Sponsor Statement for HB 229

Charter Schools

Education should be our number one priority. Parents and educators both have come to recognize that charter schools are one of the tools available for educational reform. Educational reform is sweeping most of the nation and Alaska is lagging behind.

Recognizing this, Alaska adopted a charter school law in 1995. Unfortunately the law is deficient in many areas and few charter schools have been started. After six months of meetings with charter school groups and parent and educators wanting to open new charter schools, we have come up with this proposal for strengthening our charter school program and improving our educational system.

Three key factors in educational reform are parental involvement, educational choice, and measuring student performance. House Bill 229 addresses these issues.

HB 229 strengthens existing law by clarifying that charter schools are public schools even though they may be in competition with local non-charter schools. The bill provides for establishment of local charter school boards and a state charter school board and provides for multiple ways of establishing a charter school.

HB 229 provides for educational choice, mandates student performance be measured, extends the sunset date for the charter school law, provides for maximum on site decision making, and removes the limit on the number of charter schools that can be established.

Most importantly, HB 229 maintains a maximum of local control over education. Only if a local board rejects a charter school board application can a chartering group appeal to a statewide board. Even when a charter school is granted at the state level, the charter school remains a local school.