[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3456-S3457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DESIGNATING THE WEEK OF APRIL 29-MAY 3, 2002, AS ``NATIONAL CHARTER 
                             SCHOOLS WEEK''

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 254, submitted earlier today by 
Senators Lieberman, Gregg, Carper, and Hutchinson of Arkansas.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 254) designating April 29, 2002, 
     through May 3, 2002, as ``National Charter Schools Week,'' 
     and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I am proud to join my colleagues, 
Senators Gregg, Carper, Hutchinson, and Bayh in introducing this 
resolution today to salute the success of public charter schools in our 
country and to designate April 29, 2002 through May 3, 2002, as 
National Charter Schools Week.
  This week also marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the 
Nation's first charter school. Since the City Academy in St. Paul, MN, 
was founded, the idea has been catching on.
  From seeing several charter schools up close, I am convinced that 
they represent one of the most promising engines of education reform in 
the country today. Charter schools grant educators freedom from top-
heavy bureaucracies and their red tape in exchange for a commitment to 
meet high academic standards. In 1994, I was proud to join my colleague 
Dave Durenberger of Minnesota as sponsor of the bill authorizing the 
Federal Charter School Grant Program, which Congress passed with strong 
bipartisan majorities and which has provided more than $750 million 
since then for planning, startup and implementation of charter schools.
  I also think it's important to note in many cases charter schools are 
built from the ground up by educational entrepreneurs, teachers, 
parents and local leaders seeking to reinvent the public school and 
take it back to the future, reconnecting public education to some of 
our oldest, most basic values--responsibility, opportunity, community, 
and refocusing its mission on doing what's best for the child instead 
of what's best for the system.
  The results speak for themselves. Today, over 500,000 students attend 
more than 2,400 charter schools in 34 States, the District of Columbia, 
and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. And, nationwide charters schools 
have combined waiting lists long enough to fill another 1,000 schools. 
Parents and educators in turn have given these programs overwhelmingly 
very high marks. Growing research shows that charter schools are 
effectively serving diverse populations, particularly many of the 
disadvantaged and at-risk children that traditional public schools have 
struggled to educate.
  Despite our achievements to date, we cannot rest on our laurels. We 
must strive to increase options, and replicate successes. Recently, 
some skeptics have criticized what they see as a slow down in the 
growth of charter schools and an increase in the number of schools that 
have closed. Although the hundreds of families on waiting lists clearly 
refutes these skeptics, we must rightly maintain our vigilance to 
ensure that charter schools reach our high academic expectations and 
demand accountability from those that our failing their students.
  Unfortunately in too many cases, charter schools are the victims of 
poorly drafted charter school laws and inadequate funding. I am pleased 
that many of the reforms enacted under the recently signed No Child 
Left Behind Act will further strengthen the academic performance of 
charter schools and help put them on firmer fiscal footing. Recognizing 
that greater choice and accountability enhances our public education 
system, I recently urged all American colleges and universities to 
create charter schools. Parents are crying out for more high-quality 
public school options that prepare their children for college, and 
colleges are perfectly positioned to help.
  The most remarkable aspect of the charter movement may be that it has 
managed to bring together educators, parents, community activists, 
business leaders and politicians from across the political spectrum in 
support of a common goal to better educate our children by offering 
more choice, more grassroots control and more accountability within our 
public schools. I am proud to salute these growing community efforts 
throughout our nation, and commend these frontline educational 
innovations for their commitment to expanding educational options for 
American families to ensure that all children reach high levels of 
academic achievement.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
and preamble be agreed to, en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid on 
the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any 
statements thereto be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 254) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 254

       Whereas charter schools are public schools authorized by a 
     designated public body and operating on the principles of 
     accountability, parental involvement, choice, and autonomy;
       Whereas in exchange for the flexibility and autonomy given 
     to charter schools, they are held accountable by their 
     sponsors for improving student achievement and for their 
     financial and other operations;
       Whereas 37 States, the District of Columbia, and the 
     Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have passed laws authorizing 
     charter schools;
       Whereas 37 States, the District of Columbia, and the 
     Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will have received substantial 
     assistance from the Federal Government by the end of the 
     current fiscal year for planning, startup, and implementation 
     of charter schools since their authorization in 1994 under 
     the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
     6301 et seq.);
       Whereas 34 States, the District of Columbia, and the 
     Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are serving more than 500,000 
     students in more than 2,431 charter schools during the 2001-
     2002 school year;
       Whereas charter schools can be vehicles for improving 
     student academic achievement for the students who attend 
     them, for stimulating change and improvement in all public 
     schools, and for benefiting all public school students;
       Whereas charter schools must meet the same Federal student 
     academic achievement accountability requirements as all 
     public schools, and often set higher and additional goals, to 
     ensure that they are of high quality and truly accountable to 
     the public;
       Whereas charter schools assess and evaluate students 
     annually and often more frequently, and charter school 
     student academic achievement is directly linked to charter 
     school existence;
       Whereas charter schools give parents new freedom to choose 
     their public school, charter schools routinely measure 
     parental approval, and charter schools must prove their 
     ongoing and increasing success to parents, policymakers, and 
     their communities;
       Whereas two-thirds of charter schools report having a 
     waiting list, the average size of such a waiting list is 
     nearly one-half of the school's enrollment, and the total 
     number of students on all such waiting lists is enough to 
     fill another 1,000 average-sized charter schools;
       Whereas students in charter schools nationwide have similar 
     demographic characteristics as students in all public 
     schools;
       Whereas charter schools in many States serve significant 
     numbers of students from families with lower income, minority 
     students, and students with disabilities, and in a majority 
     of charter schools almost half of the students are considered 
     at risk or are former dropouts;
       Whereas charter schools have enjoyed broad bipartisan 
     support from the Administration, Congress, State Governors 
     and legislatures, educators, and parents across the Nation; 
     and
       Whereas charter schools are laboratories of reform and 
     serve as models of how to educate children as effectively as 
     possible: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates April 29, 2002, through May 3, 2002, as 
     ``National Charter Schools Week'';
       (1) honors the 10th anniversary of the opening of the 
     Nation's first charter school;

[[Page S3457]]

       (2) acknowledges and commends the charter school movement 
     and charter schools, teachers, parents, and students across 
     the Nation for their ongoing contributions to education and 
     improving and strengthening the Nation's public school 
     system;
       (3) supports the goals of National Charter Schools Week, an 
     event sponsored by charter schools and charter school 
     organizations across the Nation and established to recognize 
     the significant impacts, achievements, and innovations of the 
     Nation's charter schools; and
       (4) requests that the President issue a proclamation 
     calling on the people of the United States to conduct 
     appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities to 
     demonstrate support for charter schools in communities 
     throughout the Nation.

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