National Alliance Applauds President’s Strong Commitment to Charter Schools in FY2017 Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Obama unveiled his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2017, which includes $350 million for the Charter Schools Program – a 5 percent increase over the $333 million included in the FY2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act. National Alliance President and CEO Nina Rees released the following statement in response to the president’s announcement:

“Throughout his administration, President Obama has been a strong supporter of charter public schools. The charter school movement is grateful for the president’s support, and we applaud his final budget proposal, which provides critically needed funding for the Charter Schools Program (CSP). This funding will allow more high-quality charter schools to open, expand, and replicate, and allow more students to access the great education they deserve.

“In the current school year, more than 250,000 new students are attending charter public schools, bringing nationwide enrollment to nearly 3 million students. Yet 1 million names are still on charter school waitlists. Increased funding for the CSP is essential to expanding charter school capacity and reducing these waitlists.

“We appreciate the president’s show of support through this budget increase, but we must not forget that charter schools are still underfunded compared to traditional public schools. Research has consistently shown that charter schools – despite producing strong learning gains for students and closing achievement gaps – still suffer from serious funding inequity. We urge state legislatures to improve funding for charter schools to ensure that more families in the United States have an equal opportunity to send their children to high-quality public schools.”

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 sector. For more information, please visit www.publiccharters.org .