North Carolina lawmakers are back in Raleigh, having just launched the 2022 Short Session last week. Nationwide, legislators have been taking action this spring to boost the charter movement with a number of charter-friendly bills. That’s the upshot of a national legislative round-up from Todd Ziebarth, the senior vice president of state advocacy and support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In a new blog post, he outlines recent gains for the charter movement. For instance:
Charter schools are coming to Kentucky–finally
Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill that establishes “a permanent funding mechanism” for charter students. While Kentucky Governor Beshear vetoed the bill, lawmakers overrode his veto in April. Although Kentucky has had a charter law since 2017, the state has had only a temporary funding mechanism in place. So, Kentucky has been just one of seven states with no charter schools in operation. Thanks to this permanent funding mechanism, however, Kentucky students will soon have access to greater educational choice through public charter schools.
In Missouri, charter students get a shot at fair funding
Legislators in Missouri passed a bill that provides for more equitable charter funding. The change will increase the state’s per-pupil allocation by $1,700 to $2,500 a student. Read more from the Missouri Charter Public School Association or the Kansas City Beacon.
Two other states include funds for charter facilities in their budgets
Illinois lawmakers set aside a $35 million appropriation in the state budget to address charter facilities costs, for the first time ever. Distributed on a per-pupil basis through the FY23 budget, funds will target every charter school statewide. Read more from the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Tennessee’s budget also allocates $32 million for charter facilities.
Read Ziebarth’s full blog post to learn about action in other states, such as Georgia, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington state. View the Alliance’s press release celebrating Kentucky’s passage of charter funding legislation.
