," it was reported that 66 percent of Hoosier voters favor charter schools-only 16 percent opposed them. House Bill 1002 addresses this concern. The bill helps other communities create charter schools if they are desired. If a community wants to transform a public school into a charter school, the legislation would require 51 percent of the parents, 51 percent of the teachers or a school board vote to do so. And if after five years of operation, the school wants to convert back to a traditional public school, it would take the above options to convert it back. In addition to many other aspects of the bill, it would require a consistent transfer of credits for students who transfer from a charter school to another public school, and allow charter schools to lease or purchase an unused school building. Critics of charter schools say that we shouldn't be supporting "private schools," which is a huge misconception. Charter schools are indeed public schools that have to comply with the same performance standards as any other public school. This is, however, just one aspect of the education reform we have planned for this session. As I have said before, if you have any comments about ways to make our education system better, please share them. I continue to meet with local teachers, principals and superintendents in our community to hear their input and concerns-but anyone can join the conversation. Please voice your concerns regarding this issue by contacting me at 1-800-382-9841. |
