Bill Gates touts charter schools, accountability

Bill Gates touts charter schools, accountability

By CARYN ROUSSEAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

CHICAGO -- Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Tuesday that charter schools can revolutionize education, but that the charter school movement also must hold itself accountable for low-performing schools.

"We need breakthroughs," Gates said at the National Charter Schools Conference in Chicago. "And your charters are showing that breakthroughs are possible."

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been a big player in the school reform movement, spending about $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education. Gates said charter schools and their ability to innovate are a key part of the foundation's education strategy.

"I really think that charters have the potential to revolutionize the way students are educated," Gates said.

Charter schools receive taxpayer money but have more freedom than traditional public schools to map out how they'll meet federal education benchmarks.

Nelson Smith, president and chief executive of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said 457 charter schools have opened in the last year for a total