​Charter schools across the nation have helped students increase academic performance. According to research performed by Caroline Hoxby, any charter student in the United States would be scoring 30 points higher in math by the end of 8th grade than if he remained in a traditional public school. This statistic reflects the fact that charter schools are yielding positive outcome in different cities, states, and regions across the country.
            Colorado charter schools tell a story of success. In the state, 85 percent of charter elementary schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), compared to 73 percent of conventional elementary schools. Additionally, 81 percent of charter middle schools also made AYP, compared to only 49 percent of conventional middle schools. The large achievement increases have caused the waitlists for Colorado Charter Schools to grow tremendously, and demand is currently far exceeding supply, with over 108,000 students enrolling in Fall 2016.
            California is another state where the Charter School movement has been successful. Scores from the California's school Academic Performance Index (API), which is calculated from student test scores on a scale of 1 to 1,000, show charter schools outperforming traditional public schools in the state. Analyzing the growth of school's API scores from 2004 - 2007, it shows that 17 percent of charter schools have had significant growth, over 50 points, compared to only 6 percent of traditional public schools.
            California and Colorado are just two examples of how charter schools are increasing achievement and benefiting students all over the country. New York, Florida, Arizona, Indiana, and 41 others are utilizing charter schools and seeing results. As of 2015, 45 states and the District of Columbia have enacted charter school laws and several other states are pressuring governmental officials to pass these laws that will expand educational opportunities for their children. 

“What is a charter school?” This is a frequently asked question that has a relatively simple answer. Essentially, charter schools are innovative public schools.

Unlike traditional public schools, they can make changes in their administrative and institutional practices in order to best serve their community. For example, many charter schools target a particular group of students, including those from low-income families or those with special needs. Charter schools often have smaller class sizes than traditional public schools, which creates a lower student to teacher ratio and provides the students with more one on one instruction. Many charter students have benefited academically from the personalization and flexibility, and in many cases, they outperform their district counterparts. For example, a study in New York found that almost 81% of 6th through 8th grade charter school students scored equal to or better than the national grade-level standard for math and English. However, only 62% of their counterparts in traditional public schools met the bar (CER).

Charter schools are public schools, and like all public schools, they are funded by the state or district on a per-pupil basis. However, charter school funding does not always match that of its district counterparts. For example, charter schools are funded at approximately 64% of traditional public schools on a national level.

Additionally, charter schools often lack funding to cover start-up costs such as capital expenses, which creates a significant barrier for both new schools looking to start and existing schools looking to expand.

​Charter schools expand educational opportunity for students and families and are successfully serving communities all around the country. If you want improved outcomes and increased opportunities for the children of Nebraska, write your state representative and let your voice be heard. 

​In an interview for Governing, Thomas Gentzel, executive director of the National School Boards Association, recently said, “I don’t think anybody is arguing that we should just have traditional public schools and we shouldn’t have these options” [referring to charter schools and other school choice options].
 
Wouldn’t Thomas Gentzel be surprised to hear that in Nebraska there is a well-funded organization that is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the regressive pursuit of convincing the public that “we should just have traditional public schools”?

​That’s Nebraska Loves Public Schools. Warren Buffett’s daughter Susan leads the Sherwood Foundation, which funds Nebraska Loves Public Schools. Inconceivable in most of the country, this organization is looking backward and trying to convince everyone else in Nebraska to look backward, too.
 
Instead of looking to the school choice successes across the country, NelovesPS wants you to look away. They play on state pride as a way to convince people that what they have right now is fine as it is. Here’s an example:

​Translation: “Nebraska doesn’t need any of those silly choices that other, less superior, states need.
 
They say things like “School choice is already alive and well in Nebraska and has been for decades.” Well, all you have to do is look at school choice summaries at The Heritage Foundation, The Friedman Foundation, The Parent Power Index (#49, by the way), or a myriad of other sites, to realize that this statement is more than a stretch.

​One of our favorite things about the Nebraska Loves Public Schools organization and their supporters is the hyperbole with which they propagandize. The following tweet is a prime example:

This is a NelovesPS retweet of a teacher’s union post. Apparently, they think that the Nebraska organizations that support school choice have “deep pockets & hidden agendas” and that we want to “take resources from our kids & public schools.”
 
For the record, no one in Nebraska has deeper pockets than the Buffetts, and no organization has more political influence than the teacher’s unions. Yes, we know they feel threatened by the least criticism or resistance. Here at School Choice Lincoln we’ve gotten shady messages from anonymous people offering to donate to our cause if they can find out about our 501(c)(3) status. Just in case you’re curious, we don’t have 501(c)(3) status. That ought to save a few hidden people some effort.
 
As far as taking resources from our kids and public schools: we have kids in public schools, and we don’t want to take money from our own kids. We just want more choices. We believe that more choices mean that more kids will find educational options that will best suit their needs. We believe that competition within the public school system will improve quality and variety, just like competition does in every other industry under the sun.
 
Keep it up, Nebraska Loves Public Schools. No matter how glossy the videos or how expensive the website, you’re still pointed in the wrong direction. Most of the country doesn’t even realize that there are people who still think the way Nebraska Loves Public Schools thinks—just ask the executive director of the National School Board Association.