The rankings are in: eight states get "As" for best
educational opportunities; others limit choice
2008 Charter school law rankings show uneven options based on geography
Parents and students in some states aren’t getting their money’s worth from their public school system and their state legislature, a new report found today.
The Center for Education Reform (CER), a Washington-based education reform advocacy group ranked each state based on the strength of its charter school laws and found significant disparities. For example, Minnesota had the strongest charter laws in the nation, while Mississippi had the weakest.
"If Mississippi parents want to get the most value out of the school taxes they pay, they may want to consider moving to Minnesota," Jeanne Allen, president of CER said. "The effectiveness of charter schools is directly related to the strength of the underlying laws. States with the strongest laws have the most successful schools and parents in those states are getting the best educational value."
Each state receives a grade, A through F, based on dozens of criteria including having multiple charter school authorizers; the limits placed on the number of schools allowed; funding that follows the students to whatever schools they attend, the ability for charters to operate without burdensome controls; and freedom from local collective bargaining obligations.
Minnesota leads a pack of 40 states and D.C. with the nation’s strongest charter school law, according to the annual analysis issued today. In all, eight states received an A. In addition to Minnesota the A states include the District of Columbia (2), Michigan (3), Arizona (4), California (5), Florida (6), Delaware (7) and Indiana (8).
Allen went to point out that parents often spend much time reviewing college rankings when deciding where their child should attend and ought to pay similar attention to the rankings of their states K-12 school system.
In all, more than half the nation’s 41 charter school laws have created a strong environment for charter schools to open and grow, earning a grade of A or B. Nineteen states rate a C or below, two of which received a failing grade of F (Iowa and Mississippi). Link here for chart.
Charter schools are independent public schools, designed by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs and others who want to provide quality education tailored to student need. Charters operate outside the educational bureaucracy that too often stifles innovation in traditional public schools.
The Center for Education Reform has, since 1995, produced the only multi-sourced and real time data on the growth of the charter schools, including state by state enrollment, demographics and trends. The Center's research is consistently cited by news organizations and other education reform groups. In addition to supporting broad activities on all education reforms that promote freedom and accountability, CER is the only school reform organization to annually evaluate and rank charter school laws and aggressively advocate for their improvement among policymakers and activists.
Click here for state-by-state law rankings and profiles.
Click here for Charter Laws at a Glance.
Click here for additional information on Charter School Laws.
###
The Center for Education Reform (CER) creates opportunities for and challenges obstacles to better education for America's communities. Founded in 1993, CER combines education policy with grassroots advocacy to foster positive and bold education reforms. For more information, visit www.edreform.com or call 301-986-8808.
