Jack Kingston: “In 1992, there was one charter school in the United States of America. Today, there are over 1000. In the next 3 years…”

“In 1992, there was one charter school in the United States of America. Today, there are over 1000. In the next 3 years, there are expected to begin 3,000 more. What. Is a charter school and why do they seem to be growing and seem to be so popular? A charter school is a public school. It is publicly funded, but unlike most public schools these days that have all their rules and regulations dictated by Washington bureaucrats, charter schools have their own rules, their own goals and their own set of regulations. That is why they are so popular. Every day when I speak to a teacher, she or he tells me about the paperwork that they must do, 2 to 3 hours' worth each week to send off to Washington or to Atlanta to the State Capitol. They tell me about going to seminars where they are told not to hug children, not to touch children, never to walk into a bathroom alone with a kid because of harassment and so forth. I talked to parents who will no longer go to PTA meetings because they say it does not matter. We have no control anymore. Mr. Speaker, charter schools return local control to those parents and those teachers and that classroom. That is why charter schools are so important and that is why the Republican conference is supporting them.”