[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Charter Schools

  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I rise to speak about saving school 
choice or, perhaps, parental choice.
  Some students learn differently than others do. I am the parent of a 
child with dyslexia. I can tell you that any such parent knows one-
size-fits-all education does not work.
  Parents and students should have the ability to choose the learning 
environment that is best for that child, and I think the parent can 
make the choice better than the school board and certainly better than 
bureaucrats in the Department of Education here in Washington, DC.
  The charter school program was created by Congress for that exact 
purpose: To ensure that parents could choose what is best for their 
child. Power to the parent. Giving parents the power is crucial to 
allowing every student to succeed.
  Unfortunately, there are groups working to undermine the power the 
parent should have to choose their child's school.
  The U.S. Department of Education has decided to disregard what is in 
the best interest of the student with a new proposed rule that adds new 
requirements for applicants completely unrelated to student outcomes. 
Applicants would have to demonstrate an unmet need for a charter 
school, provide evidence of overenrollment at existing public schools 
in order to establish a charter school.
  It seems as if the Department of Education is putting up arbitrary 
barriers to opening a charter school simply out of prejudice. They 
don't want the parent to have the power.
  Our country's charter schools are under threat from the far left and 
from teachers unions who seek to shut them down because charter school 
staffs are difficult to unionize.
  Now, these unions know it is much harder to spread their influence in 
charter schools; and in some cases, it is, frankly, impossible for a 
charter school to unionize. And the giant unions see this as a simple 
problem. They know the more charter schools there are, the less revenue 
they get. So their solution is equally as simple, take power away from 
parents with layers of new bureaucracy and government regulation. We 
should not let that happen.
  And let's just put this in perspective. Since the pandemic began, it 
has been public charter schools that have seen a substantial increase 
in demand. They opened up sooner, and they stayed open in larger 
numbers than traditional public schools. And we know that open schools 
are better for children. Parents should have the power to send their 
child to a school where they feel like they, the parent, have a voice, 
and where they know their child is more likely to succeed.
  Now, let's be clear who this rule is written for--not for the parent 
and not for the child. It is not written to help the student. It is 
written to help unions exercise more control over a student's life. 
This rule makes no mention of how many of these new restrictions 
improve student achievement or actually help students. And at a time 
when students are falling behind in record numbers, we need new and 
innovative approaches to our education system, not just hand the keys 
over to a special interest group. The truth is, these rules give less 
choice to families, will hold students back, and do more harm than 
good.
  Now, the charter school program has enjoyed bipartisan support for 
nearly 30 years. Any substantial change to the program should go 
through Congress and receive thoughtful consideration. And parent 
choice for the school their child attends should not be gutted by an 
informal committee of union employees and education department 
officials.
  Those of us who care about the student, those of us who see the role 
of charter schools, we have one message to Secretary of Education 
Cardona: Back off of our charter schools.