On the recordSeptember 8, 2011
I thank the gentleman from California and the gentleman from Minnesota. There is a lot of good in public education today. When we look across our country, just as we see examples of what doesn't work--drop-out factory schools where kids are falling further and further behind each year, schools that are unsafe learning environments for their kids-- just as we have that, we also have examples of what works, what works with our most at-risk populations in this country showing that every student in this country can learn and can achieve, given the right opportunity and the right school environment. Now, charter schools aren't the silver bullet or the solution, but they are a tool in the arsenal of school districts in the States to address the learning needs of all students. Nationally, there's over 5,000 charter schools representing just over 5 percent of all public schools in the country. Many of those charter schools couldn't have gotten off the ground without the Federal start- up grant that this bill reauthorizes. Importantly, again because we have examples that this works, this bill, for the first times, allows States to use the money to expand and replicate learning models that work. I point to one in Colorado, the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy.…
