President Obama’s Race to the Top(RttT) state competition has brought charter schools to the forefront of public education reform. Additionally, charter schools are prominent in Obama’s 2011 proposed budget – increasing funding for charter schools and an extra $1.8 billion toward Supporting Student Success (which focuses on Promise Neighborhoods, of which charter schools are the central focus).
RttT relies heavily on charter schoolsas a tool for reform, awarding more points to states which enable charter school creation than to those which do not:
- In the State Success Factors section, at least 30 points go toward clearing the way legislatively for charter schools to be allowed and encouraged.
- The Turning Around Lowest Achieving Schools section, representing 35 out of 50 possible points, is the reform model for the lowest schools. Of the four reform models possible, theturnaround model is the option that will allow a school to be turned into a charter.