IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 386
Supporting a National Charter Schools Week, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 25, 2002
Mr. KELLER (for himself, Mr. UPTON, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr.
CASTLE, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. PENCE, Mr.
TIBERI, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. PETRI, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. BURR of North
Carolina, Mr. SCHAFFER, and Mr. HOEKSTRA) submitted the following
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and the Workforce
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Supporting a National Charter Schools Week, and for other
purposes.
Whereas charter schools are public schools authorized by a
designated public body and operating on the principles of
accountability, parental involvement, choice, and auton-
omy;
Whereas in exchange for the flexibility and autonomy given
to charter schools, they are held accountable by their
sponsors for improving student achievement and for their
financial and other operations;
Whereas 37 States, the District of Columbia, and the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico have passed laws authorizing
charter schools;
•HCON 386 IH
Whereas 37 States, the District of Columbia, and the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico will have received substantial
assistance from the Federal Government by the end of
the current fiscal year for planning, startup, and imple-
mentation of charter schools since their authorization in
1994 under the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.);
Whereas 34 States, the District of Columbia, and the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico are serving over 580,000 stu-
dents in more than 2,431 charter schools during the
2001–2002 school year;
Whereas charter schools can be vehicles for improving stu-
dent achievement for students who attend them, for stim-
ulating change and improvement in all public schools,
and for benefiting all public school students;
Whereas charter schools must meet the same Federal student
achievement accountability requirements as all public
schools, and often set higher and additional goals, to en-
sure that they are of high quality and truly accountable
to the public;
Whereas charter schools assess and evaluate students annu-
ally and often even more frequently, and charter school
student achievement is directly linked to charter school
existence;
Whereas charter schools give parents new freedom to choose
their public school, charter schools routinely measure pa-
rental approval, and charter schools must prove their on-
going and increasing success to parents, policymakers,
and their communities;
Whereas two-thirds of charter schools report having a waiting
list, the average size of such a waiting list is nearly one-
•HCON 386 IH
half of the school’s enrollment, and the total number of
students on all such waiting lists is enough to fill another
1,000 average-sized charter schools;
Whereas students in charter schools nationwide have similar
demographic characteristics as students in all public
schools;
Whereas charter schools in many States serve significant
numbers of students from families with lower income, mi-
nority students, and students with disabilities, and in a
majority of charter schools, almost half the students are
considered at risk or are former dropouts;
Whereas charter schools have enjoyed broad bipartisan sup-
port from the Administration, the Congress, State Gov-
ernors and legislatures, educators, and parents across the
Nation; and
Whereas charter schools are laboratories of reform and serve
as models of how to educate children as effectively as
possible: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That—
(1) the Congress honors the 10th anniversary
of the opening of the Nation’s first charter school;
(2) the Congress acknowledges and commends
the charter school movement and charter schools,
teachers, parents, and students across the Nation
for their ongoing contributions to education and im-
proving and strengthening the Nation’s public school
system;
•HCON 386 IH
(3) the Congress supports the goals of National
Charter Schools Week, an event sponsored by char-
ter schools and charter school organizations across
the Nation and established to recognize the signifi-
cant impacts, achievements, and innovations of the
Nation’s charter schools; and
(4) it is the sense of the Congress that the
President should issue a proclamation calling on the
people of the United States to conduct appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities to demonstrate
support for charter schools in communities through-
out the Nation.
Æ