Colorado Charter Law Ranked 5th in the Nation
Date: Tuesday January 28,2014
Organization: Colorado League of Charter Schools
New National Rankings Find Colorado Charter School Laws Rank in Top Five in Nation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Colorado’s charter school laws are among the highest quality in the nation, according to an annual state-by-state ranking of charter school law quality released today by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The report ranked Colorado fifth out of 43 states, including the District of Columbia, that have charter school laws.
Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws ranks each of the country’s State charter school laws. Each law receives a score based on 20 essential components from the National Alliance’s model law on metrics such as quality and accountability, equitable access to funding and facilities, and no caps on charter school growth.
“This year’s rankings reflect the advances we’ve seen in so many states over the past year,” said National Alliance President and CEO Nina Rees. “This annual ranking is an important barometer for measuring changes in charter school policy. States are increasingly aware of the impact their charter school law has on providing students access to high-quality public school options and we are encouraged to see so many improving their laws.”
The report concludes that there is still room for Colorado to improve its charters laws, recommending that state leaders focus on: clarifying student recruitment, enrollment, and lottery procedures and enacting statutory guidelines to govern the expansion of high-quality charter schools through multi-school charter contracts and/or multi-charter contract boards.
“We are pleased that Colorado’s charter law has been consistently ranked in the top five over the past few years,” said Nora E. Flood, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. “Each year, the annual rankings give us strong feedback about our state’s charter school law and we use this valuable information when crafting our policy agenda and when working with legislators to continuously strengthen Colorado’s charter law.”
In 2013, 12 states made improvements that led to an increase in their scores in the report, including partially or entirely removing caps on the number of charter schools allowed, strengthening authorizing processes and improving support for charter school funding and facilities.
“Despite these many improvements, there is still work to be done,” continued Rees.
“As the highest-ranked state, Minnesota still only received 75 percent of the total points. We hope these rankings will continue to encourage lawmakers to improve their laws and support better environments for charter schools in each of their states.”
One of every 20 American children now attends public charter schools. More than 6,000 schools are teaching more than 2.5 million children. Eight states still remain without a charter school law: Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.
