R.I. charter school law ranks 33rd in nation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rhode Island’s charter school law ranked 33rd in the nation, one spot improved from last year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ annual ranking of charter school laws.
Released today, “Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws,” assesses the strength of each state’s charter school law by scoring it against 20 components from the National Alliance’s model law. Considerations include quality and accountability, equitable access to funding and facilities, and not having caps on charter school growth.
Rhode Island was among 14 states moving up in the rankings this year. Seventeen states, including Massachusetts, fell from their positions last year, according to the findings.
The study found that while Rhode Island’s law provides accountability, it caps charter growth, allows only one authorizing option and provides inadequate autonomy as well as inequitable funding to charters.
“While we’re pleased to see Rhode Island moving in the right direction, it’s clear that more needs to be done to create a fair environment for our charter public schools,” said Steve Nardelli, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools. “The lack of equitable access to funding for needed facilities directly impacts the learning opportunities for our students.”
To improve in subsequent years, the National Alliance recommends Rhode Island remove caps on charter school growth, provide additional authorizing options for charter applicants, ensure authorizer accountability, provide adequate authorizer funding, increase autonomy, and ensure equitable access to capital funding as well as facilities.
“We are very pleased to see the improvements in certain state charter school laws that will lead to more high-quality public school options for families, especially in the areas of funding and facilities,” said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “We are optimistic that more such changes will follow in 2015.”
Minnesota, ranked No. 1, has topped the chart for the best charter school law in the country for five of the six years that this report has been produced. Maryland remained last for the second consecutive year. Massachusetts moved down six spots from 11 to 17 because of new data from the University of Arkansas on funding equity disparity, the National Alliance said.
The full report is available HERE.

No posts to display