Even though less than 1 in 5 charters proved better than their neighborhood public schools, HR 2218 gives federal funding priority to states that repeal limits on the number of charter schools. Ask your Congressman to vote NO on HR 2218 today.

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Even though "Less than one in five charter schools proved better than their neighborhood public schools, while more than one-third were "significantly worse," HR 2218 would give federal funding priority to states that repeal limits on the number of charter schools that can be chartered or the percentage of the state's school-age population attending charters. It would also give priority funding to states that finance charter schools at a level comparable to public school funding.  Ask your Congressman to vote NO on HR 2218 today.

House Conservatives Charter Ideology Over Educational Reality

Campaign for America's Future Blog By Isaiah J. Poole, September 8, 2011 

The House is poised to vote on legislation that would increase federal support for charter schools and would encourage states to authorize new charter schools. The "Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act" represents the latest triumph of ideology over reality in public education.  The legislation, according to a statement by the Republicans on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, would "provide states more incentives to support the development and expansion of successful charter schools. Additionally, the legislation will increase support for charter school quality, ensuring taxpayer dollars are being used effectively to promote improved student achievement."

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011093608/house-conservatives-charter-ideology-over-educational-reality

Use this US House of Representatives website to identify and get contact information for your Congressman

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

NSBA's letter to the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce in Opposition to H.R. 2218 – the Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act

The National School Boards Association (NSBA), representing over 90,000 local

school board members across the nation, has serious questions and concerns

regarding H.R. 2218, the "Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools

Act," scheduled for markup on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, in the full Committee on

Education and the Workforce.

NSBA supports charter schools, provided that they are authorized by the school

boards in the communities where they are located; and currently local school boards

authorize over one half of the nation's charter schools.  However, for the reasons set

forth below, we urge you to vote against this bill.

http://files.nsba.org/advocacy/Oppositionto2218.pdf

House Dems praise bipartisan charter school bill

The Hill's Floor Action Blog, By Pete Kasperowicz - 09/08/11 02:50 PM ET

House Democrats on Thursday had nothing but praise for a bill that would reauthorize the federal charter school program, in large part because of the bipartisan work done on the bill that led to the inclusion of language aimed at ensuring public schools can benefit from best practices at charter schools.

Members of the House were debating H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents through Quality Charters Schools Act.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/180315-house-dems-praise-bipartisan-charter-school-bill

Library of Congress, Thomas, Bill Summary and Status for H.R. 2218

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.2218:

Here is a link to brief comments that were submitted on behalf of the Keystone State Education Coalition to the PA Senate Education Committee for a hearing on charters that was held this August:  http://piccola.org/education/2011/082511/KSEC.pdf

Here are links to the Stanford/CREDO reports that were mentioned in the above comments:

• Here's the press release for the April 2011 CREDO Report on Charter School Performance in Pennsylvania: http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/PAReleaseApril62011.pdf

• Here's the complete April 2011 CREDO Report on Charter School Performance in Pennsylvania (22 pages): Download PDF

• Here's the executive summary for the June 2009 CREDO report on Charter School Performance in 16 States http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_EXECUTIVE%20SUMMARY.pdf

• Here's the complete June 2009 CREDO report on Charter School Performance in 16 States (51 pages): http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_CREDO.pdf

Here's the article on Vahan Gureghian, operator of Pennsylvania's largest charter school, that appeared in the August issue of Philadelphia Magazine. Apparently he is happy to take tens of millions of taxpayer dollars but believes that he is under no obligation to provide taxpayers with any information regarding how those dollars are spent.  http://www.phillymag.com/articles/what_would_ronnie_say_about_montco_republicans_now/page1