A National Charter Schools Week Celebration: DC Association of Chartered Public Schools Honors Founders of the Senate Public Charter School Caucus

To: EDUCATION EDITORS

Contact: Ramona Edelin, Ph.D., of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools, +1-202-296-7205, redelin@dcpcsa.org

WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In celebration of National Charter Schools Week, the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools will join school leaders, teachers, students and policy makers in honoring Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) at a reception today on Capitol Hill. As a sign of growing focus on improving long-term low-performing schools at the Federal level, Senators Landrieu and Alexander have co-founded the first Senate Public Charter School Caucus to promote chartered public schools on a bi-partisan basis, as lawmakers begin the process of reauthorizing NCLB this year.

In support of chartered public schools, Senator Landrieu has pointed out that, “Charters give families the opportunity to have more choice in education while keeping financial support in the public schools.”

Senator Alexander has observed that, “One of the great developments in education over the past few decades has been the advent of widespread choice within the public school system. It’s hard to argue against providing families with options to choose from in meeting the particular educational needs of their children. Our challenge going forward is to not only expand those options but improve their quality and consistency.”

“We applaud Senators Landrieu and Alexander for serving as co- chairs of the Senate Public Charter Schools Caucus,” said Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Their commitment to quality public education will bring bi- partisan energy to the charter school discussion in Congress. Together, they will help guide the way for ensuring quality and expanding high-performing charter schools in communities that need them most.”

The Senate Public Charter School Caucus will work with the Alliance to give lawmakers guidance on fundamental differences in the approaches to teaching and learning taken by chartered public schools and on means of giving priority for new charters in districts with large numbers of schools in need of improvement.

“Right here in Washington, D.C., charter schools have made significant progress in closing the achievement gap for low-income and minority students and we have much to celebrate this National Charter Schools Week,” said Kent Amos, Chair of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools. “Today, more than one in four public students in the city attend a charter school. The Senate Public Charter School Caucus will prove instrumental in expanding quality charter models — such as those found here in the nation’s capital– that demonstrate how policy makers, neighborhoods, teachers and parents can work together to provide a broad range of children with the quality education they need and deserve.”

Launched in May of 2004 as a nonprofit organization operating under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the mission of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools is to improve opportunities and outcomes for students by supporting the development, growth, and sustainability of quality chartered public schools in Washington, DC. The Association serves all chartered public schools in the District of Columbia regardless of which Chartering Board authorized the school. This year, nearly 20,000 students are enrolled in DC’s chartered public schools — that is approximately 27% of the total public school enrollment.

The vision of the DC Association of Chartered Public Schools is that the chartered public schools in the District of Columbia, catalyzed and supported by their Association in strategic partnership with others, will become the quality research and learning laboratory that is needed in the nation, to begin to answer critically important unanswered questions about the quality; demand, accessibility, and retention; governance; sustainability; and community development benefits of chartered public schools.

SOURCE DC Association of Chartered Public Schools

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