Timothy Roemer: “I obviously rise in support, strong support, of this resolution commending the very important contribution that charter…”

“I obviously rise in support, strong support, of this resolution commending the very important contribution that charter schools make to our public schools across this great land, and also to designate a week of Charter School Appreciation Week. I want to talk a little bit about the past, the present, and the future of charter schools. Our families and our parents and our teachers are all very excited and very concerned about the prospect of public education in America today. It continues to rank as one of the highest issues when we poll, when we go to town meetings, when we ask any families about their priority concerns across the United States. The past of charter schools, when we first got into this issue, was working with the new Democrats here in the House of Representatives and working with the DLC, the Democratic Leadership Council, and the PPI, and coming up with more opportunities for parents to get public school choice; not to rip money away from public schools and transfer it to private schools, but help support the foundation of public schools, while also helping the reform movement, the accountability movement, the change movement, the new opportunities for students, parents, and teachers movement; to try to get new curriculum and new ideas in our public schools. This has caught fire, and a host of States now have passed enabling legislation at the State level to create charter schools.”