Office of the Governor
- Press Office| FOR RELEASE Thursday, June 3, 2004 |
CONTACT: Dan Hopkins - 303-866-6324 Sarah Bramwell - 303-866-6323 Lisa Johnson (League of Charter Schools) - 720-530-1064 |
(DENVER) – Gov. Bill Owens today signed legislation creating the State Charter School Institute. The Governor also signed a bill that more clearly defines the process school districts must follow in authorizing charter schools. The signing ceremony took place at Wyatt-Edison school in north Denver, one of the state’s nearly 100 charter schools.
“Colorado has long been a leader in education reform. The bills I am signing into law today strengthen and extend the progress we’ve made over the years,” said Owens. “Although many districts have willingly recognized the value of charter schools, others unfortunately have developed a ‘just say no’ policy. We’re providing parents and teachers an alternate route for charter authorization.”
House Bill 1362, sponsored by Rep. Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) and Sen. Peter Groff (D-Denver), will change the way charter schools get approval and are run across the state. The bill creates a State Charter School Institute that will be responsible for authorizing and overseeing charter schools, relieving some local school districts of these responsibilities.
The Institute can take over the responsibilities of authorizing and running charter schools for those districts that do not want charters. State-run charter schools can be found in other areas of the country, such as New York and the District of Columbia.
Owens also signed HB 1141, which requires greater accountability for both charter schools and their authorizing districts. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Keith King (R-CO Springs) and Sen. John Andrews (R-Centennial). The bill clarifies how charter schools are to be authorized and operated.
The first charter school opened in Colorado in 1993. Today, there are almost 100 charter schools throughout the state serving more than 31,000 students.
Gov. Owens also signed HB 1433, which provides a longitudinal measure of school performance on school accountability reports. This will allow parents and schools to track how individual students are doing on CSAP tests and analyze their academic growth across grades and schools from kindergarten through high school.
“The School Accountability Reports were designed to inform parents about their children’s schools. Now we can provide parents an even better picture of how their students and schools are performing. We will be able to track individual students, analyzing their academic growth from kindergarten through high school,” Owens said.
HB 1433 was sponsored by Rep. Keith King and Sen. Dan Grossman (D-Denver).
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last modified June 03, 2004
