[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 60 (Thursday, May 5, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2749-S2752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING THE STUDENTS, PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND ADMINISTRATORS OF 
                            CHARTER SCHOOLS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 158 and 
the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 158) congratulating the students, 
     parents, teachers, and administrators of charter schools 
     across the United States for ongoing contributions to 
     education, and supporting the ideals and goals of the 12th 
     annual National Charter Schools Week.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.

[[Page S2750]]

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise to make a few brief remarks about 
the fact that this week we are celebrating National Charter Schools 
Week in America and in the Senate. I am pleased to join my colleague, 
Lamar Alexander, in cosponsoring this resolution, which I hope will be 
hotlined tonight, and that means passed unanimously without the need to 
bring it to the floor for debate because there are so many Members of 
the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, who recognize the value of 
high-quality charter schools and the difference they are making in the 
advancement of education reform and the extraordinary achievements 
being reached by students and teachers in communities because of them.
  I wish to make a brief statement on the Senate floor and then share 
some interesting and exciting statistics from my own experience in the 
city of New Orleans, which is the city that has the highest percentage 
of children in charter schools in America today.
  As a parent of two precious and delightful children, I know firsthand 
the value of a quality education to secure their futures. Many American 
families are fortunate to live in places where public schools provide 
engaging and effective instruction and a culture of achievement that 
inspires students to aim high and thrive. Other families have the 
financial means to provide their children with a top-notch private 
school education. The Presiding Officer knows, whether it is in 
Missouri or Louisiana or Texas or right here in DC, that education can 
be quite expensive in our top private elementary and secondary schools 
in our country. Sometimes tuition can reach up to $25,000 a year and 
beyond. As hard as that might be for some to believe, that is true. 
Unfortunately, too many Americans are left without either option for 
their children, and their children are falling through the cracks. This 
cannot continue if America is going to maintain a leadership role and 
produce young adults who have the knowledge and skills to compete and 
win in this new worldwide marketplace.
  Fortunately, in a growing number of communities, including several in 
Louisiana and particularly in New Orleans, there is another exciting 
option for parents and students: high quality public charter schools.
  This week, as I said, we celebrate the 12th annual National Charter 
School Week. It is a good time to take stock of how successful many 
charter schools have been and what we can do to replicate them across 
the country and, more importantly, what we can do to improve them; what 
we can do to eliminate poor charter schools and strengthen the great 
ones and make the good ones even better. Charter schools are public 
schools that receive public funding and serve the same neighborhood 
students as traditional public schools.
  Currently, it may surprise people to know there are over 5,000 
charter schools in our country serving more than 1.6 million children. 
These schools are required to meet the academic student achievement 
accountability requirements under all of our laws and in the same 
manner as traditional public schools. However, they differ from 
traditional public schools in several important ways. Charter schools 
operate free from many of the district rules and regulations so they 
have more freedom to innovate, to experiment, to explore, to think 
outside of the box, to try new approaches. Charter schools have 
autonomy in areas such as the length of the school day and year, as 
well as principal and teacher recruitment, selection, and development. 
With this freedom, however, comes greater accountability for improved 
student achievement. Unlike public schools in many places, charter 
schools that aren't successful can actually lose their charter, be 
forced to close, or be forced to transition to a new model. There are 
countless examples of high-performing charter schools that are 
producing impressive results, and they continue to show that our 
students, including--and most importantly--our low-income and minority 
students and disadvantaged students can and are rising to great 
academic heights.
  In my home State of Louisiana, there are 90 public charter schools, 
including 61 in the city of New Orleans, representing almost 72 percent 
of our city's student population--a higher proportion than any other 
school system in the United States. The city's Sci Academy is one 
remarkable example of a successful charter school, and I had the great 
pleasure to skype with some of their students earlier this morning.
  Sci Academy opened in 2008 with 90 ninth graders entering a rigorous 
and inspiring environment. More than half of the ninth graders who 
entered Sci Academy's inaugural class had failed State promotional 
performance tests, and more than 70 percent read well below the ninth 
grade level. Many of these students had missed a full year of school 
because of Hurricane Katrina and were significantly behind other 
students of their age.
  Incredibly, that same freshman class later scored 76 percent on our 
State's test, making it the third most successful high school in New 
Orleans. The other high schools that beat it out actually had selective 
enrollment. What is extraordinary about Sci Academy is that it is open 
enrollment, focusing on the quality of teachers and the quality of 
teaching. It is remarkable.
  Right here in the District of Columbia--and I am proud to have had a 
hand in the development of this in the District of Columbia as a former 
chair of a subcommittee and a partner with Eleanor Holmes Norton and 
others who have worked so hard with the District on its reform 
efforts--charter schools are an integral part of improving educational 
outcomes in this city, our Nation's Capital.
  Starting with two small campuses in 1996, DC public charter schools 
now educate almost 40 percent of the school-aged children in the 
District, and they are serving the highest percentage of low-income and 
minority students in the city's most economically disadvantaged 
neighborhoods. DC's public charter schools outperform the city's 
traditional public schools from the fifth grade up, and they graduate 
84 percent of their students--higher than both the city and the 
national average.
  Where quality charter schools exist, parents have real choices, 
exciting choices, and they are overwhelmingly choosing public charter 
schools. Many of these schools have long waiting lists. In fact, more 
than 50 percent of charter schools report having waiting lists, and the 
total number of students on these waiting lists is enough to fill more 
than 1,100 average-sized charter schools--quite a number on these 
waiting lists.
  Over the past 17 years, Congress has provided $1.6 billion in funding 
to the promising charter school movement throughout the country through 
grants for planning, program design, initial implementation, 
replication, expansion, dissemination, evaluation, and for improving 
facilities. Our efforts at the national level are beginning to show 
real results. Maintaining and increasing where possible funding for 
charter schools is a winning proposition for parents, for students, for 
their teachers, for our community, and, may I say, for our Nation, for 
our workforce of the future, and for our economic security.
  Make no mistake. America will only go as far as our collective talent 
and ability will take her. Our future will continue to be shaped by how 
well we prepare today's students for tomorrow's challenges. Parents who 
are doing everything they can to give their children an opportunity for 
success deserve not only a quality choice but a solution to the 
challenges of our educational system. Successful charter schools 
provide that choice, and in many areas they provide the solution. Now 
it is time to make them a central component of our educational strategy 
all over the country.
  Senator Lamar Alexander and I are pleased to chair the charter caucus 
in the Senate, to join with President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan 
in a focus on quality education for all children in America. President 
Obama and Secretary Duncan often say charter schools are one tool, not 
the only tool, to get us from failing and mediocre public schools to 
great and exciting public schools in our country that are making a real 
difference.
  I wish to share some extraordinary results that were given to me just 
this week as I hosted a roundtable with staffers and Senators about the 
accomplishments of charter schools. This comes from a wonderful group 
in New Orleans, New Schools for New Orleans,

[[Page S2751]]

that is one of the leaders in the charter school movement nationally. 
They are helping the city of New Orleans and many of our organizations, 
in partnership with all sorts of funders and philanthropies, and the 
city of New Orleans, the mayor, and the city council, and others who 
are so supportive of what is going on. Our universities, I might say, 
including the University of New Orleans, Tulane University, Dillard, 
and Xavier have also been on the forefront of this movement as well.
  Let me share these results because they are quite extraordinary. This 
chart shows that in 2005, 62 percent of students in the city of New 
Orleans--not 15 percent, not 20 percent, but 62 percent--were 
academically unacceptable. Based on standards set by our State and by 
the Federal Government, in 2005 basically 62 percent of all the 
students in New Orleans were failing. They were not up to just basic 
educational levels in reading and math.
  We had a terrible event happen, as many people will remember. In 2005 
we had Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the crashing of our levee 
system, the failing of our levee system, and 100 of our 146 public 
schools were virtually destroyed and remain unusable. Through the great 
efforts of local leaders, State leaders, and Federal leaders, and with 
FEMA's help and some new, out-of-the-box thinking, we were able to pool 
the money the Federal Government was going to reimburse each individual 
school and present one check to the city of New Orleans and the school 
board and the recovery district, and we have been building a new school 
system ever since. Charter schools are the foundation of that 
rebuilding.

  It is quite extraordinary that in only 5 years, when you look at the 
same population, virtually--there have been some families who have not 
yet come back, but they are on their way; there have been some families 
who left and are not coming back--it is a population still of a great 
number of minority students and disadvantaged and lower middle-class 
students, as well as middle-class and some wealthy students in our 
public school system, and we have moved from 62 percent unacceptable to 
only 17 percent unacceptable in 5 years. I do not know of any other 
group of schools anywhere in the country that has made such remarkable 
gains. So when people question, do charter schools work, let me say 
that the evidence is in. Quality charter schools work. In every place 
they exist, they outperform even their suburban counterparts and in 
large measure suburban counterpart public schools that are among some 
of the best.
  Many of these charter schools are in rural areas where there is not a 
lot of opportunity for White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian kids. Some of 
them are in intercities that do not have the same opportunities.
  We, again, have taken 62 percent of our population who were 
underperforming and now it is only 17 percent.
  As it says on this chart, I have in the Chamber, the New Orleans 
students' test scores demonstrate the first significant improvement in 
the city's history--a 30-percent increase--and, finally, closing the 
achievement gap between New Orleans' schools and State schools by more 
than 50 percent.
  A Thomas B. Fordham Institute study ranked 30 major cities on six 
critical reform categories. New Orleans, I am proud to say, was ranked 
the No. 1 reform-friendly city in the country, followed by Washington, 
DC, New York, Denver, and Jacksonville.
  But the great news is that there are cities and counties and States 
waking up to the exciting opportunities of education reform. We know 
that in America today, it should be unacceptable in some of our 
communities where 50, 60, 70 percent of our children are failing to get 
out of high school. We should be ashamed that even when some of our 
children walk across that stage and get that diploma that signifies 
they have graduated, they are leaving truly, in many places, without 
the skills to get the job that will give them a living or saving wage 
because our schools have been handing out diplomas that are not worth 
the paper on which they are written. That has to come to an end. That 
is what we are fighting for. That is what charter schools help us to 
do.
  Now, is it possible for public schools that are not charters to 
achieve this success? Yes. And that is also happening. But I found in 
my own experience, trying to work with a system that was unwilling to 
make too much change, that charter schools provide the kind of 
competition and spark and challenge to an otherwise system that is run 
by a monopoly. This provides a diverse set of providers to education. 
It encourages new kinds of educators to come in as teachers. It gives 
the schools the freedom they need to make it work for the students who 
walk through that front door and want so desperately to walk across 
that stage with a diploma that means something and a future ahead of 
them.
  I am proud to help lead this effort here in the Senate. I thank my 
colleagues for supporting this effort for the 12th year--a resolution 
commending high-quality charter schools in America.
  Let me say in conclusion that we are not resting on our laurels. I 
have introduced a bill, along with others. Senator Durbin and Senator 
Kirk have introduced a companion bill, if you will. Both bills are in 
an effort to take the bar even higher, to say to the country: Let's get 
rid of our low-performing charter schools. Let's focus on strengthening 
the authorizers of these charter schools. We do not want authorizers 
out there who are giving out charters to run schools to people who have 
no idea what they are doing.
  We do not want this movement to fail. We want this movement--we know 
it can be successful. We know it can be a real choice for parents. 
Think about it. Think about the value of a quality education. If you 
have to pay for it in the private sector, you are paying $25,000 to 
$30,000 a year in some of our communities. Maybe you are lucky enough 
to be in a Catholic school, an Episcopal school, where the tuition is 
subsidized and you can get the student in and out for $6,000 to $10,000 
a year, but for many families with four children or five children, that 
is out of reach. They cannot possibly afford that. So having quality 
public schools is essential in every community in our country.
  I believe that if we can do this in New Orleans, which is one of the 
poorest cities--not the poorest, but we struggle, as you know, in the 
city of New Orleans; we have a very broad demographic population--if we 
can do it here, trust me, it can be done anywhere with political will 
and with the support of your State and local governments, and, of 
course, the Federal Government.
  So I am pleased to cosponsor the ALL-STAR bill, which is a grant 
program for growth and replication of high-quality charter schools, and 
to have introduced my own bill, the Charter School Quality Act. I am 
going to be working very closely with Senator Harkin, who has been open 
in many ways to these new ideas, and working with him as we authorize 
the Elementary and Secondary Act, and be reminded of the great success 
charter schools are having.
  Ultimately, we would like to have 100 percent of the public schools 
in the city of New Orleans be charters, with some of the most exciting 
charter providers, some of the best in the world operating our schools, 
challenging our kids, giving parents real choices where they want to 
send their kids based on the personalities of the children and the 
desires and dreams of that family. That is really what America is all 
about--competition, choice, and opportunity. We just are not quite 
doing enough in this regard in our country today. But perhaps the 
success of this movement can show us a way forward.
  I thank the Presiding Officer, and I hope we can get that resolution 
adopted without further delay tonight. Again, I wish to congratulate 
everyone who has worked so hard on making this National Charter School 
Week a success here in DC, in our Nation's Capital, and around our 
country.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the amendment to the preamble which is at the desk be 
agreed to, the preamble, as amended, be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate, and that any statements be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 318) was agreed to, as follows:

       Strike the 14th whereas clause.

  The resolution (S. Res. 158) was agreed to.

[[Page S2752]]

  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, as amended, was agreed to.

                              S. Res. 158

       Whereas charter schools deliver high-quality public 
     education and challenge all students to reach their 
     potential;
       Whereas charter schools promote innovation and excellence 
     in public education;
       Whereas charter schools provide thousands of families with 
     diverse and innovative educational options for their 
     children;
       Whereas charter schools are public schools authorized by a 
     designated public entity that--
       (1) respond to the needs of communities, families, and 
     students in the United States; and
       (2) promote the principles of quality, accountability, 
     choice, and innovation;
       Whereas in exchange for flexibility and autonomy, charter 
     schools are held accountable by their sponsors for improving 
     student achievement and for the financial and other 
     operations of the charter schools;
       Whereas 40 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam have 
     passed laws authorizing charter schools;
       Whereas in 2011, close to 5,000 charter schools are serving 
     more than 1,600,000 children;
       Whereas in the past 17 fiscal years, Congress has provided 
     a total of more than $2,600,000,000 in financial assistance 
     to the charter school movement through grants for planning, 
     program design, initial implementation, replication, 
     expansion, dissemination, evaluation, and facilities;
       Whereas numerous charter schools improve the achievements 
     of students and stimulate improvement in traditional public 
     schools;
       Whereas charter schools are required to meet the student 
     achievement accountability requirements under the Elementary 
     and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) 
     in the same manner as traditional public schools;
       Whereas charter schools often set higher and additional 
     individual goals than the requirements of the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) to 
     ensure that charter schools are of high quality and truly 
     accountable to the public;
       Whereas charter schools--
       (1) give parents the freedom to choose public schools;
       (2) routinely measure parental satisfaction levels; and
       (3) must prove their ongoing success to parents, 
     policymakers, and the communities served by the charter 
     schools;
       Whereas more than 50 percent of charter schools report 
     having a waiting list, and the total number of students on 
     all such waiting lists is enough to fill more than 1,100 
     average-sized charter schools;
       Whereas the 12th annual National Charter Schools Week is 
     scheduled to be held May 1, through May 7, 2011: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) congratulates the students, parents, teachers, and 
     administrators of charter schools across the United States 
     for--
       (A) ongoing contributions to education;
       (B) the impressive strides made in closing the persistent 
     academic achievement gap in the United States; and
       (C) improving and strengthening the public school system in 
     the United States;
       (2) supports the ideals and goals of the 12th annual 
     National Charter Schools Week, a week-long celebration to be 
     held May 1 through May 7, 2011, in communities throughout the 
     United States; and
       (3) encourages the people of the United States to hold 
     appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities during 
     National Charter Schools Week to demonstrate support for 
     charter schools.

                          ____________________