State charter school laws are overdue for tuneups to address authorizer standards and transparency and access issues, says a new report issued last week by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
The results come from a two-year examination of the rapidly expanding charter sector and the unforeseen challenges that growth has brought—nearly 2,000 new charter schools have opened in the past five years, according to the institute.
Arguing that state charter laws, regulations, and oversight have not kept pace with the growth, the institute directs its report at state legislators and authorizers. It calls for all students to have “equitable and adequate” school facilities and urges districts and charters to collaborate to ensure that facility arrangements do not disadvantage any students. The report also recommends that online charters “should be better regulated for quality, transparency, and the protection of student data.”
