National Alliance Responds to President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Washington, D.C. – Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement in response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address:

“Tonight, President Obama outlined the accomplishments of his administration. Another accomplishment that he did not mention is that the funding of the federal Charter Schools Program has grown more than $117 million to $333 million under his tenure. This bipartisan effort has resulted in the growth and replication of high-performing charter schools, and we hope the president and Congress continue to prioritize charter schools in the FY 2017 budget.

“Recognizing that this is the president's final State of the Union speech, the National Alliance thanks President Obama for his support of charter schools, and we look forward to working with his administration in its final year.”

About Charter Schools
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 movement. For more information, please visit www.publiccharters.org.