The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released the first-ever ranking of all state charter school laws that is based on the full range of values in the public charter school movement: quality and accountability, funding equity, facilities support, autonomy and growth and choice.

“How State Charter Laws Rank Against The New Model Public Charter School Law” assesses the strengths of each state’s charter school law against the 20 essential components of a strong law contained in the new model public charter school law released by the Alliance in June. Evaluating each state law against each component – a total of 800 separate ratings – the Alliance ranks each law from strongest to weakest.

“State legislation really sets the bar for the charter school movement,” said CEO Nelson Smith. “When states combine equitable resources, real autonomy, and tough accountability, charter schools flourish and meet the high expectations of parents and policymakers. These new rankings not only show which state laws are making the grade, but also show how they do it: by paying attention to specific issues that are crucial to school and student success.”

As states prepare to submit applications for the federal Race to the Top grant program, the rankings provide clear indications of where some states excel and others come up short in charter-related policies. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan commented, “It’s very important to have better, clearer charter laws – laws that enable innovation, promote transparency about how charter schools perform and how they are held accountable, and provide fair access to public funds and facilities. We’re encouraged that the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools supports creation of better charter school laws as models of learning, and we encourage authorizers to hold charters accountable for student performance.”

The report finds that 13 states fail to meet a key test of the Race to the Top guidelines because they continue to place restrictive caps on charter school growth. They are Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. Plus, 11 states still have yet to enact public charter school laws.

According to the lead author of the report, Vice President Todd Ziebarth, these 24 states are closed to new high-quality charters and should be disqualified from the RTTT competition until they significantly improve their laws: “No matter how strong its policies in other areas, a state that maintains a cap on charter schools – or passes no charter law at all – is a state that is missing a key building block of reform.”

To obtain each state’s rank, the alliance multiplied the weight and rating for each component, then added up the scores for each of the 20 components. The highest score possible was 208.

 

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