At a time when the state of Texas is trying to reduce alarmingly high dropout rates, can you imagine limiting the number of good, innovative public schools? Yet that is about to happen. State law restricts the number of charters the State Board of Education may grant to 215. All but four of those charters have been issued.
The Houston Chronicle wrote about the intense competition between the 39 contestants for this “final four.” But it shouldn’t be like this. Instead, state lawmakers should remove the cap on open-enrollment charters so that more innovative schools can open and provide greater choice within the public school system.
The charter school movement in Texas has improved student learning, increased parental choice, and encouraged innovation. Today, charter schools are helping more than 75,000 Texas students. Imagine how many more Texas children could be helped without this arbitrary ceiling.
– Brooke Terry