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Remarks as prepared for delivery
by U.S. Secretary of Education
Richard W. Riley
Charter Schools Conference
Denver, Colorado
Tuesday, March 16, 1999
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Secretary Riley: This conference proves the old truism - "Success begets success." There are more than 1400 of you here - more people than my staff expected-
which I take as a sign of success. I hope this conference leads
you to strive for improvements, and reinforces the commitment that first
led you to launch a charter school.
When you consider that charter schools only came into being a few
years ago, we really have an amazing turnout here. Through your dedication
and diligence, this movement has grown to include about 1,100 schools in
34 states and the District of Columbia, enrolling about 250,000
students.
That's 1,100 schools around the country where educators, parents,
leaders of businesses and not-for-profit organizations, and others have put
their passion for quality public education to the test. This outpouring
of involvement is a testament to the American ideal of quality public
education for all, community service, and the power of grass-roots
efforts to bring about change. Your leadership is fueling the continuing
growth of charter schools elsewhere.
New York State recently enacted a charter school law, and New York
City Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew plans to create 10 charter schools and
convert two Brooklyn districts into "charter districts." New
Jersey will add another 15 charter schools over the next year and a half.
And your hard work and innovations are bearing fruit - not only on
your campuses, but in the other public schools, too. Just last month, a
front page headline in The Wall Street Journal said, "Charter schools
begin to prod public schools toward competition." The article showed how
the success of some charter schools is prompting leaders of mainstream
public schools to reach out to parents and redouble their efforts to
improve.
This is very different from vouchers. Taking taxpayers dollars away
from their public schools for private school vouchers undermines the very
essence of quality public school. And that is wrong! Unlike
vouchers, accountable public charter schools will prove to be a healthy
development for all of public education.
Your efforts are right in line with the ongoing efforts at every
level of American education to rethink how we teach our children - how we
organize our schools - how we recruit, prepare, and support teachers for the
challenges of the 21st century classroom.
During my State of American Education speech last month, I described
the spirit that infuses this trend by turning to the words of the great
theologian Reinhold Niebuhr - who said we should look to the future
with a "realism" that is "mixed with hope."
In my travels around the country and conversations with educators at
all levels, I'm finding a new realism mixed with hope for our schools,
too. I see a willingness to take an honest accounting of the performance
and condition of our schools, and I see a new resolve to meet these
challenges and give all of our children real hope for the future.
These desires are part of what is fueling the amazing growth of
charter schools. That growth carries with it a higher profile, and a
heightened sense of public expectations. Indeed, I believe it is no accident
that charter schools are rising at a time when the public is focused on
higher achievement levels and more accountability in public education.
This conference comes at something of a turning point in the life of
America's charter schools. Although some of your schools may be in
the first year of operation, the charter school movement has moved
beyond its infancy. It has gained critical mass, as the size of this
gathering shows.
In the current environment, scrutiny of all public schools is
growing, but I know the spotlight is shining a little brighter on some of you.
The higher expectations that the public and your states may place on
charter schools stems from the same advantages that you all value
most - flexibility, creativity, the chance to build an incubator for new
ideas.
The challenge that I see before you is to accept this outside
examination as an integral part of your mission. Help us find better ways to
teach, to organize schools and to help all students achieve.
Your colleagues in other public schools can benefit from your
successful innovations. This goes right to the heart of the charter school
concept - to serve as idea labs that help lead America's public schools in
new, positive directions.
I've seen how it happens at Bob DeBoer's school in Minneapolis.
Bob and his staff take the school's name - New Visions - to heart. New
Visions employs several different methods to teach reading. A preliminary
review of each student determines which method he or she will use. If it
works, great - if not, they try something else.
Bob's staff takes this a step further by sharing what it learns with
educators at other public schools. And they have real credibility
because they truly serve all students. The metaphor that New
Visions is an incubator for new ideas does not mean that the ideas stay bottled
up within the school. By disseminating their findings throughout the
community, the New Visions staff defines its mission as serving not
only its own students, but all children in the Twin Cities who are
learning to read. So I urge you to build partnerships with other public
schools in your area.
The same thing applies to the steps that you take to build a faculty
and work with your teachers to enhance their skills. Teacher quality is
particularly important now because America's public schools will
need to hire more than 2 million well-prepared teachers over the next
decade.
And yet, reliance on emergency certification and teachers teaching
out of their field is growing rapidly. We can't expect our children to
learn to high standards unless they study in classrooms led by teachers who
meet high standards.
Of course, many of your schools already have outstanding teachers
who were attracted by the flexibility that your environments offer. But I
believe charter schools provide us with an opportunity to enhance teacher
quality nationwide.
Charter schools can develop new and innovative ways to bring
talented individuals into teaching while also ensuring that all teachers have
the necessary knowledge and skills to be effective.
Just up the road from here in Boulder, you can find a wonderful
example of two charter schools taking on this kind of leadership role.
Teachers in Boulder public schools are serving as mentors for teachers working
towards their full certification in two charter schools there -Summit Middle
School and the Horizon K-8 charter school.
One interesting aspect of this program is that Horizon and Summit
are driven by different educational philosophies. When it comes to
teaching, though, their common link is excellence.
More broadly, they are showing all of us how their flexibility
enables them to find strategies that can potentially benefit all of
Boulder's schools. They are creating a pathway into teaching for people who
would not necessarily be able to enter a traditional school setting.
Because charter schools are held accountable for student
achievement, their experience with alternative routes to teaching can help inform
state and local policy makers.
I am encouraging each state to begin its own dialogue about teacher
licensure in order to make its current system more rigorous and more
flexible. I hope every state can find ways to create a higher
standard for teachers. We need a system that allows for flexibility while
ensuring that every public school -- including every charter school
-- is served by high quality teachers.
I know these issues are tough to manage, and progress does not come
without a lot of hard work. And I know you want your schools to
look like America - to be open to all. That is why your work is so very
important - not only for your own students, but all of America's
public schools.
And that's why this Administration strongly supports the charter
school movement. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have asked
Congress for a 30 percent increase in start-up funds for new charters and
continuing awards to many existing charter schools. We are
committed to fostering the creation of almost 2,000 additional charter schools
over the next few years. I hope you find strength in our steadfast support
of your work.
Let me mention three other appropriation requests to Congress that
also may be of interest to you. We have proposed a six-year
authorization to help reduce class size in grades 1-3 in higher poverty schools. For
the coming school year, we are requesting a $200 million increase for
the second year installment to move toward a class size of 18 to 1 over
this six years.
Another major budget request to Congress is to greatly expand
after-school and summer school opportunities. The President and Vice President
are asking this Congress for a $400 million increase for schools and
school districts to expand after-school and summer programs. This is a
safe and smart alternative for many young people.
Another major need across America is for modernizing and building
school. Many of America's public schools are rundown and many are
overcrowded. We are asking Congress to provide $25 billion of interest free bonds to
localities working to modernize their schools.
We welcome your support of these initiatives to give our students
the first class opportunities to learn that they deserve. In the
meantime, I urge you keep up your good work. Maintain the atmosphere of
creativity that makes so many of your schools a magnet for excellent teachers.
See the challenge for greater accountability as an opportunity, not
as a problem. Most of all, please do not lose sight of the fact that
educators in other public schools can benefit from your experiences and can be
your partners in moving forward all of public education across America.
I'd like to close with a short passage from Frank McCourt's
wonderful autobiography, "Angela's Ashes." I had the pleasure of presenting
Frank with the "Irish-American of the Year" award last year. Since this
is St. Patrick's Day week , I think it would be especially appropriate to
talk a little about that book.
"Angela's Ashes" is a poignant memoir of his childhood in Ireland
which was scarred by terrible poverty. But it includes uplifting passages
about education. In one, Frank's teacher, Mr. O'Halloran, says to his
class -- "You have to study and learn so that you can make up your own mind
about history and everything else. But you can't make up an empty mind.
Stock your mind, stock your mind. It is your house of treasure, and no
one in the world can interfere with it... You might be poor, your shoes
might be broken, but your mind is a palace."
I mention that passage because I think it speaks to the same passion
about learning that infuses this charter school movement. If you hold on
to that spark, we will enable all of America's children to achieve
their dreams.
Thank you.
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