Frank Riggs: “I am very pleased that we can be returning to work in the House on bipartisan legislation that I have coauthored and…”

“I am very pleased that we can be returning to work in the House on bipartisan legislation that I have coauthored and cosponsored with my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Indiana. This legislation, the community-designed Charter Schools Amendments Act, is designed to, first of all, carefully direct new money, any increase in Federal taxpayer spending for the startup and creation of more charter schools, to those States that provide flexibility in three key areas. We might describe these States as those States that have strong laws on the books embracing the idea of public school choice and putting resources into expanding charter schools in order to give parents and guardians, the ultimate consumers of education, more choices in selecting the education that is appropriate for their child. Federal taxpayer funding for charter schools is increasing dramatically. In fact, in this bill the gentleman from Indiana and I propose authorization the President's budget request to double taxpayer funding from $51 million in the last fiscal year to $100 million in this fiscal year for the startup and creation of more charter schools.”