Every Child Achieves Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLAKE. As the Senate prepares to vote on the Every Child Achieves Act, I wish to commend Senator ALEXANDER for working with me to include language regarding charter school authorizers in the substitute amendment language.

A charter school authorizer is an entity approved by the State legislature and is responsible for establishing charter schools' academic and accountability standards, among other things. State charter laws vary from State to State in regards to how and to whom authorizers are subject to accountability. For example, a State with independent or multiple authorizers gives entities other than local education boards or the State board, the authority to approve charter schools. These entities are typically outside the traditional education structure of a state and can include independent, statewide charter school boards, or colleges and universities. According to the Center for Education Reform, ``there is a direct correlation between States with multiple authorizers and higher student achievement.'' Out of 44 State laws, 21 States have created independent authorizers.

The language in the underlying Every Child Achieves Act encouraged States applying for grants to Support High-Quality Charter Schools (Sec. 5103) to establish authorizing standards of an authorized public chartering agency, despite the fact that some States don't have any explicit authority over charter school authorizing. This language didn't take into consideration the variation of State by State authorizing structures for charter schools and required that the Federal Government, not States, dictate how and what charter authorizing agencies must do to demonstrate success. In addition, subjecting charter schools to the same rules governing traditional public institutions would make them identical to the very entities that charter schools were meant to provide an alternative to.

The language that Chairman Alexander and I worked with, and ultimately included in the substitute, recognizes that some States have elected to use multiple or independent authorizers and ensures that those States don't have to add an additional layer of bureaucracy to receive grants under the Every Child Achieves Act.

This bill goes a long way in recognizing that Washington cannot be a national school board, and that is why it is imperative that the Federal Government continue to encourage States to determine their own authorizing standards and learn what works best for their students.

The Center for Education Reform, a leading organization promoting charter education supported the language in the substitute explaining ``..... Charter schools are public schools, which are free from many onerous rules but accountable for performance to their authorizers, which vary State by State. The substitute ensures respect for those individual differences State by State as well as the hard work they are doing to ensure the proliferation of quality schooling option for all children.''

I commend Chairman ALEXANDER for his hard work on this legislation, and for working with me to ensure States, not the Federal Government, are determining charter authorizing standards.

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