Title
Authorizing City Council's Committee on Legislative Oversight and Committee on Education to hold joint hearings on how the School District of Philadelphia is cooperating with the City's charter schools, how the School District evaluates its charter school applications, and to measure the effectiveness of our currently operating charter schools.
Body
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Charter School Act of 1997 established charter schools as independently operated public schools that are funded with public tax dollars to provide educational alternatives free from many burdensome regulations; and
WHEREAS, Charter schools are growing across the country, with over 1,700 schools in thirty-seven states, and providing a public choice to the parents of 21,000 students in sixty-seven charter schools across Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's charter school law has enabled Philadelphia neighborhoods and communities to establish 34 charter schools with 14,000 students, providing exciting and innovative educational opportunities for their students; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School Board rejected 88% of the applications they received for new charter schools this year, despite many neighborhoods and communities anxious to be provided with these educational alternatives, and many charter school operators report very little cooperation and support from the School Board; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that the City and School Board of Philadelphia provide all possible educational opportunities for our children, in order to prepare them for their future, as well as maintain our tax base and help keep residents from pursuing other options outside of the City; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to the Committee on Legislative Oversight and the Committee on Education to hold joint hearings on how the School District of Philadelphia is cooperating with the City's charter schools, how the School District evaluates its charter school applications, and to measure the effectiveness of our currently operating charter schools.
End