Todd Rokita: “I thank the chairman and the ranking member as well. Both the chairman and the ranking member have a great bill here…”

“I thank the chairman and the ranking member as well. Both the chairman and the ranking member have a great bill here, and it deserves the support of this entire body, in my humble opinion. As chairman of the colloquially called K-12 Subcommittee on Education, it has been my high honor to travel throughout Indiana, and really across the country, to see our public school system, our public charter school system, and the entire framework of how our great American children are educated. I have come to the conclusion early on, and it is the same one that the chairman and the ranking member have come to, that is, charter schools empower parents to play a more active role in their child's education. It opens doors for teachers to pioneer fresh teaching methods. Charter schools encourage State and local innovation. It helps students escape underperforming schools. The charter school program facilitates the establishment of high quality charter schools and it encourages choice, innovation, and excellence in education. The current Charter Schools Program, however, does not support the funding for the replication and expansion of high-quality charter schools. The ranking member said it himself that charter schools are here to stay. And we are not about to have a debate over whether or not they should exist. They do. It is about the replication and expansion of them because they work.…”