Charter schools sponsored by a university could not receive levy dollars. Sponsors may retain up to 3 percent of state funding and local excess-levy funding to pay for oversight and administration. Proponents of charter schools, in and out of the Legislature, have worked hard for their cause during the past several years. A previous charter school initiative lacked the accountability provisions that are now included in I-729. In fact, the language of I-729 effectively is the same as that in HB 2415, which this year was blocked from legislative passage despite strong bipartisan support.
Charter schools are no longer very controversial.
The approach taken in the initiative allows for a controlled, incremental introduction of charters schools into the state. In sum, Initiative 729 preserves the state s commitment to education reform and accountability, while expanding the choices available to parents and students in the public school system. Many of our recent publications are available as .pdf files. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read them. If you do not already have it you can download Adobe Acrobat for free .