When I read this appropriations article earlier, I assumed that the number listed at the bottom for the federal charter schools program was a typo. But maybe not. I'm hearing the????same thing from other sources: an approximately $100 million reduction for charters.
In short, the charter schools program gets about $250 million/year (there are actually a couple different charter school programs and the annual numbers vary a bit, but this is fair short-hand). This money has been absolutely indispensable to the growth of the charter sector, so any cut is notable and worrisome. But under the current conditions, it's doubly so.
First, the president has promised to double charter funding. While the full doubling wasn't reflected in his first (FY2010) budget proposal, it did include an increase (up to $268 million). If the markup numbers we're looking at are right--a decrease to $156 million--the subcommittee both ignored the specifics and spirit of the administration's request.
Second, Secretary Duncan has made addressing America's most persistently low-performing schools a top priority. There are two ways to do that. You can try to turn them around (which I firmly believe is a quixotic campaign if pursued at scale). Or you can gradually replace them with new schools (which I believe is the way to go).
But this subcommittee cut the president's request for the School Improvement Fund (a blow to the turnaround option) AND the charter schools program (a blow to the new starts option).
So it begs the question: what's Congress's vision for addressing America's worst schools?
Full appropriations information is not yet available, so these figures may not be exact. Hopefully, subcommittee staff will clarify this soon.
UPDATE: So it WAS a typo! The subcommittee has corrected its error. Charters are slated to receive $256 million, not $156 million. That's good news.