2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Louisiana’s charter school law, notes Caroline Roemer of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.
“And what a 20 years it has been,” Roemer writes in a guest column featured in the current issue of Business Report. “Since being signed into law by former Gov. Mike Foster as a pilot program in 1995, the Louisiana charter school community has grown to almost 140 charter schools serving approximately 80,000 students in 21 parishes across the state.”
Over the years, Romer says, the charter school law has been revisited and strengthened several times by the Louisiana Legislature, creating an environment that provides not only multiple public school options for families, but multiple pathways for charter schools to open.
“At the same time, charter schools are held to high standards with real consequences for failing to meet the standards. The idea has never been to let just anyone open a charter school,” she writes. “Instead, the state has built a process that awards charters to only the best applicants and then holds them accountable for delivering results. And if they don’t deliver, they can no longer operate the school.”
But while charter schools have gained momentum over the last two decades and have become the new norm for families, Roemer says there is a very intentional effort being made by a handful of special interest groups to jeopardize the future of charter schools.
“The strategy of these charter opponents is clear: Limit who can authorize charters, cut off funding and limit access to facilities,” she writes. “It’s a simple but potentially devastating strategy. If a charter school can’t get authorized, then there is no charter school. If a charter school can’t get funded, then there is no charter school. If a charter school can’t find a place to teach students, then there is no charter school.”
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