Passing Notes

Last week at the National Association of Public Charter Schools annual conference, Cumberland Mayor Dan McKee was one of four to be honored as 2009’s national “Champions for Charters.” Mayor McKee put Rhode Island on the national stage when he spearheaded (with my support) the state’s first expansion in many years of what had been one of America’s weakest charter school laws. The other honorees included Jan Jones, a state representative and house majority whip in Georgia who worked with the Center for Education Reform to pass a multiple authorizers bill, and Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, who passed bills that help charter schools obtain more equitable access to public school facilities funding. (In Rhode Island, a Providence public charter school gets access to less than half of the amount of state support that traditional district public schools get, even though they educate the same children in a public school setting — talk about an equal protection case waiting to happen!)

It’s not the first time that supporters of Mayoral Academies and stronger charter laws in Rhode Island received national attention for their important policy work. In June, Democrats for Education Reform named House Majority Leader Gordon Fox one of its “Education Reform Heroes” for his leadership in passing the charter school legislation last year in a close 41-30 vote. Since that time, Secretary Duncan and President Obama have announced plans to double funding to significantly expand high-performing charter schools, like those using the “no excuses” model proven by KIPP, Democracy Prep, Achievement First, Harlem Success and so many others. This is one case of Rhode Island being on the cutting edge, rather than the back seat, of education reform in our nation.