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Call to Action 3/2/2021

Call to Action - Charter Schools on Education Committee Agenda Tomorrow

Call to Action
 / 2 March 2021 / 0 Comments / jen@iowaschool…

CALL TO ACTION

Charter Schools Education Committee Tomorrow

March 2, 2021

Download the full Call to Action - Charter Schools on Education Committee Agenda Tomorrow

Wednesday’s House Education Committee lists HSB 242 Charter Schools on the agenda.

UEN provided testimony at the Subcommittee meeting today found on the UEN web site at: https://www.uen-ia.org/uen-statement-hsb-242-subcommittee-charter-schools. Rep. Wheeler chaired the subcommittee and voted to move the bill forward. Rep. Ingels on the Subcommittee said he was primarily interested in Charter Schools that were chartered by school boards, but voted to move the bill forward. Rep. Mascher was also on the subcommittee, but did not vote to move the bill forward.

Please contact your Representative on the Committee and ask them to vote no on Charter Schools that are founded by an outside group, without school board approval. See last week’s Report for a detailed description of the bill, if you have additional questions.

In addition to the talking points in the testimony shared with the Subcommittee, here’s another resource. ISFIS summarized a report, Review of Separating Fact & Fiction, by Mary Miron, Western Michigan University, and William Mathis and Kevin Welner, University of Colorado, Boulder, February 2015. Find the ISFIS Summary for additional thoughts to share. Key points to stress:

  • Charter schools run by private companies are not subject to the same transparency and oversight as public schools.
  • Charter schools run by private companies are just like vouchers: they shift resources from public schools to private schools and do not perform any better for needy students.
  • Public dollars should be used for public purposes.
  • Charter schools that fail to open due to low enrollment or close due to financial or performance reasons require public schools to pick up the tab. The Fiscal Note for SF 259, the Governor’s School Choice bill, noted that those closures would come at the expense of property taxes through SBRC authority. Forbes Magazine in 2018 stated that over 2,500 charter schools had closed in the last decade due to financial or performance issues, or both.

Here is the list of legislators who would benefit from your outreach before the Committee tomorrow, which is scheduled for 2:00 PM. If you hear anything back, please let us know.

 

 

Call to Action